by
Michael Rusnak
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| Fresh Japanese Maple leaf after a rain |
For
me bonsai makes spring a more exciting season. It begins with seeing
the trees start to leaf out. I know this sounds crazy, but at other
points in the year, I forget how amazing the spring break out can be.
The bright young leaves and their color just makes me happy to look
at it. I believe this euphoric response has something to do with the
color, and maybe light in addition to seeing the trees pop out. It
is sort of an instinctive reaction. Its kind of like the feelings I
get when the weather first turns cold in the fall. I'll get an urge
to make all sorts of comfort food-- pot roast, stews and baked
macaroni and cheese.
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| Ginkgo Leaves coming out in a swirl |
Anyway,
one of the cool things about bonsai is how it brings these ordinary things to
eye level. I wanted to preserve the moment, so I played a little bit
with my camera, It had rained all night, making the leaves heavy and
weeping. Plus their bright greens stood out in contrast against
their dark trunks.
My
particular favorites are fist the larches with their vibrant pale
green foliage. Then there's the colorful small unfolding leaves of
the Japanese maples with slight red highlights on the tips. They
look better than the flowers of many plants. And there is nothing
like the small rosette-like leaves of the grapevines starting to
unfold. One other cool shot came from the ginkgo. They come out in
a small round package of leaflets that were still holding a few drops
of rain from the night before. Again the foliage has such a fresh
shades. Something to remember on those winter days.
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| Concord grape leaflets look like rosettes--spring colors |
Bonsai does it
again.
It
was a great morning. I even made a
little video tour of my
backyard
bonsai garden and growing area on
ACBS's YouTube spot at
