Offline with Mr. Robert Stenven in my Garden (lnvinh - VietNam)

Robert Steven wrote:Thanks Qui. Yes, it was really nice indeed.

All above were in Ho Chi Minh, before showing the trees in Hanoi, just share with you some fun time in HCM...

I didn't know that Vietnamese didn't drink less than the Chinese and German. Beer for breakfast, and strong spirit for lunch and dinner. This was an expensive "Gold Grains Spirit" with 24K pure gold grain; I was told that when we drink, the gold grains will "slice" our throut to let the alcohol being "absorb" quicker... Anyhow, it did burned...



Later..I was shocked by an unexpected guest creeping in... a cobra....



Better not to show you the process...however, it ended up on the table in 5 different dishes from the different parts...



As the Chinese says..gall is good for gall ("Gall" also means "Bravery" for Chinese)...



...followed by the "Vampire" toasting....



Yuupp... the mixer was enough to stimulate your bravery to "bite and suck"....

lnvinh wrote:

What reaction do you have in your stomach when you use these items?How do you feel?

jun wrote:I heard cobra blood is good for ...you know what...did it work? Hehe. nice huge penjings they got there Robert. Just a question, I have seen and observed that (most) trees and penjings in Vietnam were more Rigid or traditionally styled following "clouds" and triangular patterns for tropical trees, I wonder how they received your naturalistic ideas? We're they open to new approach? Regards,jun

xuan le wrote:LOL, you won't believe the price of ficus bonsai in Hanoi area, some cost nearly one million dollars ! And one amazed me was that there were always bonsai in every house that has garden or terrace... Something I've never found in any other countries.....
and drinking "Gold Grain Spirit"

This sounds like Vietnamese are very rich poeple now.

Robert Steven wrote:

lnvinh wrote:

What reaction do you have in your stomach when you use these items?How do you feel?

Robert Steven wrote:

jun wrote:I heard cobra blood is good for ...you know what...did it work? Hehe. nice huge penjings they got there Robert. Just a question, I have seen and observed that (most) trees and penjings in Vietnam were more Rigid or traditionally styled following "clouds" and triangular patterns for tropical trees, I wonder how they received your naturalistic ideas? We're they open to new approach? Regards,jun

.....

BTW, yes, specifically in HCM; that's the first thing I addressed and I did one restyling to show the difference, and I think they accepted the point (Did you agree Qui ?)
Their Shuihan Penjing are nice, mostly set with one single tree, but they are good in composition and the rock arrangement.

But it's different in Hanoi. In Hanoi, they like Ficus very much and always heavenly big ! They like to pot them in the ancient Chinese pot model with water around..like growing on rocky island. The character of their ficus is totally different from Taiwan or China, I like the wild and natural character. In my opinion, if they refine little bit on the crown shape and the foliage pads, their ficus bonsai can be the best in the world and can be the icon of Vietnam bonsai. It was a 180 degrees changes since my last visit 7 years ago !

LOL, you won't believe the price of ficus bonsai in Hanoi area, some cost nearly one million dollars ! And one amazed me was that there were always bonsai in every house that has garden or terrace... Something I've never found in any other countries.....

Here are some to share...

PROTONWIRA wrote:Hi Robert
Most of us accepted your point and you know there are also many bonsaists having started their style by that way. They are still in progress ...
Btw, about the icon of Vietnam bonsai ? We should do a national survey then For the time being Ficus ( called sanh) can be the icon of North Vietnam only Do you know why? Because that is my point
Brgds/Quí

mientrung wrote:Hi Robert,

I saw the video clips about your visit to Lnv garden. Do you mind if I ask some technical questions here? there is some points that I feel either they are not very clear or generalized and I would like you to elaborate more for better understanding.
I am a little bit disappointed at some of the translation which can make the attendants and other viewers misunderstand about your view.

Thanks

Robert Steven wrote:

xuan le wrote:LOL, you won't believe the price of ficus bonsai in Hanoi area, some cost nearly one million dollars ! And one amazed me was that there were always bonsai in every house that has garden or terrace... Something I've never found in any other countries.....
and drinking "Gold Grain Spirit"

This sounds like Vietnamese are very rich poeple now.

Yes, THEY ARE !
There are lots of bonsai collectors who spend millions of dollars for this hobby.

mientrung wrote:

Robert Steven wrote:

xuan le wrote:LOL, you won't believe the price of ficus bonsai in Hanoi area, some cost nearly one million dollars ! And one amazed me was that there were always bonsai in every house that has garden or terrace... Something I've never found in any other countries.....
and drinking "Gold Grain Spirit"

This sounds like Vietnamese are very rich poeple now.

Yes, THEY ARE !
There are lots of bonsai collectors who spend millions of dollars for this hobby.

I don't think it all all. A lot is poor. If you spend time go hunting for yamadori, that will be a totally different experience than the what you have had.

And about the bonsai in every house, there are several explanations for that. I think you means by ficus bonsai? If so, about 1 or 2 years ago, ficus became so hot in Vietnam that everyone even a normal farmer knew about the value of ficus, everywhere, every family try to get one with expectation that it will keep increase value overtime. So as the result of that, now you can see it everywhere.

Also what Qui said about ficus is kind of the North bonsai icon not the South is true. It got nothing to do with the past war time, people in the South just simply don't like it. Because the leaf is too big, there is several other species that has smaller leaf which is better for bonsai. As you can see in Lnv garden, there is more variety of species not a lot of ficus.

mientrung wrote:Thanks Robert,

Regarding to your talk about the tropical bonsai top has no apex. It is some kind of flat top.

For my understanding, that is depending on level of apical dominance of the type of trees. Most of tropical trees, the apical dominance is not very strong therefore, the overall shape of the canopy is kind of round, sometimes wide umbrella shape. So I totally agree with you that most of conifers will have a triangle top. With tropical trees, most will exhibit the round canopy and kind of flat top. But with tropical trees in the distinct rainy and dry season area, there is some level of apical dominance behavior, the top will not totally flat fop but will be wide umbrella shape. Do you agree?

Add to the confusion (this is where I am disappointed), during the translation, when you said the conifer tree normally has triangle top, the translator kept translating to Vietnamese that triangle is umbrella shape. I don't agree with that at all. Therefore, it makes the attendants think that tropical trees MUST have kind of flat top. The confusion will be more when they look at the pictures of your trees here.

I have more questions but it will help if we can discuss one by one. I think.
Thanks very much for you time!

Robert Steven wrote:
Mie, thank for the question.

When I addressed the triangle shape issue, I was more refering to the mindset where still lots of people thought that a good bonsai design should always be triangle; then I explained the different character between conifers and deciduous tree about the apical dominant structure.
I didn't mention a single word about umbrella shape, but I did also explained about the logical and easthetic aspect between the neat round foliage shape with irregular form in expressing different mimics and moods of the bonsai.

I emphasized that one should avoid was to style their deciduous bonsai like conifers with the "single" apex line, in template manner to all designs !..which normally form a triangel shape of canopy. Conifers are basically apical dominant and the shape of the trees are mostly monopodial, whereas deciduous trees are more sympodial with wider spread canopy...and I was also talking about the plant morphology that caused different tree shapes in nature..which we can apply into good bonsai design principles.

Generally, only young deciduous trees are apical shape with apical dominant trunk and branch lines, and the crown will grow spreading wider when getting older; whereas conifers are basically apical shape. As long as the apical meristerm is not disturbed, there will be no new side lines grow to compete...

Hope this clarify your question..and please pass on to our friends in Vietnam. Tks !