Kusamono/Accent Plant Portfolio

Below are found my choicest personal Kusamono plantings; the Japanese art form centered upon cultivated plantings of shrubs and non-vascular plants with the intention of shedding light upon the intricate beauty of even the smallest and most-overlooked aspects nature.

"Cracked Pipe" Kusamono

Composed amidst the spring of 2022 atop a cracked ceramic pipe I once found along a river-bed, this kusamono planting, is designed to embody the season of summer and simply exude a feeling of warmth and health. Planted with all semi-hardy, medium-moisture-level plants among a cushion of native mosses, this kusamono is prepared for longevity in the climate of Upstate New York, where it will grow successfully for years to come, adding to its own soil supply through the decomposition of old moss and foliage throughout each winter dormancy period, and evolving on the smallest scale as a composition each year.

Details:

Planted upon a shard of ceramic pipe found near Albany NY
Plants Included:
- Miniature Mat Daisy Bellium minutum
- Dwarf Common Stonecrop Sedum sp.
- Dwarf Palm Sedge Carex muskingumensis
- Various Native Mosses

Adirondack-Inspired Kusamono

This particular kusamono, a composition of a wide variety of small forest-dwelling plants native to the Adirondack region of New York never ceases to remind me of the incredible capacity of even the smallest of organisms to establish remarkably complex relationships with one another, and with their environment. This particular piece was awarded "The Young Choe Best Accent Award" when displayed at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Socieitie's Spring Festival. I am thrilled and deeply grateful to have been the youngest individual ever to have received this award, as well as am eager to see how this composition changes and grows in the future.

Details:

Planted in a glazed ceramic vessel by American ceramicist Sara Rayner
Plants Included:
- Canada Mayflower Maianthemum canadense
- Rough Cinquefoil Potentilla norvegica
- Wintergreen Gaultheria procumbens
- Partridgeberry Mitchella repens
- Silver Maple Acer saccharinum
- Various Native Mosses

Dwarf Hosta Kusamono no. 1

There's something so delightful about a simplistic planting, allowing one to focus completely on the beauty of a lone plant, and few of my kusamono plantings embody this simplicity as well as this one. Featuring merely a cushion of moss, a dwarf host variety, and a couple of "volunteer" plants, it is in early spring that I find this planting at its best (as depicted to the left); demonstrating the wonder inspired by the gentle beauty of a minute, unsullied leaf emerging from the earth following a long and harsh winter, an age-old symbol of hope and regernation.

Details:

Planted in a small, shallow ceramic vessel created by famous American bonsai artist and potter; the late Nick Lenz, a mentor to my own teacher in the art of bonsai; Pauline Muth
Plants Included:
- Dwarf Hosta Hosta sp.
- Unknown "Volunteer" Plant
- Various Native Mosses