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The Rise of Bonsai Empire

www.bonsaiempire.com

By Joe Grande, Canada
onsai Empire by Oscar Jonker, who started Top; Shot entirely in Japan,
the course is aptly named the
the website in 2000 when he was 15 years Bonsai Fundamentals Course.
old, has developed into a popular destina- The world-class trees in Shinji
tion for bonsai enthusiasts from all over. Suzuki’s garden add a rich
BLast year, Bonsai Empire launched the first element to the lecture series.
formal bonsai courses online. It was a team effort by Middle; Michael Hagedorn
Oscar and Bjorn Bjorholm. Bjorn has a huge follow- delivers a course curriculum
built around the fundamentals
ing on You Tube where he created videos on vari- of Bonsai, focusing on plant
ous bonsai techniques while he was an apprentice at physiology as well as on the
Koukaen Ten in Japan working with master Keiichi aesthetics of Japanese Bonsai
Fujikawa. design.
The format for the lectures is a proven model, Bottom; This offering includes
featuring a live Table of Contents—finding what you a special statement by Shinji
Suzuki, Michael’s teacher.
want to watch again is easy and fast. Infographics, on-
screen text and lecture summaries (takeaways), round
out the presentation. Best of all, there is a questions-
and-answer section associated with each lecture that
allows students to ask question and make comments.
The lectures are tightly scripted and viewers will
benefit from watching them again and again.
The first series of lectures, Bonsai for Beginners was
a great start that attracted many subscribers, many of
whom clamored for more. Oscar responded with an

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