Monthly Archives: September 2009

Unique Bonsai Contest: Entry #1 – Honeysuckle

This little Boxleaf honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida) belongs to Ferry Freriks of the Netherlands. Though it has room for improvement, still it’s a decent example of what you can do with a well chosen nursery plant, a few tools and a little time (four years in this case). The pot, in Ferry’s words, is “cheap Chinese.” [...]

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Enjoy Life! Enter Our $100 Unique Bonsai Contest

I found this little gem on the giardinipiscine website while I was looking for something else (that’s one of the wonders of the web). It looks like an azalea of some sort, but it’s the size (or lack of it), not its ID, that gives it juice. A bonsai in hand… … might be worth [...]

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Green Workshop: Wiring a Young Tree

Before: The wire has been applied and is ready to bend. The two illustrations in this post are from Bonsai Today issue 107, from an article entitled ‘Wiring a Young Tree.’ After. A good place to start Most beginning wiring instructions start with how to place wire and then move toward the actual uses of [...]

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In Whose Eye? Eccentric Bonsai #2: Figurines

Using figurines in tray plantings doesn’t necessarily qualify as eccentric; it’s common in Chinese (and other) penjing plantings. Perhaps it’s the type (you don’t see many moose in China) and especially the relative size of the figurine that makes this trident maple planting unusual. This photo is from an article by Randy Clark entitled ‘Bonsai [...]

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Be a Fearless Bonsai Warrior

This American larch (Larix laricina) was sent to us by John Romano. It was selected as 1 of 100 in JAL World Bonsai Photo contest 2004.  It was purchased as raw collected stock from American larch hero Nick Lenz. John Romano has been devoted to teaching bonsai for the past ten years and has developed [...]

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Masters’ Gallery: Group Displays #2

The small Zelkova in the forest plantings on each side create the feeling distant panoramas. The center tree in the curved pot is a Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa). The artist is Saburo Kato‘s brother, Hideo. There are also two barely visible companion plants (five elements in all). Masters’ Gallery This is the second post in [...]

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In Whose Eye? Eccentric Bonsai

This strange, jumbled profusion of colorful leaves in a bonsai pot is from Morten Albek’s Shohin-Bonsai Europe website. It’s a Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) by Jacques Graulus of Belgium. BTW: Morten Albek is the author of Majesty in Miniature: Shohin Bonsai (Stone Lantern Publishing). No harm intended This is our first post on eccentric bonsai. [...]

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Truly a Simple Air-Layering Technique

This photo shows step two (see below). From this angle you can see that the current base of the trunk is a mess. After layering we’ll have a new base, though it’s unclear from this photo why this spot (at the top of the layer) was chosen. My guess is the author picked this unattractive [...]

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Broken Branches: The Superglue Solution

Bonsai4me.com (one of my favorites) has a nifty little article on repairing snapped branches (and plenty of other valuable bonsai tips). BTW: the tree is a privet and that’s superglue in the anonymous hand. Share

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Not for Sissies: Yamadori part 2

That’s Robert Steven dangling from the rope ladder. I don’t know who his friend is, but he better have a pretty good grip. This photo is from Robert’s new book, Mission of Transformation. The location is in Java, one of the islands of Indonesia. The object of this and some other perilous climbs is the [...]

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