Festive Bonsai

I don’t know if you’d call this tree festive, but it has a bright spirited quality. It’s an English yew (Taxus Baccata) by Stefano Frisoni from Italy I just spent 30 mins cruising fb looking for a Christmas decorated bonsai to feature, but came up blank. I did find this in our archives. It has a bit of Holiday flavor and I like it, so why not? Continued below… Roshi Bonsai Tools 30% off Plus and extra 10% off on orders 150.00 or more Roshi Tools are famous for precision, durability, beauty & reasonable prices this special ends Dec 26th at 11:59pm … Continue reading Festive Bonsai

Eccentric or Just Twisted?

Doing the Twist. This tree belongs to Mauro Stemberger (Italian Bonsai Dream). Mauro has one of the most dramatic bonsai collections in the West, and though this one certainly qualifies, is there a line between dramatic and eccentric? Continuing with ‘Eccentric Bonsai’ from two days ago, here’s another one from our archives (November, 2016). Two of the trees in this post are naturally twisted and the other two were twisted by the hands of man. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble telling which is which. SITE WIDE SALE ENDS TOMORROW Everything Is At Least 20% off DOUBLE DISCOUNTS – SALE … Continue reading Eccentric or Just Twisted?

Godzilla Refines a Monster Bonsai – Before & After

Before and after Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) by Todd Schlafer. The tree belongs to Mike Andrews. For the Godzilla reference, scroll down to the bottom of the post Continuing with another before and after transformation by Todd Schlafer (see Oct 19th). Here’s a quote by Mike Andrews (facebook)… “Progression of collected Rocky Mountain Juniper. Collected by Randy Knight, delivered to my house September 2016. Initial design and structure setting with Mauro in April 2017. Fertilized heavily and full sun 2017 and 2018 growing seasons resulted in very nice dense foliage. Finally detail wired and pad formation by Todd yesterday. … Continue reading Godzilla Refines a Monster Bonsai – Before & After

Eisei-en & Bjorn’s Big Bonsai Weekend

I found this Shimpaku rock planting in a vast array of Bjorn Bjorholm’s online photos. I couldn’t find any text with the photo, so it’s hard to tell if it’s a root-over-rock (if it is, the root must be on the other side) or a on root-on-rock. No matter, it’s great tree Continuing with our North American bonsai series in our lead up to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition… Though our goal is encourage you to visit the 6th U.S., we’d be remiss if we passed on Bjorn Bjorholm’s Eisei-en grand opening Here’s a quote from Bjorn about his new nursery and the … Continue reading Eisei-en & Bjorn’s Big Bonsai Weekend

Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

This very distinctive bonsai belongs to Mauro Stemberger. The rock was made by Erik Križovenský, a master of unique pots and other creative vessels for planting bonsai. No mention is made of the type tree, but it looks like some type of Juniper. I cropped Mauro’s original photo (below) to get a closer look and to eliminate some background noise It’s past due time to revisit Mauro Stemberger, an old favorite here on Bark. If you’d like to see more of what Mauro is up to you can visit him on facebook and on his Italian Bonsai Dream website. You can also visit … Continue reading Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

It’s all about Yew

This impressive old tree with its melted wax deadwood and cinnamon bark is yet another dramatic Yew. So dramatic that it’s easy to miss it’s unusual companion. The tree and the little piece of deadwood belong to Mauro Stemberger. The pot is Tokoname. When we originally posted these photos (December, 2012) many of us were just beginning to appreciate Yew for bonsai. Since then they have been pushing their way into our consciousness with a vigor worthy of their robust nature. Anyway, and bad puns aside, I know that I’ve praised yew before. Still, at the risk of repeating myself, I’m a big fan. For landscaping and for bonsai. Continued below… … Continue reading It’s all about Yew

Happy Bonsai New Year!

Just couldn’t resist posting yet another yew (there have been several lately). This time it’s an English yew (Taxus Baccata) by Stefano Frisoni. It’s almost 2018 and there are countless loose ends to tie up, so with time being precious, we’ll dig up part of a December 2012 post with some trees that I particularly like. Meanwhile, may you and yours enjoy a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And thank you for helping to make 2017 a happy bonsai year. Only 4 More Days for Our SITE WIDE SALE Almost Everything Discounted Some Items as much as 70% off List Prices SALE ENDS AT 11:59pm EST, … Continue reading Happy Bonsai New Year!

California Bonsai Beast

The beast. Here’s Mauro Stemberger’s caption… “California Juniper called ‘the Beast’ after one more step – this time we worked to make it more compact; bending down 15 inches the top and removing the lower branch. Pictures show the evolution in the last 3 years. Collection: Hank Fawcett” We’ll just show a few photos of this magnificent old California juniper and encourage you to visit Mauro Stemberger and Hank Fawcett for more on the evolution of this aptly named Beast. Speaking of Beasts Our Site Wide Sale Includes ROSHI BONSAI TOOLS & TOOL KITS 30% to 40% off Numerous other tools & bonsai items also deeply discounted 30% … Continue reading California Bonsai Beast

Meandering Myrtles

Here’s the copy from our source (a Bark post last November titled Meandering Lines)… “This Myrtle (Myrtus communis) belongs to Andrea Albergo. The pot is by Greg Ceramics and the photo is by Harry Harrington. I chose it for the lead tree for several reasons; I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Myrtle with such a massive trunk (turns out I had), deadwood on most non-conifers isn’t all that common (though becoming more common) and I like the loose abstract meandering lines of the deadwood and living veins.” Yesterday we feature a very muscular Myrtle (Myrtus communis) for your viewing … Continue reading Meandering Myrtles

Photographing Bonsai – Change Your Viewing Angle

This shot looking up into the tree accentuates the dynamic flow of the trunk and allows for a clear look at all its texture and other details. The artist, Mauro Stemberger doesn’t identify any of the trees shown here, but it’s safe to say Juniper with this one, though we won’t guess the species. All the photos shown here were posted by Mauro Stemberger under the title Change your viewing angle… In this case, the change involves a lower camera placement than what we are accustomed to. A placement that allows you to lookup into the tree in much the … Continue reading Photographing Bonsai – Change Your Viewing Angle