Bonsai Brilliance at Japan’s Satsuki Azalea Festival

This Satsuki azalea with its powerful trunk and nebari would be a remarkable even without its brilliant flowers The bonsai featured here are from the 2018 Satsuki Azalea Festival in Ueno, Tokyo (even though they are from last year, this is the first time we’ve shown them). You can see these and more flowering Satsuki on Naoi Kenichi’s fb timeline. Continued below… 20% OFF BONSAI WIRE SPECIAL ENDS SOON Choose from our vast array of sizes & types of wire Special ends Thursday, Jan 3rd at 11:59pm EST Here’s something from Wikipedia on Satsuki azaleas… “Satsuki azaleas have a diverse rnge of flower forms and color patterns with multiple patterns … Continue reading Bonsai Brilliance at Japan’s Satsuki Azalea Festival

Satsuki Bonsai – A Passion for Variety & Beauty

This wildly colorful Satsuki Azalea is from a Flowering Bonsai Gallery in Bonsai Today issue 65 (image courtesy of Bonsai Focus). If you take a close look at the flowers, you’ll see that there are a number of different shades and patterns. A mark of human passion for beauty and endless variation. There are few things as delightful as Satsuki azalea bonsai in full bloom. Especially in person. Lacking that, next best are high quality photos of Satsuki azalea in full bloom. Especially during the darkest and coldest days of winter. We borrowed this stunning (some might say gaudy) Satsuki … Continue reading Satsuki Bonsai – A Passion for Variety & Beauty

Satsuki Azaleas, the Never Ending Quest

We borrowed this stunning (some might say gaudy) Satsuki photo and the other photos here from Empire Bonsai. The photos shown here are from a recent Satsuki azalea Bonsai festival at Ueno Park in Tokyo. Satsuki means fifth month (May) in Japanese.In this case late May (the dates on the festival sign below say May 27th to June 1st). You might imagine Satsuki would bloom a little earlier in more southerly environs. Satsuki, almost more than any other plant, show just how far humans will push nature in the quest for beauty and distinction. Robert Callaham’s benchmark book, Satsuki for … Continue reading Satsuki Azaleas, the Never Ending Quest

Not to Swamp You with So Many Flowering Bonsai…

An exposed-root, semi-cascade Satsuki azalea with passionate pink flowers. The photo was taken by Hiroyuki Suzuki at the recent Ueno Satsuki Festival. I don’t mean to swamp you with so many flowering Satsuki photos these days, but this is (or just was) their time to shine. And most are high quality bonsai that would be worth a look even without the flowers. With the flowers they are brilliant (unless of course, you’ve become completely jaded). For a little change of pace, we’re intentionally staying away from the heavy trunks and featuring exposed-root and other unusual trunks this time. I borrowed all … Continue reading Not to Swamp You with So Many Flowering Bonsai…

Bonsai Before & After – a Six Week Transformation

Before and after. The tree is a Lawson’s cypress (Chaemacyparis Louïsiana ‘Elwoodii’). Here’s the caption copied directly from Michel Delen, our source for these photos… “Chaemacyparis Louïsiana ‘Elwoodii’ AFTER Grandioos Noelanders Marc.” Continuing with our recent Marc Noelanders posts. And not by coincidence, Marc’s a headliner at the 2019 Mid Atlantic Bonsai Spring Festival (we hope to see you there) – I’m impressed. The date on the before is Feb 8th and the date on the after is March 22nd (6 weeks later). Given just how little time elapsed, it’s an remarkable transformation. All the photos are from Michel Delen’s timeline Continued … Continue reading Bonsai Before & After – a Six Week Transformation

A Masterful Example of how Energy Can Be Redirected

This powerful old cascading Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii) is a masterful example of how energy can be directed downward in a tree that naturally wants to grow upward. The photo is from Bonsai Today Master Series; Pines. A late start today, so it’s time for a journey into our past. This post was one of our very firsts (Feb 2009 with an added azalea photo from a later post), but like so much with bonsai, is still 100% pertinent today… and tomorrow, and so forth. Whenever you prune, trim or pinch, you are redirecting energy. If you remove a … Continue reading A Masterful Example of how Energy Can Be Redirected

Full Bloom Bonsai – A Passion for Beauty

This wildly colorful Satsuki Azalea is from a Flowering Bonsai Gallery in Bonsai Today issue 65 (image courtesy of Bonsai Focus). If you take a close look at the flowers, you’ll see that there are a number of different shades and patterns. A mark of human passion for beauty and endless variation. There are few things as delightful as Satsuki azalea bonsai in full bloom. Especially in person. Lacking that, next best are high quality photos of Satsuki azalea in full bloom. Especially during the darkest and coldest days of winter. Continued below… NEW INCREASED DISCOUNTS 30% to 35% off … Continue reading Full Bloom Bonsai – A Passion for Beauty

An Independence Day History of Bonsai in the U.S.

This wildly expressive Wisteria reminds me of exploding 4th of July fireworks. The photo is from Bill Valavanis‘ Classical Bonsai Art (out of print). The tree belongs to Robert Blankfield, who originally styled it at a workshop with Bill. This post is resurrected from Independence Day, 2013, with a few additions and subtractions. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the USA. To help you celebrate, why not enjoy a sampling of home grown bonsai? But first, because many of our readers are not U.S. citizens and because some U.S. folks don’t know much about history anyway, a quick American history … Continue reading An Independence Day History of Bonsai in the U.S.

More Stunning Bonsai Brilliance

In addition to its stunning (some might say gaudy) floral display, this Satsuki azalea possesses some other powerful features. Though when it’s in full bloom like this, they might be easy to overlook. A couple posts ago we featured some flowering bonsai brilliance from the 2016 Satsuki azalea Bonsai festival at Ueno Park in Tokyo. To continue in the same vein, I thought we would dig up last year’s post on the 2015 Ueno festival. Not only does it have information you might find interesting, but most of you probably haven’t seen it anyway. And if you’re anything like me, even … Continue reading More Stunning Bonsai Brilliance

Flowering Bonsai & Dissolving Boundaries

It’s a little strange to see such prominent deadwood on an azalea. But then boundaries between acceptable and strange are dissolving in the world of bonsai as they seem to be almost everywhere. A year ago we posted some photos from the 2015 Uneo Satsuki Azalea Festival. Now we’ve got some from the 2016 festival that we lifted from a video by hermanbaik. Most were blown up to fit our format, thus the fuzz. Still, the brilliance of the trees and their flowers can’t help but shine through. More conventional to be sure, but there was a time not too … Continue reading Flowering Bonsai & Dissolving Boundaries