A Walk on the Wild Side

A wonderfully convoluted Sabina juniper after a little taming by Gabriel Romero Aguadé. If you look at the before photo below, you can see that Gabriel did quite a bit to tame what started out as tree with a world of potential but also with a crazily unruly crown and a trunk with poor taper. It’s not too hard to see how the crown was brought under control (some very detailed labor and some time for new growth to fill in). But the taper is a bit more mystifying; not much has changed, but somehow it looks much better. BTW, … Continue reading A Walk on the Wild Side

Two Bonsai Firsts (at least)

A formal upright collected European olive? I’ve seen a lot of magnificent collected European olives, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any as perfectly shaped and stupendously gnarled at the same time. The artist is Gabriel Romero Aguade. Noelanders Trophy 2012 The four trees shown here are all from the 13th Noelanders Trophy Exhibition, which was held in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, way back in January. I borrowed the images from Bonsai – Living Art, the English version of the Slovenski blog (I recommend a visit, it’s a great bonsai blog, one of the best). A couple firsts I don’t know … Continue reading Two Bonsai Firsts (at least)

Four Before & After Bonsai

Before & after (antes y depues) Shimpaku juniper by Salvador de los Reyes. Four for the price of one. Still sorting our from vacation (no vacation goes unpunished) so it’s back to our archives (July, 2012). All four transformations are by Salvador de los Reyes. Two Big Specials End Sunday Night Koyo Tools 25% off list Bonsai Pot & Soil Special – A mystery tree before & afte. Salvador identifies most of his trees, but not this one (that I could find at least). Sabina juniper A bonsai rarity. Tamarix before & after. You see don’t many Tamarix bonsai and … Continue reading Four Before & After Bonsai

Even Though No Vacation Goes Unpunished, We’re Back & Ready for the Next Round

You almost never see Myrtles this massive. And when you do, they’re never from North America (go ahead, prove me wrong). This one is from Spain. It belong to Gabriel Bonsaisantboi Romero Aguade (something of a regular here on Bark). Here’s his caption… “After a day and a half removing inner leaves, it’s ready for a wire and correction.” We’ll just feature one tree today. I’m recovering from jet lag and worse, buried in two weeks of work (no vacation goes unpunished). Anyway, I’m back and Ric (our warehouse master) will be back and recovered from routine surgery on Monday Continued below… … Continue reading Even Though No Vacation Goes Unpunished, We’re Back & Ready for the Next Round

How Much Would You Pay for a Bonsai?

Would you pay 6,000 dollars (5,500 euros) for this bonsai? How does someone who wants to sell a bonsai arrive at a price and how does someone who wants to buy that bonsai decide if that price is fair? There really are no firm guidelines on valuing bonsai, at least that I know of. The best I can say is the value of a bonsai depends on what at least one person is willing to pay. Unless of course, you’re in the business of buying and selling bonsai. Then there are at least two values involved. The three trees shown … Continue reading How Much Would You Pay for a Bonsai?