Bonsai Holiday Greetings from Another Place & Time

Chinese hackberry by Lo Min Hsuan It’s the Holidays and we all need a little down time, so today it’s back to our archives. All of today’s photos are from Lo Min Hsuan’s Bonsai blog and they all appeared here exactly eight years ago. That’s a great thing about bonsai of this magnitude… they are already so old that eight years might as well be yesterday 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 EST – I’ve always appreciated a good … Continue reading Bonsai Holiday Greetings from Another Place & Time

Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Strange as this old tree is, it all works together with a blend of eccentricity and balance (and remarkable ramification*). This photo and the others in this post are from Peter Tea Bonsai Way back in 2009 and early 2010 we ran a series of posts that we called Eccentric Bonsai. Maybe it’s time to resurrect the series. If so, this one-of-a-kind Trident maple seems like a good place to start. We originally posted this tree in December, 2011. It was borrowed from Peter Tea’s blog. Peter was an apprentice at Mr. Junichiro Tanaka’s Aichi-en bonsai nursery at the time. Peter takes good photos and writes of his experience … Continue reading Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Brilliant Bavarian Back Yard Bonsai Garden

Harmut Muenchebach’s brilliant Bavarian backyard bonsai garden. It wouldn’t be hard to indulge in a little envy here, but better to just enjoy. Let’s keep going with perhaps the most enchantng Backyard Bonsai Gardens we’ve seen yet. It belongs to Hartmut Muenchenbach of Bavaria. I found the photos on Walter Pall’s timeline titled Jennifer Price at Hartmut Muenchenbach’s. We originally featured it just over a year ago. BONSAI SOIL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY 30% off list prices on all Bonsai Soil special ends Sunday, July 1st at 11:59pm EDT – Impressive tree in an impressive garden A closer look at the tree’s details … Continue reading Brilliant Bavarian Back Yard Bonsai Garden

From Wild to Wild – Another Before & After Bonsai

After. This distinctive European spruce, aka Norway spruce (Picea abies) was collected in Switzerland in 1993. It’s now 25cm (10″) high and around 100 years old. The strikingly naturalistic pot (by Mateusz Grobeiny) and those little plants (succulents?) growing around the trunk and flowing down side of the pot add a strong natural touch. So natural that you might imagine stumbling upon the whole planting while hiking in the Alps. The artist and owner of the tree is Walter Pall. You can view the before and after together if you scroll down. Too much going on here today, so we’ll … Continue reading From Wild to Wild – Another Before & After Bonsai

North American Bonsai Excellence – The 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album Is Here!

Winner of the Finest Bonsai Masterpiece at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It’s a Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga Mertensiana) that belongs to Eric Schikowski. The photo is by Joseph Noga as are all the photos in Exhibition Albums 2-5. Every two years we get a jolt of bonsai excitement when our copies of the latest U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album arrives. This time it’s the 5th Album, and it’s the best yet. This should come as no surprise, bonsai is still relatively new in North America (and much of the world) so steady improvement is to be expected. However, given … Continue reading North American Bonsai Excellence – The 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album Is Here!

Two Satsuki in Full Bloom & More Impressive Nebari

Satsuki azalea in full bloom. Nice natural looking nebari too. Artist unknown (for the moment at least). You can find this photo and other great shots like it on Bill Valavanis’ Bonsai Blog. Here’s what Bill has to say about the photos shown in this post … “The Bonsai Society of Upstate New York is holding their 44th Upstate New York Bonsai Exhibition on May 27-28, 2017 at the Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester, New York. Some of the finest bonsai in New York state will be on display for the public to enjoy and learn from too. “These photos … Continue reading Two Satsuki in Full Bloom & More Impressive Nebari

Still Searching for the Perfect Nebari

This Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis) presents a number of striking features, not the least of which is its powerful nebari (surface roots). The photo originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 35. Yesterday we featured a post on nebari, part of a long history of posts on the topic. Today we’ll go all the way back to April 2009 (our infancy) for our third ever nebari post. It was titled In Search of the Perfect Nebari – part two (Part one was comprised of An Ingenious Technique and An Ingenious Technique part 2 taken together). Continued below… Special Kilo Bonsai Wire now … Continue reading Still Searching for the Perfect Nebari

Remember This?

Towering tree or a very strong bonsai? It’s from our $100 Photo Art Contest and it’s by Christian Hansen. It didn’t finish in the money, but I wonder if it might have, had people known it’s a bonsai (a very large bonsai). I didn’t realize it was until Christian sent me the photo below. It’s one of only two photos that were actually of bonsai, even though the whole name of the contest was: $100 Bonsai Photo Art Contest. From top to bottom. I think it’s a Chinese elm. It’s a very powerful tree and there’s a lot to like … Continue reading Remember This?

Oh So Close, But We Have A Winner!

Richard Warner’s Southern beech (with mountains) was the inspiration for the contest and, as it turns out, the winner with 28 points. Though just barely. Richard’s take is a $60 gift certificate to Stone Lantern, and world fame, of course. Thanks to all who entered and congrats to the winners! Email wayne@stonelantern.com and I’ll tell you what to do get your gift certificate. And to the Judges too Thanks to all of you who sent in your choices (21 people in all). Unfortunately, none of you picked all three winners, let alone picked them in order of finish, so we … Continue reading Oh So Close, But We Have A Winner!

Judging from the Digital Bench

You could win… …or maybe just enjoy yourself in the process. So far eighteen people have put on their judges robes. Join them and and enjoy some great photos and maybe, just maybe, win a gift certificate to Stone Lantern. 17th century Spanish judge in full gowns, by Velázquez.