One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

This old collected Rocky Mountain juniper is from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai portfolio. Spent long days all weekend rewriting my old copy for all 700 or so of our products for our new, soon to be live website. It’s a big job, but essential. If you don’t believe me, read some of our current, soon to be replaced thirteen year old website and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, I’m not finished yet and time is still compressed, so it’s back to our archives. This one originally appeared here in April, 2015. It’s one of the best pieces of bonsai … Continue reading One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

The Monk, Bonsai Before & After

Before and after by Salvador De Loy Reyes. He calls it The Monk, but gives no other information, including no species (looks a lot like a Shimpaku juniper) or details of any kind, though you might guess it was originally field grown and purposely twisted to look like an old Japanese yamadori (bonsai collected from the wild). Without seeing the other side of the tree, it’s almost impossible to follow the live veins in their delightfully chaotic movement up the trunk Yesterday’s post featured three trees that were ready to be reviewed and retouched by Salvador De Los Reyes. Today it’s a before … Continue reading The Monk, Bonsai Before & After

Mame Master Haruyosi’s Sturdy Little Black Pines

The fingers belong to Haruyosi. As does this sturdy little Kuromatsu (Japanese black pine). And though I don’t know this for a fact, my best guess is that Haruyosi made the pot. Here’s Mame Master Haruyosi’s caption that appears with the first three photos shown here (from July 4th)… “I worked on decandling of small Kuromatsu today. Now a typhoon is approaching here” (it hit Japan this week and caused severe flooding in the south) All four photos shown here are all from Haruyosi’s timeline. If you get a chance, it’s a click worth making. You might also want to … Continue reading Mame Master Haruyosi’s Sturdy Little Black Pines

A Well Fed Japanese Red Pine & a Reminder to Feed Your Bonsai Generously

This distinctive Japanese red pine with its strong shari and sudden change of direction, shows the radiant vibrancy of a well-fed bonsai. It belongs Ken Fujiwara Summer growing season is time to generously feed your bonsai… Without adequate fertilizing, you won’t see the development you want; vibrant rich foliage, fine branching, thickening trunks and primary branches, powerful nebari and most critical of all, strong root growth. And of course, well-fed strong bonsai can better resists pests and diseases and withstand the challenges of the coming winter FEED YOUR BONSAI & SAVE All Bonsai Fertilizers 25% to 40% off List Prices … Continue reading A Well Fed Japanese Red Pine & a Reminder to Feed Your Bonsai Generously

Modern Bonsai Practice

The cover of a brand new and up-to-date bonsai book by Larry Morton that features the latest in bonsai horticultural practices and a bonus gallery of 165 photos of some of Walter Pall’s best bonsai. Walter Pall has been advocating applying modern horticultural knowledge and techniques to our bonsai, rather than relying only on what has been passed down through the generations. This can be accomplished without disregarding the wisdom of the old ways while paying close attention to what science now knows about growing plants. With a mind open to the latest knowledge and a willingness to experiment, you … Continue reading Modern Bonsai Practice

Trim, Wire, Feed, Transplant, Enjoy

Trident maple forest from Bonsai Today issue 14. Back issues of Bonsai Today are 75% off. We don’t often use Bonsai Bark to advertise our products, but in this case, because so many of you have been waiting for our Bonsai Aesthetics wire, we’re making a somewhat rare exception. Our famous and enormously popular Bonsai Aesthetics wire is back, and, as always, the prices are unbeatable. 1 Kilo rolls are from 14.80 to 18.50 each depending on how many you buy, and 100 gram rolls are from 2.36 to 2.95 also depending on how many you buy. Roshi Bonsai Tool … Continue reading Trim, Wire, Feed, Transplant, Enjoy

Lime Sulfur: A Story with a Happy Ending

How many bottles of lime sulfur were used on this monster? I find this tree to be compelling in so many ways (much has to do with shear size, power & no small amount of detail). Still, is the foliage a little too manicured and the deadwood overwrought? I’m sure there are some purists out there who might say something like that, and there’s some sense to these observations, especially if you feel that bonsai should look like trees in nature. But still… why sweat the small stuff when you’re looking at one of the more imposingly powerful bonsai you’ve … Continue reading Lime Sulfur: A Story with a Happy Ending

Now Back (It’s No Secret)

Bonsai Secrets by Peter Chan is back in print, new cover, excellent contents, and all. Perfect for beginning to intermediate enthusiasts Bonsai Secrets covers pretty much all of the ground you would expect in a beginner’s book, as well as some more advanced ground (well, advanced from the beginner’s point of view), like: creating good taper, field-growing techniques, rock planting, displaying and exhibiting, creating jin & shari, air-layering, wabi sabi in bonsai design and more. And the timing is perfect Beginner’s books have been dropping like the oak leaves that cover my front yard. Simon & Schuster is gone, Pocket … Continue reading Now Back (It’s No Secret)