Our Stone Lantern warehouse is closed this week. Orders received this week will be shipped next week (the week of the 23rd) on a first-come, first-serve basis. Speaking of orders; don’t forget to fertilize your bonsai! Under-feeding leads to weak trees.

The Roots of Bonsai. The Bonsai Society of Dallas presents the LSBF 2012 Convention: The Roots of Bonsai, featuring Kathy Shaner, Michael Hagedorn and Ryan Neil (April 27-29). All three of these highly skilled bonsai artists studied in Japan and have a wealth of knowledge to share. As of yesterday, I’m told that some workshops are still open.

We’re saving this space. Send us information on your upcoming bonsai event <wayne@stonelantern.com>. If we like it (we like most of them) and especially if you provide a link or two, we’ll feature it here on Bonsai Bark.

See you there. This promises to be one of the greatest bonsai events ever in the U.S. Maybe the greatest. June 9-10. The Fair Expo Center, Rochester, New York. Details here.

Photographing bonsai. Morten Albek, photographer, author and bonsai artist, has an enlightening article on photographing bonsai on Bonsai Empire’s website. Morten is one of the few photographers who seems to be able to effectively photograph bonsai in natural settings (without studio backdrops). This tree is a good example; there’s plenty of potential background noise, but the way the lighting and depth of field are used minimizes distraction. In addition to visiting Morten online, you can also enjoy his high quality bonsai photos in his excellent book, Majesty in Miniature: Shohin Bonsai.

Japanese Bonsai Pots. The cherry blossoms above and the pot below are from a blog titled Japanese Bonsai Pots. If you like beautiful (perhaps even museum quality) bonsai pots, you’ll like this blog.

BSF 39th Annual Convention. Featuring Ryan Neil, Peter Warren and Kora Dalager. May 25-28.

Whoops. Somehow I lost the source for this photo. Apologies to the owner, photographer and everyone else. However, lost or found, this is a wonderful twin trunk pine. Zigs, zags and all.

Bonsai at the University of Michigan. Matthaei Botanical Gardans Bonsai & Penjing Collection. (the two bonsai photos above are by Carlos Diaz). Jerry Meislik (author of Ficus Bonsai) is the chairperson of the collection. You can visit Jerry’s site in addition to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens site, for information on the collection.

This monster is from the 2011 ASPAC. The photo is by Marcel Bebot Calungsud. It would be great to see a photo of the full tree, sans scaffolding.

Marc Noelanders is coming to Sydney. Tony Bebb too. The Tops-Weekend Workshops, August 24-26. Sponsored by the Illawarra Bonsai Society.

Mark your calendar for a world-class bonsai weekend. June 9th and 10th. Details here.

If it’s in a bonsai pot
You can plant almost anything in a bonsai pot. If it’s woody, you can call it a bonsai. If it’s not, you can call it a companion or accent plant; a planting that’s designed to enhance a bonsai display. Or it could be designed to stand on its own, in which case you can call it a kusamono (for more on this, you can check out Willi Benz’ Bonsai, Kusamono, Suiseki, or this earlier post). No matter what you call it, you might come to the conclusion that, if it’s in a bonsai pot and it’s alive, it’s either bonsai or it’s related to bonsai.

Moss and Stone Gardens
When I recently stumbled upon the Moss and Stone Gardens website, I immediately recognized a kindred spirit. Not only are moss and stones are often incorporated into bonsai, but moss and stone gardens seem to fit with bonsai in more general, aesthetic ways. This is especially true when they are arranged in bonsai pots, but even beyond that, well-done moss and stone landscape gardens seem to have a natural connection with our bonsai sensibilities.

I this a type of bonsai? It’s in a bonsai pot (a cheap unattractive bonsai pot at that) and it even sports a little juniper. Or would you call it a type of penjing? Or saikei? Or…?

This bonsai pot suits this lichen, fern and moss planting very well.

A cornucopia of mosses in undulating, free form pot that may or may not have been designed for bonsai.

Moss and lichens (and maybe something else) in a well-chosen bonsai pot.

A seductive piece of an outdoor moss and stone garden.

Moss milkshake
Got moss? If not, you might want to try a Moss Milkshake.

Some discounted books on the subject
Moss Gardening (retail 34.95, Stone Lantern’s deeply discounted price 17.97)
The classic Bonsai, Kusamono, Suiseki by Willi Benz (retail 29.95, our low price 17.97)
Saikei and Art (retail 39.95, our deeply discounted price 7.99)

Attractive bonsai pots at attractive prices
Stone Lantern now offers a quality selection of attractive bonsai pots.

http://www.mossandstonegardens.com/blog/dish-gardens/

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/faqs/Kusamono.html

Continuing a Bark tradition
This our 11th Backyard Bonsai post. The first was Wolfgang Putz’ way back in May 2009. Aside from their voyeuristic value, I think these posts might serve as useful examples, or even inspiration for the rest of us. If you’ve been inspired to put together your own backyard display, we’d like to see photos if you get a chance.

Mr. Pitt
John Pitt is an award winning bonsai potter and bonsai artist who lives in Derbyshire, England. In addition to his own bonsai, John’s pots can be found holding some of the best trees in the world.

A bigger slice.

Individual stands of concrete block and simple boards (or tiles?). Looks like some pretty decent trees too.

The bonsai displays are part of a landscape that combines Asian and Western features.

Another of John’s varied, but related bench types features some colorful companion plants. I guess you could call this bench a cantilevered pedestal.

An old wooden beam supported by bricks. Yet another bench type.

Single pedestal stands of varying heights constructed with white and red bricks that sit on shallow concrete blocks. At a glance, the tops look like boards, though I suspect that they might be tiles.

A small sampling of John’s pots. You can see more on facebook, or on John’s website.

Speaking of backyard benches, have you seen Bonsai: Your Guide to Creating Stands and Benches by George Buehler?

Our warehouse is closed for vacation until July 12th. Orders received this week will be shipped next week.

What better way to get a new pot for an old tree?
The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is sponsoring a competition for a new pot for a famous old tree. If you’re a potter, here’s you chance to do something good for the Museum (and achieve a little fame and fortune at the same time). If you’re not a potter, but you know someone who is, please pass this link along.

A completley unique and rich bonsai experience
Even if you’re not a potter (most people aren’t), the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum is always there, waiting for your visit. It’s a trip well worth taking, especially if you consider that it’s really four museums in one (the North American collection, the Japanese collection, the Chinese collection and the Viewing Stone collection). This makes for a completely unique and rich bonsai experience.

The Master and the Masterpiece. Blue Atlas Cedar cascade-style bonsai in the North American Collection of the U.S. National Arboretum’s National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/site/projects.html

Two posts ago…
… we featured some very small bonsai. This provoked a discussion about tiny pots where someone (Randy Davis of the Minnesota Bonsai Society) mentioned Jim Barrett pots. Though I am sure there are others who sell tiny pots (Robert Steven, a frequent contributor to Bonsai Bark, mentioned some that are made in China), this might provide a starting point for those of you who are interested.

Brandywine
The Brandywine Bonsai Society’s website includes a one-of-a-kind section on North American pots and potters, which is where all the photos in this post are from.

Yixing bonsai pots
BTW, in case you haven’t noticed, Stone Lantern now offers bonsai pots. Many are Yixing pots. Yixing is an area in China that is renowned for its fine clay. Some of the finest bonsai pots in the world come from Yixing.

Not quite mini, but small. By Wendy Heller (we’ve featured her before). I have some of Wendy’s earthy little pots. They are among my favorites. Photo from Brandywine.

Maybe not tiny, but most certainly striking. By Nikki D’Amico. Photo from Brandywine.

Debbie’s red nailhead. By Ross Adams. Not small, but pretty slick. I like the clean lines and glossy glaze. Photo from Brandywine.

More Taiwanese Bonsai
Here are three more bonsai from the 2008 Taiwan Bonsai Creators Exhibition booklet which appears on Bonsai Shari Si-Diao,  Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s website. It’s the pots, as well the trees, that really grabbed me.

Ficus microcarpa by Huang,Ching-Chi.

Variety unlisted. By Tung, Wen Chi.

A small sampling of what we have and what’s to come.

Finally
We’ve been talking about offering bonsai pots for a while and now, finally, we’ve got them. So far we’ve put up thirty-some, with many more to come. Stay posted.

A ways to go
Organization-wise, we still have a ways to go. Once we get enough up, we’ll organize them into sub-groups for your convenience. Meanwhile, it’s pretty easy to go through what’s already up.

Competitive prices too
We are being very careful to keep our pot prices competitive. Feel free to compare. In this vein, we have also been working on lowering prices on some other items we offer (tools, fertilizers, wire and other stuff).

Don’t forget our book and magazine sale
Big discounts! We haven’t decided when to end it yet, but it won’t be too much longer.

Hirato-Yaki peacock pot. This pot may be from as far back as 1598. 22 inches (59cm) across the top. That’s  a very large pot. From Bonsai Today issue 61.

Pot lovers?
We don’t get much response when we post pots. I guess powerful old bonsai or flashy flowering trees excite people more. Still, pots are the other half of bonsai, and the best pots rise to the level of fine art.

Where are the trees?
Maybe the reason people don’t show much interest in these fine art type pots is that they are almost always empty. Sometimes you see these kinds of pots with companion plants, but almost never with a bonsai tree gracing their beauty.

Subtle beauty, fine art. This one is from our Japanese mystery book. The uneven top adds a touch of wabi sabi. It’s 13.5cm (5.3 inches) across the opening.

Subtle beauty, fine art with bright flowers. What could you ever plant in this pot? 4 inches (10cm) across the top. From our mystery book.

We featured this one back in May, but just in case you missed it….

New pots
I’ve been checking out Michelle’s posts at Bunjin Journal for quite a while now. Though she doesn’t post very often (lately she’s been on a bit of roll), when she does, she usually comes up with something a tad unusual. This time it’s some pots she just made. Not that all her pots are all that unusual, some are, some aren’t (I picked a couple here that I think are both distinctive and beautiful), but if you follow her posts, you’ll see what I mean.

I love this schefflera by Sara Rayner, even though it’s a bit jammed in the photo. It’s completely unique and has a natural uncontrived feel. I found it and the photo below at The Art of Bonsai Project.

Sara Rayner, potter plus bonsai artist
For a long time I thought Sara Rayner just made fine bonsai pots. I didn’t know she made fine bonsai as well. I would venture a guess that I’m not the only one who has held such thoughts, as Sara is quite well known for her pots, and less well known for her trees (at least that’s my impression). Anyway, her trees are every bit worthy of her masterful pots. Their are others in the bonsai world who make their own pots, but few who match both sets of skills so well.

Ponderosa pine and pot by Sara Rayner. Another one of a kind. The tree is unique and the tree pot combination echo that uniqueness.