Would You Believe a Bonsai Just Sold for $100,000?

You’ll have to scroll down to see the $100,000 bonsai, but this famous Hinoki planting by the even more famous Masahiko Kimura, just sold at the Taikan ten bonsai show for a mere 1,800,000 Japanese yen (approx $16,000) You think you blew your budget this season? How about some of these bonsai that sold at last month’s annual Taikan ten bonsai show? I found them at Bonsai Kyogie (Victoria Australia). SITE WIDE SALE SAME DAY SHIPPING* Everything Is At Least 20% off Items already discounted are more than 20% off *Orders placed by 2:00pm EST will be shipped the same business day discounts are … Continue reading Would You Believe a Bonsai Just Sold for $100,000?

Something for Bonsai Rock Planting Lovers & Fans

Great stone. Great planting. All but the lowest juniper appear to be growing in pockets of soil in the stone. This is referred to as a root-on-rock bonsai. It looks like the lowest one has its roots growing down into the pot (protected for now by moss). This would be root-over-rock style. The artist is Jan Culek Continuing our rock planting theme from yesterday… Most large complex stones for bonsai plantings are made by human hands, and the ones shown here are no exception. They’ll all by Jan Culek GREAT BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT 40% OFF LIST PRICES ALL BONSAI AESTHETICS TOOLS INCLUDING … Continue reading Something for Bonsai Rock Planting Lovers & Fans

A Well Traveled, Hard Working Bonsai Artist

Bjorn Bjorholm posted this root-on-rock gem the other day. It looks like a juniper, but I can’t tell for sure what kind and won’t bother to guess. Speaking of guesses, I’ll venture that some or all of the trees might share a single root system, and that the rock formation is manmade. I cropped this photo to eliminate background noise. A version that shows the whole planting is just below. Bjorn Bjorholm has to be one of the most well-traveled and hard working bonsai artists anywhere. At least that’s the impression I get from his posts on facebook. Speaking of, stay posted … Continue reading A Well Traveled, Hard Working Bonsai Artist

Rock Island Bonsai

One of three impressive rock plantings from Mauro Stemberger’s recent bonsai sojourn in India. The trees in all three plantings are Procumbens juinipers. The natural sandstone river rocks were put together with cement. I don’t know anything about the pot, except that it’s a monster. Yesterday I wrote that I wanted to feature these three Juniper forests on rock islands by Mauro Stemberger and friends but needed more time to do a little research. We’ll, I couldn’t find the time, but if you’d like, you can do your own research. Here and here are two facebook links. You might also … Continue reading Rock Island Bonsai

Bonsai on the Rocks

It would be nice to know the size of this powerful Penjing. Experience teaches that these type plantings are often much bigger and more impressive than you can tell with just photos. This masterful work of bonsai art, was posted by our friend and associate Robert Steven. There’s no translation for Robert’s text, so I can’t say much about it, except that it reminds me of the powerful rock mountains that jut out of the water in Viet Nam’s Halong Bay… and that just seeing these remarkable photos made my day. Continued below… 25% off All Bonsai Books Choose from … Continue reading Bonsai on the Rocks

Three Robust Shimpaku on a Stupendous Rock

Three robust Shimpaku junipers on a stupendous rock. From the Omiya Bonsai Museum via Empire Bonsai. Yesterday we featured a type of bonsai forest, so let’s keep going with another type. Though some people might not call these rock plantings forests, they do share the multiple tree and the landscape features with more conventional bonsai forests. This post (with a few changes) first appeared August 2015. That’s Ryan Neil’s hand posing for a professional photo with a one of the largest root-on-rock plantings you’ll ever see. Here’s his caption: “In the studio today with @hornbecker shooting for the Artisans Cup … Continue reading Three Robust Shimpaku on a Stupendous Rock

Paradise & Another Invitation from Toshio Kawamoto

My apologies for the fuzz. The original scan wasn’t that great and blowing it up so we can get a closer look has its advantages and drawbacks. We might as well plow forward with our resurrection of Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei masterpeices. He called this one Land of Paradise which is a reference to the Pure Land buddhist tradition. We originally featured it in April of 2010. There are two things that jump right out about this one: First, the rocks. They are different than the wind and surf smoothed rocks in his other plantings and take us to a more … Continue reading Paradise & Another Invitation from Toshio Kawamoto

Magician on the Rocks

The mature look. It helps to start with well developed trees. I think most of us would be happy to have trees like these Shimpaku as single bonsai, let alone as parts of group plantings. Summers are short here in Vermont, it’s Sunday morning and the sun has decided to make an appearance. Time to dig into our archives and vacate this office before petrification sets in. We just mentioned Kimura (last post) so why not show some of his remarkable bonsai? This post originally appeared last summer. To shed a little more light, you might want to visit the … Continue reading Magician on the Rocks

Kimura on the Rocks

The mature look. It helps to start with well developed trees. I think most of us would be happy to have trees like these Shimpaku as single bonsai, let alone as parts of group plantings. Kimura’s rock plantings. These photos are all from a facebook posting by Alejandro Sartori that he took during a recent visit to Masahiko Kimura’s nursery. I’ve chosen to pick out some rock plantings from a much larger selection of Alejandro’s photographs of Kimura’s trees. I think they represent an aspect of Kimura’s revolutionary bonsai journey that may not be as familiar as some of his … Continue reading Kimura on the Rocks

Improving a Less-Than-Beautiful Design

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Chinese elm root-on-rock bonsai submitted by Ikhsan. The original (before) photo is below. Still impressed No matter how much I try, I don’t see nearly as much as Robert Steven sees when he does his critiques (it’s not even close). So, once again, I am left to sing the praises of Robert’s bonsai wisdom. If you’d like proof of that wisdom, just read on. Or, you can check out Robert’s books and search his name on this blog and read through dozens of his earlier posts. It’s time well spent. Robert’s critique How can two … Continue reading Improving a Less-Than-Beautiful Design