Picking up where we left off
Our last post provoked more discussion than any post so far. Roughly drawn, the topic is naturalistic bonsai versus highly stylized and highly refined bonsai. I thought it might be good to continue with examples that exist at the extremes, at least in my view.

This Big cone Douglas fir by Dan Robinson  jumped out at me because it seems so absolutely raw. Apologies for the fuzzy photo. I picked it up off of Dan’s website. It doesn’t appear in Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees, though many other examples of Dan’s very raw bonsai do.

Would you dismiss this amazingly dynamic tree because it doesn’t quite look like any tree in nature? Shimpaku juniper by Masahiko Kimura, a master of stylized bonsai who has no problem creating more naturalistic trees as well. From our Masters’ Series Juniper book. There are also numerous examples of Kimura’s bonsai in The Magician, another Stone Lantern Masters’ Series book.

Judging from your comments…
There are two ways we can gauge reader interest. One is by the number of visits to a particular post (our host keeps track for us), and the other is your comments. Judging from your comments, the discussion about the virtues of highly refined Japanese bonsai vs a more naturalistic western style (championed by Walter Pall among others) is a topic that at some of you are interested in. I count myself among this interested group.

An impassioned comment
I won’t say much here, but if you want to read an impassioned comment on the topic by someone named David (and my reply), check the comments on a recent post titled ‘Nature, Picasso & the Hand of Man‘. To whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt from David’s comment: “To be fair and honest I don’t believe in “extremely” naturalistic views from artists like Walter Pall, Dan Robinson and a thousand European artists who “sell” this naturalistic approach to Bonsai. In the end they just look like they love the art but they can’t be real bored of wiring again and again and styling their trees for 20 years in a row searching for true perfection like TRUE Japanese Artists have done for more then a 1000 years.”

An excellent example of a highly refined Shimpaku juniper. By an unidentified Japanese bonsai artist. From our Masters’ Series Juniper book.

This rather famous Norway spruce by Walter Pall has appeared in several places, including Bonsai Today issue 106. Walter is a strong proponent of the naturalistic style.

There are Needle junipers and then there are needle junipers, and then…
Juniperus rigida (above) are commonly called Needle junipers. Then there is the class of junipers with needle like foliage, that are often referred to as needle junipers. These are distinguished from the class of junipers with softer scale like foliage. The problem is, that sometime some junipers with needle like foliage show some scale like foliage (and vice-versa). Confused? You can always order our Masters’ Series Juniper book and sort out the whole thing (and plenty of other things too).

This twin trunk Needle juniper is so famous in Japan that it even has a name: ‘Two Dragons.’ It’s from our aforementioned Bonsai Today Masters’ Series, Growing and Styling Juniper Bonsai.

Our most popular book has been reduced. This doesn’t make any sense; why reduce something that is selling so well?

It says over 200 items have been reduced and that’s true. Actually more like 250. Some quite steeply. And, if you order over $100, you’ll get those dreaded (just kidding) double discounts.

Almost gone. Our classic Pine book is down to less than 40 copies. We originally printed 5,200, so it’s been a pretty good run.

One per person please
While it lasts (and it won’t be long) we request that you limit yourself to one per person (or one per company). Thanks.

No plans
At this point, we have no plans to reprint, though in a year or two, we could change our minds.

Another classic. While we are at it, here’s another worthy classic. We’re not about to run out yet, but it’s a great book and it’s on special at Stone Lantern now.

Check out the meandering living vein on this wonderful crazy work in progress by Isao Omachi. It showed up on facebook the other day and instantly grabbed my imagination and got me thinking about how he could have done it (the living vein part, that is). Perhaps there’s a clue in something that Masahiko Kimura (The Magician) did years ago in a chapter entitled ‘Kimura Flips (a Tree Upside Down)’ in our Masters’ Series Juniper book (below).

Here’s the Kimura tree that he flipped upside down. It originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 21 (out of print).

Pirates
At least one blog has been pirating our posts, lock stock and barrel; but without our links and without any attribution to bonsai bark, or Stone Lantern. If you are reading this on any website or blog that is not ours, and is not attributed to us, then it has been pirated. Please visit us at bonsaibark.com. Thank you.

This group of Needle junipers on a large rock by Norboru Kaneko won first prize at Sakufu-ten #12. It originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 24 (long out of print). It also appears in our Bonsai Today Masters’ Series Juniper book (still in print).

Root-on-rock vs root-over-rock
The bonsai shown in this post are all root-on-rock, which means that the roots are growing in soil that is in pockets in the rock. Root-over-rock is where the rock sits in soil in a pot and the roots are trained to grow down over the rock and into the soil. We’ll do a post on these later.

Here’s another Needle juniper (with an azalea and some others) by Noboru Kaneko. Also from Bonsai Today 24 and our Juniper book.

And one more. Same artist, same place.

Root-over-rock. Here’s a somewhat fuzzy example of root-over-rock (as contrasted with the root-on-rocks above), that comes from Noelanders Throphy XI – A Film by Merlin. You can see one root (with the white stripe) than snakes down the side of the rock. It’s actually functioning as trunk now; roots that are exposed to air will grow bark and become part of the trunk. This only works if the tips of the root are in soil. If the whole root, including the tips, is exposed to air for more than a few minutes, tips and all will begin to die.

There are eccentric bonsai and then…
… there are eccentric bonsai. That is, some trees we feature are just eccentric. Others are masterpieces that are also eccentric (unusual in some respect). My guess is that you can tell which category this one falls into.

I won’t spell it out…
… but it’s the trunk stupid! (just kidding about the stupid part). Magnificent and completely unique. I wonder how he did it? Did he split the original trunk and double it back on itself (he does highly unusual stuff like this sometimes; check our Kimura Flips a Tree Upside Down in our Juniper book). Or what? I await your comments (but won’t hold my breath).

Here’s a more classic powerhouse by Master Kimura to feast your eyes. It’s from The Magician (Stone Lantern Publishing). It also appears in Bonsai Today issue 56.

Even if you’re one of those curmudgeons who complains about the overly sculpted look of some Japanese bonsai, you’ve got to admit that this powerhouse Shimpaku approaches perfection. That trunk draws your eye like few trunks anywhere, with its single living vein, mysterious hollow at its base and the spidery fingers and hole at the top. But it’s the tight lush foliage that I want to point out here; the result of some serious trimming and pinching. The photo is from our Juniper book. Artist unknown.

A question about pinching on Michael Hagedorn’s site
The following is from the Seasonal section of Crataegus Bonsai (Michael’s site). It starts with a question by Ron Verna: I have a shimpaku juniper that I’m concerned about it has lost a lot of foliage and doesn’t look as bushy as I would like. Would piching and repotting help?

Michael’s reply
Hello Ron, Although it is difficult to advise without seeing an image, in general, we pinch far too much on junipers. I recommend cutting the longer shoots that push out of a foliage pad with a scissors, a couple times a year, rather than trying to create density with pinching. That tends to greatly weaken junipers. Repotting can rejuvenate a tree that is metabolically slowing down because the pot is full of roots.

You can pinch with your fingers (but not too much!), and….

…you can also use the tips of your shears for fine trimming.

Thinning: before and after. From our Juniper book.

Books on the subject
Two of the best books on training conifers are part of our Masters’ Series: Growing and Styling Juniper Bonsai, and Growing and Styling Japanese White and Black Pines (most of the info is good for other pines).

Here’s another piece from the same Bonsai Today article. Pruning and pinching excess foliage are always a good idea when transplanting. Less foliage means less work for stressed roots (transplanting causes root stress, especially if you rootprune).

We transplant all summer
As far as the until June part (see above), here in Vermont we can transplant conifers all summer long because it seldom gets very hot. In fact, if you know what you are doing, you can transplant conifers all summer in all but the hottest and driest climates.