Brilliant Fall Bonsai Color

Brilliant fall color. Sweet tree too. It belongs to Harry Harrington. Here’s his caption: “A quick shot of my English or Field Elm bonsai today (Ulmus minor), showing autumn colour. Height 17″/42cm. Developed from an airlayered branch 12 years ago, some of you may recognise from my book Bonsai Inspirations 1. Pot by Victor Harris of Erin Bonsai.” Got a couple Harry Harrington beauties in fall color for you today. I lifted them from Harry’s facebook feed. Harry also has an excellent website, bonsai4me.com and three books in print in England. You can look for the U.S. edition of Foundations … Continue reading Brilliant Fall Bonsai Color

Defoliation – Before & After

A Shohin Trident maple before & after defoliation by Harry Harrington. Just to give you some perspective, this sturdy little tree is only 8″ (20cm) high. It’s time to defoliate. Early summer heat is causing leaves to become oversized. With some deciduous bonsai (especially maples) defoliation works wonders. Not only are the new leaves smaller, but they tend to produce better fall color. Most defoliation is a one-time-per-summer, per-tree occasion. If you live where the summers are very long, it’s possible to defoliate twice in one summer.* Be careful though. If there isn’t enough time to fully recover before cold … Continue reading Defoliation – Before & After

It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden, but first, take a look at this!

Harry Harrington’s latest iteration of his English yew. Here’s what Harry said about this tree : “Finally, work on my Taxus baccata/Yew bonsai completed with the branches wired and laid-out. Height 25″/61cm, trunkbase (inc root jin) 12″/30cm. Pot by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery.” It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden. So rather than taking the time to put together a new post, I’m going to show you one of my favorites from our archives (last November). It’s titled … Continue reading It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden, but first, take a look at this!

Not So Common Privet Bonsai

One of Harry Harrington’s latest Privet bonsai. This one has highly refined delicate carving with abundant sabamiki, which is something I’ve noticed in Harry’s bonsai lately. Height 16″ (39 cm). Pot by Erin Bonsai Pottery. I’ve been following Harry Harrington since Bark’s earliest days (2009). He has a thing for Common privets (Ligustrum ovalifolium) and they’ve long interested me too, though you just don’t see that many Privet bonsai. Except if you follow Harry. This one was collected from a 70 year old hedge row in 2012, though you can bet it didn’t look like this then. Height 13″ … Continue reading Not So Common Privet Bonsai

Evolution of Remarkable Bonsai

Harry Harrington’s latest iteration of his English yew. Here’s what Harry said about this tree three days ago: ” Finally, work on my Taxus baccata/ Yew bonsai completed with the branches wired and laid-out. Height 25″/61cm, trunkbase (inc root jin) 12″/30cm. Pot by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery.” I’ve been watching the evolution of Harry Harrington’s bonsai for a long time now. In fact, one of our first posts is from Harry’s bonsai4me (March 2009). Now, almost seven years later we have the (you can supply your own adjectives) tree shown here. It’s an English (aka European) Yew (Taxus baccata). … Continue reading Evolution of Remarkable Bonsai

Stumbling Upon Some Strange & Wonderful Bonsai After Six Plus Years of Blissful Ignorance

I’ve never seen a bonsai quite like this. It would be unusual even without that long joining root and those stubby trees in the back. With these almost alien features (and others), it stands alone as an absolute one-of-a-kind bonsai. It is also the only photo in this group (from bonsai4me) to give the artist’s name (Richard R Gomez) and the type tree (Strebulus asper). This is a first. A post on bonsai in the Philippines. After over six years of blissful ignorance, I discovered these wonderful (and in some cases, strange) bonsai by accident this morning. I won’t bore … Continue reading Stumbling Upon Some Strange & Wonderful Bonsai After Six Plus Years of Blissful Ignorance

Just Waiting There for You in Millions of Hedges

Harry has outdone himself this time. Harry Harrington has been styling and posting Privet bonsai for a long time. To my eye, Harry’s previous Privets (two below) have been very good, but now he has outdone himself (as witnessed by the tree above and the closeup just below). It’s not just Privets for Harry; his website Bonsai4me presents a whole range of excellent bonsai (and plenty of educational writing as well), but his Privets stand out for a couple reasons: first, they are good and getting better, and second, Privet is an excellent candidate for bonsai that is widely underused … Continue reading Just Waiting There for You in Millions of Hedges

Weekly Wire: Bonsai Surperstar, FREE Fertilizer, Making Uro, Spring!

Goyo-matsu (Japanese white pine) from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. FREE FERTILIZER! We are giving away our favorite fertilizer over on Stone Lantern. Just for the fun of it (and to encourage you to place an order and to feed your bonsai!) Happy white Easter from Walter Pall. This morning Walter posted a whole bunch of photos a lot like this. There’s even some scary photos that shows fully and partially leafed out maples covered with snow. Here’s the good news from Walter: “While I am posting these photographs it has stopped snowing and even the sun is … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Bonsai Surperstar, FREE Fertilizer, Making Uro, Spring!

Bonsai for You

Close up of a Tamarix bonsai by Harry Harrington (bonsai4me.com). This tree started as a taperless stump (see below). Four pretty good reasons I can think of at least four reasons why I enjoy visiting Harry Harrington’s bonsai4me.com. First, his style is distinctive; I’m pretty sure I could pick Harry’s trees out of selection of random bonsai. Second, Harry uses a wider range of species for bonsai than almost anyone and many of these are seldom seen in quality bonsai galleries (Spirea, Downy birch, Fuchsia, Tamarix, Little leaf linden…). Third, Harry’s choice of pots is excellent (all of the pots … Continue reading Bonsai for You

Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved

Another great unidentified tree from the Noelanders Trophy VII No NameBonsai Gallery (see yesterday’s post) that is featured on bonsai4me. I love the way this tree’s wild essence has been left intact, just the way Mother Nature intended. This comes through loud and clear in the deadwood that speaks of great age and looks so perfectly natural; as though the artist never touched it. Mysteries solved Thanks to our friend Ferry Freriks (you might remember Ferry as the winner of our $100 Unique Bonsai Contest), many of the mysteries in yesterday’s No Name Bonsai Gallery have met the light of … Continue reading Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved