Old Bonsai & Ancient Trees

This magnificent Juniper bonsai is said to be 800 years old, which makes it a very old bonsai. But not the oldest bonsai we know of and nowhere near the oldest living tree in the world. It resides at Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum in Tokyo. I borrowed the photo from Bonsai Empire. Old Tjikko. This lonely Norway spruce (Picea abies) is said to be 9,500 years old. But the trunk you see in this photo is only a few hundred years old. The tree above is called Old Tjikko. It originally gained fame as the world’s oldest tree, but … Continue reading Old Bonsai & Ancient Trees

Time and the Ravages of Nature

This after photo by Juan Andrade is a very good example of a field grown bonsai that is grown and styled to look like a yamadori (bonsai collected frm the wild). Though this is a very sweet little tree that might at a glance fool someone, still, there is something about true yamadori that is impossible (almost impossible?) to mimic. Even in the hands of someone as skilled as Juan (and whoever originally grew and styled this tree). This post picks up on Field Grown Bonsai that Look Like Yamadori from last week. Here’s the before photo. You don’t have … Continue reading Time and the Ravages of Nature

Dead for One Thousand Years

Only countless years and the ceaseless ravages of weather born hardship can account for the character that this astounding dead tree displays. It looks like a Bristlecone pine from the White Mountains just east of Owens Valley in California (I found it on Bonsai Mania and they’re not saying anything, but I’d bet my first born grandchild on it). Dead for one thousand years?! I’ve heard that Bristlecones can stand for up to a thousand years after they have died. It’s hard enough to fathom living for up to five thousand years (really!), but dead trees standing for another thousand … Continue reading Dead for One Thousand Years

What Would You Do?

Perfect, powerful, beautifully nicely photographed and apparently growing on a rock. The shape of the tree and the deadwood have a juniper look, but the foliage looks more pine than juniper, though it’s too far away to get a good read (see below). The dramatic backdrop could only be the Grand Canyon. The photo is courtesy of Bonsai Mania. What would you do? Imagine that this tree is in a training pot and, best of all, it’s yours. What would you do (if anything) to improve it? This blurry blow up pretty much confirms my notion the the tree is … Continue reading What Would You Do?

Bonsai Art Contest: Plenty of Winners

The winner. Patrick Giacobbe’s Bonsai Design. Graphite on Bristol board. A closely bunched field (with one exception) First place was no contest; Patrick won going away with 73 points. After that, things got much tighter. Second place (see below) received 34 points, and third was a two way tie with 27 points each. How the judges voted Altogether thirty one people decided to judge. Each judge assigned nine points. This means there were 279 total points assigned. If you do the math you’ll see that those who didn’t finish in the money received 118 points. Put another way, everyone was … Continue reading Bonsai Art Contest: Plenty of Winners

Fourth Entry $100 Bonsai Art Contest

Bristlecone teapot, by Mike Viljak. Here’s what Mike has to say about it: “Attached is a photo of a bristlecone-inspired teapot I made out of porcelain. The outside is glazed in raw wood ash, but fired in a gas kiln. The base is made of local clay I collected. When doing both ceramic art and bonsai, the two tend to inform each other in lots of ways.” There’s still time for you to enter But don’t wait too long. Entries are coming in at a brisk pace, so we’ll probably close the contest pretty soon (my best guess is about … Continue reading Fourth Entry $100 Bonsai Art Contest

Jin & Shari #3: The Three Types of Deadwood

This classic Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) shows all three types of deadwood: sabamiki (hollow trunk), shari (deadwood on the trunk) and jin (dead branches or dead treetop; if you look closely you’ll see a few little dead branches sticking out). The tree is from our Pocket Bonsai Gallery (it originally appeared on the cover on Bonsai Today issue 43). Backing up and starting over Even though we’ve already posted a couple times on the topic, I’ve decided to go back to the beginning for those of you who don’t know much about deadwood on bonsai. If you’ve been around … Continue reading Jin & Shari #3: The Three Types of Deadwood