A Skinny Lone Tree, a Large Empty Space…

California Juniper (Juniperus californica) at the Cup. It belongs to Seiji Shiba. Estimated age: 1000-1600 years old, trained for 15 years. All the photos in this post are by Hoe Chuah. I just rediscovered* an exceptional bonsai blog. It’s titled Bonsai Penjing & More and it belongs to Hoe Chuah. Most of the best bonsai blogs have good photos, but blogs like Bonsai Penjing & More that combine quality photos with thoughtful, well written comments are lot less common. The following by Hoe Chuah is from yesterday’s Bark comments. The tree he references is just below. “I like Michael Pollack’s hinoki … Continue reading A Skinny Lone Tree, a Large Empty Space…

Judging Bonsai at the Cup: The Limits of the Point System

Eric Schikowski’s collected Mountain Hemlock was one of my favorites. It was also Peter Warren’s first choice. I borrowed this photo and the one below from Eric Shrader’s PHUTU blog. I was going to give the Cup a rest for awhile until I ran across this thorough, thoughtful and thought provoking article on Eric Shrader’s PHUTU (one of the best blogs I’ve had the good fortune to stumble upon lately). We’ll start with a disclaimer two disclaimers: First, what follows takes nothing away from the winners. All four (third place was a tie) are great bonsai and worthy of accolades. … Continue reading Judging Bonsai at the Cup: The Limits of the Point System

Bonsai Under American & African Skies

This Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. glauca) is one of numerous extraordinary bonsai at Ryan Neil’s Mirai American Bonsai (near Portland, Oregon). It was originally collected in the Rocky mountains by Randy Knight. It’s age is given as 10-250 100-250 years. Height is 36″ (91cm), width 52″ (132cm). Time has a funny way of slipping by while we dither, and it would be a shame if you let the Artisans Cup come and go without signing up and booking your trip to Portland. Before you dither any further or just dismiss the idea altogether, when was the last time you … Continue reading Bonsai Under American & African Skies

Great Close Ups, the Tallest Tree in the World, the Artisans Cup and other Bonsai Wonders

It’s not that often that you’ll find a tall tree like this with great lower branching. When you do, and in the right hands, the result can be striking and quite unique. It’s a Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) that belongs to Ryan Neil (Bonsai Mirai). All the photos in this post are from Ryan’s facebook photos. One of the things I like about Ryan Neil’s photos are his close-ups. It doesn’t hurt that his trees are phenomenal and so well photographed in the first place. But then to show such vivid close-ups invites you in closer. Like you are there … Continue reading Great Close Ups, the Tallest Tree in the World, the Artisans Cup and other Bonsai Wonders

Bonsai Conspiracies

This strange and wonderful monster resides at Ryan Neil’s International Bonsai Mirai, but the photo is from Aarin Packard’s Capital Bonsai blog. Most of Aarin’s posts are from the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, but this one is from a recent visit to Bonsai Mirai. Conspiracies? I probably should have titled this ‘what happens when bonsai artists visit each other’ but my guess is Bonsai Conspiracies got your attention. No matter, it was inspired by four notable bonsai artist/bloggers getting together (in two sets of two). Artisans Cup postponed until 2015. There’s another theme at play here; two of artists … Continue reading Bonsai Conspiracies

American Bonsai Heaven

Still a work in progress, but an exceptional work at that. Douglas fir, styled by Ryan Neil. Collected by Randy Knight. Full tilt bonsai Is it just me, or has Oregon quietly become bonsai heaven? Think about it; Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai) has been hunkering down in Portland every since he returned from his apprenticeship with Shinji Suzuki in Japan. Now Ryan Neil (International Bonsai Mirai), still somewhat fresh from his six year apprenticeship with Masahiko Kimura (if you’ve heard of anybody, you’ve heard of him) has settled in the Portland area too. Both Michael and Ryan are going full … Continue reading American Bonsai Heaven

Pushing the Bonsai Boundaries

Can you imagine the time needed to develop and maintain the numerous foliage clouds? Does this level of refinement exist outside of Japan? Needle juniper (J. rigida) by Shinji Suzuki. From our Masters’ Series Juniper book. 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 … Continue reading Pushing the Bonsai Boundaries