Eccentric or Just Twisted?

Doing the Twist. This tree belongs to Mauro Stemberger (Italian Bonsai Dream). Mauro has one of the most dramatic bonsai collections in the West, and though this one certainly qualifies, is there a line between dramatic and eccentric? Continuing with ‘Eccentric Bonsai’ from two days ago, here’s another one from our archives (November, 2016). Two of the trees in this post are naturally twisted and the other two were twisted by the hands of man. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble telling which is which. SITE WIDE SALE ENDS TOMORROW Everything Is At Least 20% off DOUBLE DISCOUNTS – SALE … Continue reading Eccentric or Just Twisted?

Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Strange as this old tree is, it all works together with a blend of eccentricity and balance (and remarkable ramification*). This photo and the others in this post are from Peter Tea Bonsai Way back in 2009 and early 2010 we ran a series of posts that we called Eccentric Bonsai. Maybe it’s time to resurrect the series. If so, this one-of-a-kind Trident maple seems like a good place to start. We originally posted this tree in December, 2011. It was borrowed from Peter Tea’s blog.  Peter was an apprentice at Mr. Junichiro Tanaka’s Aichi-en bonsai nursery at the time. Peter takes good photos and writes of his experience … Continue reading Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Soft & Squishy

Juan Andrade’s caption for this photo is… “Keto, mochi and wet cement. Soft and squishy was today’s theme.” We’ll skip the mochi and wet cement for now, and focus on the Keto. BTW: I don’t know if you noticed, but this is a very unusual tree (eccentric works)… one feature that stands out is the trunk’s horizontal thrust and then the sudden shift to vertical. This abrupt effect is softened by all the movement. In particular the way the live vein snakes along the deadwood and the curlicue vertical section. There are other striking peculiarities, but we’ll leave those to … Continue reading Soft & Squishy

Wild & Wonderful Bonsai, but No Tanuki Please

A couple things qualify this bonsai as unusual. First, as you can see, it’s got all kind of lines looping and jutting in an almost chaotic fashion. But there’s a method to the madness. All the loops and juts not only add interest and excitement, but they come together in a way that creates both balance and tension. Second is the fact that it’s a Procumbens juniper. A species that you don’t see that often as specimen level bonsai. You do see a lot of dwarf Procumbens as little beginners’ trees here in north America, but that’s another story. Yesterday’s … Continue reading Wild & Wonderful Bonsai, but No Tanuki Please

An Eccentric Bonsai with a Exceptionally Long Cascade

We found this exceptionally long cascading bonsai on the Bonsai South (Australia) website (the old link no longer works). I’ll guess it’s Ficus of some sort. The blank gap above the photo is intentional and has to do with how our posts appear on social media. The original photo is below. It’s time to dig way back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2009,  our first year. It was part of a series of posts on eccentric bonsai and was titled Eccentric Bonsai #4: A Very Long Cascade. The trees and the photos belong to Bonsai South. It’s … Continue reading An Eccentric Bonsai with a Exceptionally Long Cascade

Living on the Edge

My best guess is that most of you will appreciate the inventiveness and the humor expressed in this mixed-media bonsai creation, though perhaps a few purists will take offense. It’s by Miyazato Rintaro (thanks to Colin Lewis for sharing it). Two of the photos in this post are new to us. The others, including the one above are from December 2014 post titled Bonsai on Broomstick Bicycle. I have soft spot for the outer edges of the art of bonsai. As long as the edges don’t slide over into novelty for novelties sake. In the photo above, the quality of … Continue reading Living on the Edge

Eccentric Bonsai?

The compressed quality (like a very large foot stepped on it) make for a somewhat unusual but natural looking bonsai. Then there’s that wonderful trunk. The image is from Joko Sulistianto’s facebook photos, as are all the images in this post. I don’t know who the tree belongs too (ditto on the others). Busy time of year and running behind so once again we’ll dig into our archives. This one is from April 2012. It was titled ‘Eccentric Bonsai: Pushing Invisible Boundaries.’ Way back in the recesses of time (2009 & 2010) we featured a whole series of posts titled … Continue reading Eccentric 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

What’s Eccentric?

This wildly elaborate juniper bonsai is from Bjorn Bjornholm’s facebook photos. It’s a case where a darker background would work better, but borrowers can’t be choosey. Here Bjorn’s caption: “Procumbens wired and ready for its trip to Tokyo.” When I saw the photo above my first thought was… it’s been a while since we did a post on eccentric bonsai, so why not? On reflection however, the whole notion of eccentric is called into question. This has a lot to do with the sudden spread of bonsai throughout the world and the cross pollination made possible by easy travel and … Continue reading What’s Eccentric?

Chaos & Harmony

A couple things qualify this bonsai as unusual. First, as you can see, it’s got all kind of lines looping and jutting in an almost chaotic fashion. But there’s a method to the madness. All the loops and juts not only add interest and excitement, but they come together into a very compelling overall shape. Second is the fact that it’s a Procumbens juniper. A species that you don’t see that often as specimen level bonsai. You do see a lot of dwarf Procumbens as little beginners’ trees here in north America, but that’s another story. Bjorn Bjorholm is one … Continue reading Chaos & Harmony