Fearless Bonsai Warrior

Revisiting John Romano’s Almost Famous Juniper

Carl Morrow sent us this digitalized revision (and two others, see below) of a juniper that was originally submitted to our ‘Fearless Bonsai Warrior‘ program, by John Romano. This is the second critique of John’s juniper that has been submitted to Bonsai Bark (here’s the other). Carl’s turn with John’s Juniper The photos and text in this post were submitted by Carl Morrow. Carl has been here before with his own tree. Now he’s tackling John Romano’s juniper. “A tree needs to tell a consistent story and when one has an outstanding feature or focal point then the theme created … Continue reading Revisiting John Romano’s Almost Famous Juniper

Another Fearless Bonsai Warrior

This Juniperus chinensis parsonii, that started as an urban yamadori in 2007 (height 26″), was submitted by Patrick Giacobbe. In addition to this submission, Patrick has contributed to Bonsai Bark with his comments on a bonsai that was submitted by John Romano. Bunjin or not bunjin? The pot and the almost branchless trunk with its twisted unconventional lines suggest a bunjin (literati) style tree. However the heavy top is unbunjin-like, and the tree is planted on one side of its round pot, rather than near the center as you normally find. None of this is necessarily a problem, you are … Continue reading Another Fearless Bonsai Warrior

A Reader’s Critique and a Small Exception

Patrick Giacobbe was kind enough to send this along with some comments (my dream of a more interactive blog is slowly dawning). It’s his take on a photo that was submitted by John Romano that appears in an earlier post (Be A Fearless Bonsai Warrior – 9/24/09). To clarify, the tree is John’s and the superimposed lines and the comments that follow are Patrick’s (edited just a bit by yours truly – I had to key it in anyway as text was sent as part of the image). Dear John (from Patrick) John, no need to apologize for the tree. … Continue reading A Reader’s Critique and a Small Exception

Bonsai Warriors: A Critique & A Pleasant Surprise

This powerful Trident maple was submitted by Carl Morrow of Cape Town South Africa and is our first Fearless Bonsai Warrior award winner (a fifteen dollar gift certificate to Stone Lantern-see below). A free critique (for what it’s worth) There’s a lot to like about this tree, and a few things that might be done to improve it. I think it needs a different pot (actually, I like the pot a lot, just not with this tree). It’s shallowness sets off the trunk’s thickness, and that’s a good thing,  however, the pot is too big from side to side and … Continue reading Bonsai Warriors: A Critique & A Pleasant Surprise