Time to Throw the Switch!?

This delightful creation by Sandro Segneri has nothing to do with the switch, though it is exciting and new just like our soon-to-be-live New Stonelantern Website First the switch … Sometime this weekend (or shortly thereafter) our NEW STONELANTERN WEBSITE will go live. I won’t say much more except it promises to be better than our old worn out and largely obsolete website by several orders of magnitude – Meanwhile you can still visit our old site and enjoy some very juicy discounts while they last – One more thing …when we do go live, you’ll have to sign in … Continue reading Time to Throw the Switch!?

Flowers, a Tiny Lizard & Other Bonsai Wonders

It’s almost that time of year. Here’s David Benavente’s caption… Rhododendron indicum “Shin Nikko” hoy, en plena floración (today in full bloom). 45x55cm (18″ x 21.5″) We’re still working on finishing touches for our soon-to-be launched new website. Stay posted, I think you’re going to like it. Meanwhile time is of essence so we’ll take our trusty old shortcut. This one is from May of last year. It’s been a while since we’ve featured David Benavente and his Estudio de Bonsái. It’s in Galapagar, Spain. Just outside of Madrid. The photos are from David’s timeline FOUR SPRING SPECIALS 25% OFF BONSAI … Continue reading Flowers, a Tiny Lizard & Other Bonsai Wonders

Another Hawthorn & Harry’s Timely Reply

Another Hawthorn that belongs to Harry Harrington. It isn’t as advanced as the one we featured yesterday, but it’s full of promise Yesterday we featured a freshly repotted Hawthorn by Harry Harrington. Here’s the rub… the tree hadn’t been repotted for 15 years! As you might imagine this provoked some questions by several readers. So last night I emailed Harry and this morning I woke up to his reply (before you read on, I suggest you take a look at yesterday’s post). So here’s your answer, in Harry’s own words… “Ive been asked this quite a few times since Saturday! … Continue reading Another Hawthorn & Harry’s Timely Reply

Kokufu Bonsai! It’s that Time of Year Again

Dwarf Kumquat. Even though there are more dramatic trees to choose from, I picked this one to start with in part because of the pot. The tree isn’t so bad either with its muscular little trunk and profusion of tiny Kumquats. This photo and the rest shown here are from Bill Valavanis’s Bonsai blog It’s Kokufu time! and Bill Valavanis is back in Japan shooting photos for all of us who can’t make the trip. I’ve grabbed just a few that I like. There’s more where these came from at Bill’s Welcome to My World Bonsai blog NEW SITE WIDE SALE … Continue reading Kokufu Bonsai! It’s that Time of Year Again

Flowering Cherry Bonsai – Few and Far Between

This is perhaps the strongest Flowering cherry we’ve featured in our ten years of posting. Its muscular trunk, aged bark and profusion of lovely flowers make for an impressive showing Good Flowering cherry bonsai seem to be few and far between. In our ten years of posting (about 3.500 posts), we’ve only featured three flowering cherries and I’m not sure about one (here’s one, here’s another and here’s the one I’m not sure about). We found this one on Michael Bonsai fb timeline, a steady source for quality bonsai photos NEW 25% OFF TURNTABLE DISCOUNTS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE GREEN T … Continue reading Flowering Cherry Bonsai – Few and Far Between

Bonsai Display Stands & their Trees

Here’s David Knittle’s caption for this remarkable display: “Honduras rosewood table, 20″ x 8.5″ x 4″ high. It was built for this juniper rock planting displayed at the San Diego Bonsai Club’s Fall 2016 show.” Still wrapping up year end stuff, so we’ll take the easy way out and show you one from our archives (Feb, 2017). It’s a good follow up to yesterday’s post on David Knittle’s stands and some of the bonsai that have been displayed on them. All these photos show here (and yesterday) are from David’s fb timeline. There’s a lot more where these came from 2019 JAPANESE BONSAI CALENDAR SPECIAL … Continue reading Bonsai Display Stands & their Trees

Bonsai Brilliance at Japan’s Satsuki Azalea Festival

This Satsuki azalea with its powerful trunk and nebari would be a remarkable even without its brilliant flowers The bonsai featured here are from the 2018 Satsuki Azalea Festival in Ueno, Tokyo (even though they are from last year, this is the first time we’ve shown them). You can see these and more flowering Satsuki on Naoi Kenichi’s fb timeline. Continued below… 20% OFF BONSAI WIRE SPECIAL ENDS SOON Choose from our vast array of sizes & types of wire Special ends Thursday, Jan 3rd at 11:59pm EST Here’s something from Wikipedia on Satsuki azaleas… “Satsuki azaleas have a diverse rnge of flower forms and color patterns with multiple patterns … Continue reading Bonsai Brilliance at Japan’s Satsuki Azalea Festival

New Year New Day New Bonsai Essentials

There’s something about Quince flowers… Here’s Bill Valavanis’ caption: “A small size Toyo Nishiki Japanese flowering quince, Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Toyo Nishiki’ with multiple colored flowers. Although red, pink and white blossoms are common for this great cultivar, I’ve often seen red branches grafted onto specimens to improve color distribution.” Welcome to 2019. My other New Year’s resolution (see yesterday) is to avoid recycling these same trees for a forth time next year. Stay posted to see how we do. I guess a passable excuse is just how good these trees are. They’re from the 2015 Kokufu Bonsai Exhibiton and were lifted directly from … Continue reading New Year New Day New Bonsai Essentials

Bonsai Berries & a Failed New Year’s Resolution

This prolific Pyracantha was our 2018 New Year’s tree. I don’t know who the artist or owner is (more about this below), but my guess is the tree is Japanese Here’s my New Year’s resolution from 2018… No more unattributed trees on this blog (uh… except for the one just above). So I failed on the first day last year and the failure reoccured throughout the year (you can take this as a metaphor if you’d like). In light of this, here’s a more realistic resolution for this year… I will attribute the trees we post when possible and encourage all of us who have been … Continue reading Bonsai Berries & a Failed New Year’s Resolution

Festive Bonsai

I don’t know if you’d call this tree festive, but it has a bright spirited quality. It’s an English yew (Taxus Baccata) by Stefano Frisoni from Italy I just spent 30 mins cruising fb looking for a Christmas decorated bonsai to feature, but came up blank. I did find this in our archives. It has a bit of Holiday flavor and I like it, so why not? Continued below… Roshi Bonsai Tools 30% off Plus and extra 10% off on orders 150.00 or more Roshi Tools are famous for precision, durability, beauty & reasonable prices this special ends Dec 26th at 11:59pm … Continue reading Festive Bonsai