A Bonsai Feast for Tired Eyes

A feast for tired eyes!* Two day ago we featured a photo of Bill Valavanis’ full moon maple. Yesterday Bill sent us this photo of the same tree. The other one was good, but the detail and over all quality is even better on this one Off to see Hamilton in Boston tonight, so we’ll make this one short and sweet… just two photos. Both came via Bill Valavanis. Everything else I know is in the captions Two 30% off TOOL SPECIALS End Tomorrow Night OKATSUNE BONSAI & GARDEN TOOLS KOYO BONSAI TOOLS specials end Friday, Nov 9th at 11:59pm EST I found this famous little Crabapple on Bill’s … Continue reading A Bonsai Feast for Tired Eyes

Bill’s Blazing Backyard Bonsai Brilliance

Bill Valavanis’ famous Full moon maple in all its glory I’ve been meaning to knock your socks off (do people still say that?) with these photos of Bill’s Brilliant back yard for a few days now, but wanted to get all the fact straight first. Turns out time isn’t on my side so far this week, so I’ll just put the photos up as I found them on Bill’s fb timeline. If you want more info, feel free to follow the link. Continued below… 30% off Tool Specials End Soon OKATSUNE BONSAI & GARDEN TOOLS KOYO BONSAI TOOLS – Here’s a note Bill … Continue reading Bill’s Blazing Backyard Bonsai Brilliance

Selling Bonsai & Buying Time – Bill’s Fire Sale

This awesome Full moon maple with its fiery foliage belongs to Bill Valavanis. Here’s Bill’s caption. “The Full moon maple was well developed, one of my favorite developed bonsai. Usually a colorful ribbon was tied to the lower branch to caution people not to damage the lovely branch. As many of my bonsai are, this Full moon maple is often changed in the garden according to season. It is always tied down with one or two pieces of sissy wire.” We can’t go too long without featuring Bill Valavanis. Especially getting this close to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (in … Continue reading Selling Bonsai & Buying Time – Bill’s Fire Sale

Random Pages & A Messy Desk

This unusual Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) is not representative of most of the trees that appear in Fine Bonsai, which tend to be powerful mind-stopppers. Still, there’s something about it, beyond just the fact that it’s so different… Packing and leaving for the West Coast today, so it’s archive time. This will be the third time for this post, which you might view as excessive and I’d have to agree. Except that these photos from Fine Bonsai are great. And, there’s a motive for resorting to a post about a book. We just put up a 25% off book … Continue reading Random Pages & A Messy Desk

Real Fine Bonsai

This sublime shot of a radiant Golden Full Moon maple by Bill Valavanis is one of 281 brilliant full-page photos that appear Fine Bonsai. I tried but failed. I wanted to put up a fresh post this morning, but, after two hours of stops and starts and general and specific indecision, once again I’m taking the easy way out. Let’s just say it’s still summer and the soft siren song of the great outdoors still beckons… This one (with some changes) originally appeared almost exactly one year ago. I picked it because it features a remarkable book (and because our … Continue reading Real Fine Bonsai

Moving Out of the Bonsai Mainstream with a Deft and Delicate Touch

Would you call this a Bunjin style bonsai? Whatever you call it, you don’t see too many bonsai that look like this. Even most bunjin are not quite like this; most are conifers and most don’t have such a meandering array of multiple trunks, especially multiple crossing trunks. And then there’s the leaf size (is this a Sumac?). I’ve long had a soft spot for the type of bonsai shown here. The uncontrived elegance that shows no concern for our current interest in muscular trunks, wide nebaris, carved wood… even most bunjin bonsai don’t quite go where these trees seem … Continue reading Moving Out of the Bonsai Mainstream with a Deft and Delicate Touch