Bottoms Up! More Nebari How-to

This natural scale nebari (surface roots and flare at the base of the trunk) stands in contrast to some of the more exaggerated nebari that we’ve been featuring (including the one at the bottom of this post). Bill Valavanis, who seems to spend half his life in Japan, took this photo at the Uchiku-Tei Bonsai Garden at S-Cube Bonsai Garden in Hanyu, north of Omiya. Continuing our discussion of nabari, here’s another how-to post from our archives (with the exception of the photo above and the one at the bottom of the post which we borrowed from Bill Valavanis’ Bonsai … Continue reading Bottoms Up! More Nebari How-to

Field Growing, Drainage & Fertilizing

This impressive Trident maple’s (Acer buergeranum) massive nebari is a dead giveaway that it was field grown. The original article is in Bonsai Today issue 64. I wrote this back in 2009. Though the tree and it’s impressive nebari started in the field, much of the development was accomplished in a container (see below). Enjoying a quick winter vacation in stormy San Francisco. The rain is desperately needed, so I can live with failed expectations of sun and warm breezes. Because this is a vacation, we’ll resort to reposting one of our very earliest posts. It’s from February 2009. I’ve … Continue reading Field Growing, Drainage & Fertilizing

A Rock, Heavily Furrowed Bark, Ramification & a Well Developed Nebari

At first glace I thought the rock that sticks out on the right was part of the trunk. But a closer look (see below) confirms the strong suspicion that it’s a rock. And in case you’re wondering, the tree is the King of bonsai, a Japanese black pine. We’ve been borrowing great photos of Japanese bonsai from Micheal Bonsai for a long time now. I’m not sure where he gets them, but most are superb. The best of the Japanese trees… which are often simply the best. SITE WIDE SALE 20% TO 25% OFF EVERYTHING* You can see the rock … Continue reading A Rock, Heavily Furrowed Bark, Ramification & a Well Developed Nebari

Masters of the Art of Refinement

We don’t usually feature photos with so much background noise. But this bonsai (Trident maple) is phenomenal and the photo has an artistic quality and gives you a sense of place (the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum). The thing that most separates Japanese bonsai from much of the bonsai in the West* is refinement. With deciduous trees this is most obvious when you look at ramification (branch structure and particularly fine branch structure). There are certainly other feature that express refinement, for example taper and nebari, but nothing expresses it more than the development of fine branching. All the bonsai shown here … Continue reading Masters of the Art of Refinement

In Search of the Perfect Nebari #9

Grotesque is in the eye of the beholder. Every now and then, and only in Japan, you see a nebari like this (pancake nebari is an apt name). Aside from its somewhat strange quality, a couple things jump out about this one. First it’s is a clear example of a fused nebari (except for around the edges, all the exposed roots have fused together), and second is how thin the trunk is in relation to the size of the nebari. This photo and the others in this post were all taken at Fuyo-en by Bonsai in Japan. Back in the … Continue reading In Search of the Perfect Nebari #9

Small Trees with Big Trunks

Root-over-rock Trident maple from Kaede Bonsai-en. In this case, it might be more accurate to say rock-almost-completely-swallowed-by-roots (which have morphed into a trunk). There are several things that stand out about this tree, not the least of which is the near perfect mix of reds, oranges and golds that make for a striking fall color display. Then there’s the trunk (ex-roots) with its impressive character and substantial girth relative to the pot and canopy size. Such thick trunks for such small trees are almost always the result of reducing trees that were grown in much larger containers (or in the … Continue reading Small Trees with Big Trunks

Growing Better Roots & Trunks

In addition a one of the most perfectly developed crowns you’ll ever see, with its amazing profusion of tiny leaves; this Trident maple (I must’ve been drunk, any fool can see that this is a Zelkova) provides one of the best examples of trunk and surface root (nebari) development you’ll see anywhere. Neither are overstated; providing a welcome relief from overdeveloped trunk taper and nebari that you sometimes see in Trident maples. But then, you might expect perfection from this tree, it’s from the Grand Master Saburo Kato’s collection (Kato-sama’s most excellent book, Forest, Rock Plantings and Ezo Spruce Bonsai … Continue reading Growing Better Roots & Trunks

Out Stealing Bonsai Ideas

Major surgery. From a Bonsai Tonight post entitled ‘Best repotting of the year.’ Rapid evolution There’s a lot going on with bonsai these days, and it’s happening fast and right before our eyes. If you look at the evolution of bonsai, you’ll find slow but steady development up until sometime in the 1980s when the explosion began. Kimura was introducing power tools and Bonsai was becoming international. Suddenly bonsai books and magazines were springing up everywhere, and, at the same time, along comes the internet. Now, new (and old) ideas abound everywhere. Black ponderosa pine? Japanese black pine grafted onto … Continue reading Out Stealing Bonsai Ideas

In Search of the Perfect Nebari #8

Do you like this nebari, or is it a bit much? If you just look at the bottom photo, does the nebari seem to strong for the trunk? That’s the way it strikes me, but when I look at the whole tree, it works just fine. The image is a whole page from Bonsai Today issue 63. Pirates At least one blog has been pirating our posts, lock stock and barrel; but without our links and without any attribution to bonsai bark, or Stone Lantern. If you are reading this on any website or blog that is not ours, and … Continue reading In Search of the Perfect Nebari #8

How to fertilize for a better nebari

This very useful tip comes courtesy of from Michael Hagedorn of Crataegus Bonsai, author of Post Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk. For those of you who like growing maples and other deciduous trees that might develop a marvelous fused nebari, when that tree is young, fertilize right next to the trunk of the tree. Fine fusable roots will grow right under your fertilizer cakes, the kind that develop into the solid nebari pancakes that we see on really old bonsai and trees in the wild. If we fertilize only at the outside of the root system, the … Continue reading How to fertilize for a better nebari