Barked up & Brilliant

Ume (aka Flowering apricot, Prunus mume). This brilliant tree resides at Bonsai Aichien in Japan. Ume tend to grow fast and bark up while still fairly young, so this tree may not be as old as it looks. Also, you might notice the deadwood. Ume are one of the few deciduous trees that hold deadwood over the years (lime sulfur doesn’t hurt either). Next month we’ll celebrate Bonsai Bark’s eighth anniversary. Our best estimate is we’re closing in on 2,000 posts (maybe more). Some, like this one, are reposts (Feb 2014), but most are new. Snow has been slow coming … Continue reading Barked up & Brilliant

Flowering Bonsai – Some of Us Can Dream

Sabamiki and uro from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. Aside from this magnificent old Ume’s overall power and beauty, there are a several things that might catch your eye: the flowers and buds, the aged bark (Ume bark develops an aged look fairly fast) and the hollowed out trunk (sabamiki). If you look closely you can also see several uro (small hollows that are left on deciduous trees where branches have rotted and fallen off, though bonsai uro may well be man made). This winter to end all winters seems like a good (if a little perverse) time to look … Continue reading Flowering Bonsai – Some of Us Can Dream

Rugged, Graceful & Not All That Common

Sabamiki and uro. Aside from its overall power and beauty, there are a several things that might catch your eye: the flowers and buds, the aged bark (Ume bark develops an aged look fairly fast) and the hollowed out trunk (sabamiki). If you look closely you can also see several uro (small hollows that are left on deciduous trees where branches have rotted and fallen off, though bonsai uro may well be man made). What’s in a name? Ume have several names: Prunus mume (or just mume), Japanese apricot (or sometimes Japanese flowering apricot) and Chinese plum to name the … Continue reading Rugged, Graceful & Not All That Common

Thinking Inside the Box

This radically tilted Prunus mume (Flowering Japanese apricot) is by Chiharu Imai. It’s from Bonsai Today issue 56. After. Mr. Imai saw something when he put it in the box, and this is it. Before the big tilt and some well executed artistry that included removing the strange second trunk that runs up to the first branch.