Punica granatum

$1,000 Bonsai from Scratch Contest

Pomegranate from the cover of Bonsai Today issue 83. Of all the Bonsai Today covers, this one seems most like a bonsai from scratch; though you’d be lucky to find untrained nursery stock this good at your local garden center. It’s not too late There’s still time to enter our $1,000 Bonsai from Scratch contest. True, mid-summer is tricky and you might not be able to put your tree into a bonsai pot, but that’s okay, you can enter it in a nursery container if you’re not comfortable root pruning. Or, you can gamble and stick it into a pot. … Continue reading $1,000 Bonsai from Scratch Contest

A trip well worth the trouble

This majestic old pomegranate (Punica granatum) was styled by John Naka. After John died, his wife Alice donated it to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington DC. You can view it and a host of other masterpieces first hand if you’re up for the journey; a trip well worth the trouble, especially if you’ve never experienced the power of a large world class bonsai first hand. No matter how good the photographer, or how expensive the camera, a photo will never capture the full dramatic force of a living bonsai. I’ve been a fan of the National Bonsai … Continue reading A trip well worth the trouble