Japanese White Pines at Kokufu

Close up of multiple trunk Japanese white pine. It looks a lot like a raft style* planting. This and the other photos shown here were taken at the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition. I cropped the original shot (just below) for a closer look We’ve got some Japanese white pines (Pinus parviflora) from the Kokufu Exhibition that we found at Kazumatsu Bonsai. They don’t say what year the shots are from, but given that they were just posted, you might guess 2018 Just in case you’re new to bonsai, Kokufu is the oldest and most famous Bonsai Exhibition in the world. It takes place … Continue reading Japanese White Pines at Kokufu

Heavenly Bonsai, an Old Larch, a Tree that Never Gave Up & a Terrific Subtext

American Larch (Larix laricina – aka Tamarack) by Larch Master Nick Lenz (from our archives). This brings us to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (September, 8th and 9th in Rochester). We will bring some field grown larches of our own. Nothing like this masterpiece. Just some rough stock, mostly 15 to 25 year old that originally came from a friend’s land. We have been digging some every year and growing them on here at my place, for the last 14 years or so. We’ve been pruning for taper, so we’ve got some pretty good trunks. We’ll try to have some … Continue reading Heavenly Bonsai, an Old Larch, a Tree that Never Gave Up & a Terrific Subtext

Drifting…

What a great photo. The tree is a Japanese black pine from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. Busy day today, so it’s a good time to dig back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2013. It was titled ‘Drifting a Little Farther Afield.’ There’s really not much theme with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it at that… except to say that we’re drifting a little farther afield than we usually do. Continued below… Yoshiaki Japanese … Continue reading Drifting…

Not to Swamp You with So Many Flowering Bonsai…

An exposed-root, semi-cascade Satsuki azalea with passionate pink flowers. The photo was taken by Hiroyuki Suzuki at the recent Ueno Satsuki Festival. I don’t mean to swamp you with so many flowering Satsuki photos these days, but this is (or just was) their time to shine. And most are high quality bonsai that would be worth a look even without the flowers. With the flowers they are brilliant (unless of course, you’ve become completely jaded). For a little change of pace, we’re intentionally staying away from the heavy trunks and featuring exposed-root and other unusual trunks this time. I borrowed all … Continue reading Not to Swamp You with So Many Flowering Bonsai…

The Dark Horse

What a great photo. It helps to have such an excellent subject for sure (Japanese black pine). It’s from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. Getting ready for a few days out of the office (my other job) so it’s a good time to dig back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2013. It was titled ‘Drifting a Little Farther Afield.’ There’s really not much of theme going on with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it … Continue reading The Dark Horse

Playing It Straight

Straight line raft Juniper. I borrowed this photo from Bill Valavanis’ blog. Bill took the photo at the 2015 38th Mid America Bonsai Exhibit. This is a somewhat failed attempt to finish our series on forest plantings. Specifically raft style forest plantings. More specifically straight line raft plantings. Problem is, couldn’t find good photos of straight line rafts (the exception is above). So rather than spending more time searching, we’ll settle for some informative text on raft-style borrowed from ofBONSAI Magazine (one of the better online bonsai sites). “Raft style bonsai mimic a natural occurrence when a tree topples onto … Continue reading Playing It Straight

Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

This amazingly rugged sinuous root raft style planting is by our friend, Robert Steven. I don’t know the variety, but my guess is that Robert, who seemingly keeps track of the entire bonsai universe, will let us know. Rounding out our discussion of forest bonsai, it’s time to take a look at raft style bonsai. I don’t need to say much (Peter Adams has it covered below) except that all the rafts shown here are sinuous root style (netsunagari in Japanese) as opposed to rafts with straight line trunks (stay posted). The section just below by Peter Adams originally appeared … Continue reading Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

Bonsai Elegance with Painted Trunks

Stately bonsai elegance. Here’s the original caption for this photo “The customer wanted the trunk brown and the quickest way was to paint it. This is my first time using paint on my sculptures and I’m very happy with the results.” The person who wrote that is Ken To, the creator of the bonsai wire-sculptures that you see here and in several previous Bark posts. You can find even more of Ken’s exquisite little delights on his website, on facebook and on deviantART. Ken To’s marvelous miniature wire bonsai sculptures just keep getting better. And now, because Ken has started … Continue reading Bonsai Elegance with Painted Trunks

Strong, Wild and Full of Character

There’s a lot to like here. First, there’s some of that same funky (in the good sense) quality that you see in the feature tree in the previous post. Both are strong, wild and full of character. In this case so strong and clearly defined that the background noise doesn’t distract all that much. All the photos in this post are from Bonsai Quinn. Our last post featured a couple Penjing plantings so we’ll stay on topic. All the photos shown here are from a newly discovered blog (for me at least) called Bonsai Quinn. The man behind the blog … Continue reading Strong, Wild and Full of Character

Drifting a Little Farther Afield

What a great photo. It helps to have such an excellent subject for sure (Japanese black pine). It’s from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. There’s really not much of theme going on with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it at that… except to say that we’re going a little farther afield than we usually do. I have a soft spot for hand painted bonsai pots. This one is from the ‘for sale’ section of Ryan Bell’s … Continue reading Drifting a Little Farther Afield