Before & After Tropical Bonsai by Robert Steven

Before and after by our friend Robert Steven, one of the World Bonsai Community’s foremost teachers and innovators. The before photo was submitted to Robert by David Royinsyah. The after is one of a large number of digital simulations that Robert employs as a teaching tool. The tree is a Tamarindus indica, a type of tropical legume. The photos are from the Black Scissors Community. We’re in the throes of moving our website to a more up to date platform. So to keep things simple, we’ve borrowed this post from our archives (Nov, 2017), with a few changes today It has been a … Continue reading Before & After Tropical Bonsai by Robert Steven

Another Mid Winter Tease

The new growth on Spruce is often a brilliant yellow. Almost like yellow flowers. In this case the spruce is an Ezo (Picea jezoensis). This one resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum as do the other trees in this post. Continuing with our long trek  home from vacation, I found just enough time to sneak another one in from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. Like yesterday it’s also from our archives (June, 2015). SITE WIDE SALE ENDS SOON 20% OFF EVERYTHING PLUS AN EXTRA 10% TO 20% OFF ROSHI TOOLS AN EXTRA 10% OFF BONSAI POTS   For a lot … Continue reading Another Mid Winter Tease

Exceptional Before & After Bonsai

This has to be one of the most compelling bonsai I’ve seen in a while. It has that wild, not overly refined look and though the deadwood is prominent, it’s not dominated by deadwood like so many trees. But perhaps the best of all are are the brilliant living veins and the way they stand out against the deadwood Island hopping today, so to save precious time, we’re going to rerun a post on one of my favorite trees. This before and after is more about refinement than styling rough stock. Less daunting perhaps, but only someone skilled in the … Continue reading Exceptional Before & After Bonsai

Finding a Way to Improve Any Bonsai

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Pemphis acidula that was submitted by Nurul Fajri (the original photo is below). Traveling today, so it’s archive time. We first featured the critique back in November, 2013. The tree is exceptional and worth another look When I opened my email from Robert Steven and glanced at the before photo (below), I thought it was the after photo. But only for a moment. It’s the pot that gave it away. The rest looked pretty good (some of us might trade our entire collections for a tree like this). But not good enough for Robert who always … Continue reading Finding a Way to Improve Any Bonsai

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

Potentilla Bonsai, Before & After – As Fragile as Stained Glass

Potentilla fruticosa before and after from Lakeshore Bonsai. There’s a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to styling and caring for Potentilla Yesterday we featured a couple little Potentilla, so let’s stay on theme. This one was styled by Aaron at Lakeshore Bonsai in Toronto. The following is quoted directly from Lakeshore’s site… “This Potentilla is as fragile as a stained glass window and parts of it literally crumble away every time I work on it. It has undergone some pretty radical changes since I acquired it in 2011, and certainly does not look like the tree I initially envisioned it would … Continue reading Potentilla Bonsai, Before & After – As Fragile as Stained Glass

Shape Shifting by Robert Steven

Before and after by Robert Steven. The tree is a Casuarina that originally belonged to Ismail Saleh and now belongs to Robert. Here’s part of what Robert wrote about this transformation… “I changed the viewing angle, squeezed the dead part close to the living part then reset the foliage pads. Sooner or later the dead part will rot, then I should redesign the composition again” Here’s a little history from Robert about this famous tree… “The Legend ! This is one of the oldest Casuarina bonsai in Indonesia which has been going through a long path of transformation and survival, yet still keeps changing … Continue reading Shape Shifting by Robert Steven

Monster Mash

Bud Fulton sent us this scary photo. He took it at the North Carolina Bonsai Expo in Asheville. We don’t know who the tree belongs to, but we do know it’s a yew (Taxus) and that it suits our annual Halloween post to a tee. Just got this note from Bill Valavanis… “The Japanese yew belongs to Jim Doyle who also displayed it at the 2018 6th US National Bonsai Exhibition” Just in case you live in a cave (or in a place where October 31st has no particular significance), today is Halloween. Time to break out some scary trees… – FREE SHIPPING for Orders 75.00 … Continue reading Monster Mash

A Piece of Rebar, Some Nerve & More than a Little Skill

This before and after by David Benavente provides a look at what you can do with a piece of rebar, some nerve, and more than a little skill. I originally posted this in 2010 and can longer find David’s original, but if memory serves, the tree is a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) Continuing with David Benavente (see yesterday’s post) and our  before and after from the day before… The photos for this post are from a a 2010 Bark post. I’ve reworked them some, and the text is new. For more on David, you can visit his website and  you can visit him … Continue reading A Piece of Rebar, Some Nerve & More than a Little Skill

Bonsai on Instagram – Great Trees, Great Stones

There’s a lot going on with this one. Especially the two types of exposed roots – the long aerial roots growing down to the flat stone on the right, and the other set of roots fanning down the side of the large stone (the stone is another nice feature). I couldn’t find the type tree (looks like it might be a Ficus) nor any info on the artist/owner. Unless the person who put the photo up is the owner (there’s a name embedded in the Instagram address) Just ventured onto Instragram for the first time. So far I like it. It’s an easy … Continue reading Bonsai on Instagram – Great Trees, Great Stones