A Trip Down Memory Lane

Here’s what Michael Hagedorn wrote about this tree… “Another tree from my apprenticeship days, prep work for the Kokufu show. Always liked this tree. Although arguably junipers are best with more dynamic and energy, the quiet presence of this one had a charm of its own. All I did was clarify some of the padding and make minor adjustments throughout.” I cropped Michael’s original photo (see below) for an up close look at the the trunk with its beautifully contrasting shari and living veins “A trip down memory lane…” Lately Michael Hagedorn has been putting up trees from his Japan apprentice … Continue reading A Trip Down Memory Lane

Bonsai Pest Control & Special of the Day

I borrowed this photo from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus website. Here’s part of what Michael has to say about it and some other trees he worked on while in Japan… “The work here was done as an apprentice in Japan, from 2003-2006…. in the second half of my apprenticeship, I was allowed a more natural and relaxed feeling in the branching and foliage presentation, represented in this image which won Mr. Suzuki a Prime Minister’s award.” The tree is a Japanese white pine. Michael apprenticed with Mr Suzuki for three years. Here’s your link for the part I left out. Continuing with the bonsai wisdom … Continue reading Bonsai Pest Control & Special of the Day

Monster Demo Bonsai on a Monster Hydraulic Turntable

That’s famous bonsai master, Kunio Kobayashi on the right, getting ready to tackle his monster demo tree. And yes, that’s a Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Bonsai Turntable gamely holding the behemoth up. The after shot is below It’s Saturday, a good day to catch up mowing, weeding and trimming outside. Not bonsai (who mows bonsai?) but just our landscape gardens. Anyway, to save time, we’ll resurrect this post from a couple months ago. It’s a bit of an infomercial for our popular Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Turntables, but the photos are still very good. Time to pay another visit to the recent … Continue reading Monster Demo Bonsai on a Monster Hydraulic Turntable

Famous Bonsai Artists, their Demo Trees & the Omnipresent Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Bonsai Turntables

Bonsai Master Masahiko Kimura’s rock planting perched on a Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Turntable at last month’s World Bonsai Convention Time to pay another visit to last month’s World Bonsai Convention. This time it’s about the demonstrators, their demo trees and the heavy lifting, omnipresent Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Turntables – the quiet stars of the show. Continued below… 2 Day Fertilizer Sale Ends Tonight 40% off our large selection of Bonsai Fertilizers two thing to know… 40% off is a lot… …and don’t blink this special ends tonight (Friday) at 11:59pm EDT That’s famous bonsai master, … Continue reading Famous Bonsai Artists, their Demo Trees & the Omnipresent Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Bonsai Turntables

Backyard Bonsai – #15

Bonsai with Koi. This shot is from Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunkaen Bonsai Museum in Tokyo. The concrete display poles are made to look like tree trunks. All but one of the photos in this post are borrowed from Bonsai Empire. Yesterday we featured Kunio Kobayashi’s bonsai, so why not keep going on the same track (more or less… just the first two photos are from his Shunkaen Bonsai Museum)? This post originally appeared in November, 2015. This is the fifthteenth post in our long-standing Backyard Bonsai series. However, if memory serves, this is the first time that we’ve shown commercial gardens … Continue reading Backyard Bonsai – #15

An Irreverent Bonsai Monk

This tree is a Sonoran scrub live oak (Quercus turbinella). Michael Hagendorn says of this tree: “I collected this oak from a mountain range in eastern Arizona in 1999, at around 5,000 ft. It was growing much like old pines or junipers along rocky breaks, in a ‘captive root’ situation. There were fine roots in a pocket of soil on bedrock. I cut the anchor root, lifted the tree, and it went into a small box. The oak from the start was very vigorous, and one or two years later was in a bonsai pot. The photo is from 2008, … Continue reading An Irreverent Bonsai Monk

Revisting An Irreverant Bonsai Monk

A piece of the cover of Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk by Michael Hagedorn. Over four years later and still the best bonsai read What follows is a review of Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk that I wrote for Bonsai Bark in February 2009 (we still offer Post-Dated and a whole range of other excellent bonsai books at Stone Lantern). I first read Post-Dated at 30,000 feet; Boston to SFO. By coincidence, the man sitting next to me was reading Thoreau’s Walden, a book usually confined to students and scholars. He was well past … Continue reading Revisting An Irreverant Bonsai Monk

Pinch! Don’t Pinch! Part 2

This isn’t the first time we’ve featured this famous bonsai that originally appeared on the cover of Bonsai Today 63 and later in our Juniper book. I think it’s appropriate here for a couple reasons: it’s by Shinji Suzuki, Michael Hagedorn’s bonsai sensei (Michael provided the fuel for this post and our previous post) and it’s a needle type juniper, which provides a contrast to scale type junipers when it comes to controlling new growth. We can assume that Mr. Suzuki trimmed rather than pinched in creating such a profusion of dense foliage pads. Continuing where we left off Rather … Continue reading Pinch! Don’t Pinch! Part 2

Weekly Wire: Bonsai Elegance, Yellow Flowers, Yang Ya & Tiny Assassins

Elegance. I’ve never been to the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, but if the elegance of the display shown in this photo is any indication, maybe I should start saving my yen. Goyomatsu. Japanese white pine from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum’s gallery. Yellow flowers. You don’t see many bonsai with yellow flowers here in North America. Japan might be another story; Classic Bonsai of Japan features several and this one is from our 2012 Japanese bonsai calendar (sold out). I can’t read the Japanese, but it looks like a Winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata). More mellow yellow. Speaking of, I … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Bonsai Elegance, Yellow Flowers, Yang Ya & Tiny Assassins

Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?

Pemphis acidula by Gedemerta Bonsaibali. For a while now, facebook has been inundated with bonsai by Gedemerta. Turns out, that’s a good thing if you like exciting tropical bonsai. If you’re not friends on facebook, you can see more of Gede Merta’s trees on Beial blog (on facebook it’s Gedemerta; on Beial it’s Gede Merta). Bonsai from Scratch prizes Are there any winners out there who haven’t collected their prizes yet? If so, please contact me at wayne@stonelantern.com. Do you have an upcoming bonsai event that you want to promote? Let us know and we’ll publish it for you. wayne@stonelantern.com. … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?