While Waiting for Spring – $100 Bonsai Detective Contest

Bonsai #1 Here’s a simple contest to amuse yourself with while waiting for spring. What you have to do to win Identify the variety and the owner of each tree shown here and provide a link to your source (Bonsai Bark does not qualify as a source, with one exception). What you’ll win The first person to get them all right (with links) will win a $100 gift certificate to Stone Lantern. If no one gets them all right, then the person to get the most right before the deadline wins. The Deadline The contest will run for one week … Continue reading While Waiting for Spring – $100 Bonsai Detective Contest

Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

This is the one that caused the most trouble (see D below). Our Bonsai Detective contest (from three weeks ago) turned out to be the most difficult one to judge yet. Remind me next time to be sure we have an ironclad grip on all the answers before we start. Not only were there lots of entries, but most were very good with only one or two misses. But what really made it difficult is conflicting, vague and otherwise unreliable information on the internet (surprise!). Especially on facebook (another surprise no doubt). The upshot is that after spending hours pouring … Continue reading Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

Shed Some Light & Win a 25.00 Gift

Cropped photo of an amazing Sabina juniper (uncropped version below). It’s from KINGII blogspot. Here’s the Spanish caption Nombre de esta sabina rastrera de Luis, se le puso tras el primer modelado, ya que la primera rama era tan amplia que parecía una bandeja. Nunca había salido en ningún lado, asñiq ue se puede considerar una presentación en sociedad, a pesar de que lleva unos 5 años en casa. Here’s how you can win a 25.00 Stone Lantern gift certificate Be the first person to send a sensible translation of the Spanish above (in perfect or near perfect English). Don’t … Continue reading Shed Some Light & Win a 25.00 Gift

$100 Contest: Choosing the Right Pot

The idea for choosing the best pot for this tree belongs to Boon Manakitivipart, as do all the photos in this post. The idea for turning this into a contest belongs to me. This is our second post on Choosing the Right Pot in the last few weeks (December 14. 2013). The tree is a Chinese cork bark elm. All the photos were borrowed from Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). The Contest: To to eligible to win the $100 Stone Lantern gift certificate you must do the following three things. 1. Choose your favorite pot & tree combination from the … Continue reading $100 Contest: Choosing the Right Pot

Deadline for Our Bonsai from Scratch Contest Is Rapidly Approaching

Simon Carr styled this little gem from scratch for an artofbonsai.org contest way back in 2005. It later appeared in Bonsai Today issue 103 in an article entitled ‘Instant Bonsai.’ Which reminds me: all back issues of Bonsai Today are now 65% off. It’s October 15th A friendly reminder to of you who have sent in your before photos of untrained stock, your ‘after’ photos must be received by Oct 15th for our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. That’s just over 2 weeks from now. Don’t procrastinate! There are lots of valuable prizes and you just might win something. You can … Continue reading Deadline for Our Bonsai from Scratch Contest Is Rapidly Approaching

$50 Bonsai Detective Art Contest

Illustration number 1 Win a $50 gift certificate to Stone Lantern The first person to correctly identify the artist of each of the 10 bonsai illustrations in this post will win a 50$ gift certificate to Stone Lantern (see 3. below for exception). Details 1. You must send your answers to me: wayne@stonelantern.com. Answers posted to comments (below) will be deleted and disregarded. 2. Contest ends October 10, 2011. 3. If no one has correctly identified all the artists by October 10th, then the person with the most correctly identified artists will win. 2 3 4 … Continue reading $50 Bonsai Detective Art Contest

More Than $1,000 In Prizes

This Nick Lenz pot is being donated by Todd Hansen of Sanctuary Bonsai. It is one of many prizes that will be awarded to entrants in our $1,000 (plus) Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Pot dimensions: 16 1/2″ x 13″ x 2″ Donate and your fame will spread like wild fire If you donate a prize for our Bonsai from Scratch Contest, your name (and your business name) will be listed with links in the following places (at least two times each): Bonsai Bark (average 1,800 over 800 visitors per post) and our Stone Lantern Newsletter (over 8,200 recipients). Please contact … Continue reading More Than $1,000 In Prizes

$1,000 Bonsai from Scratch Contest

Though I don’t think it was done in one season, still this Dwarf Kingsville boxwood is a pretty good example of a bonsai from nursery stock. So good in fact, that it appeared on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 107. It’s by Michael Persiano. The stakes have risen in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest In a moment of weakness we changed the first prize from $250.00 to $400 and added another $600 worth of prizes. We figured you wouldn’t mind. The prizes First prize $400 gift certificate to Stone Lantern Second prize $250 gift certificate to Stone Lantern Third … Continue reading $1,000 Bonsai from Scratch Contest

Mystery Tree: Win $25 Gift Certificate

Stable and wild all at once. This tree has to be one of the most perfect and powerful bonsai around. The highly refined look of its massive crown, combined with its huge, wild nebari and trunk (twin trunks actually) and its almost static sense of stability, make for a mesmerizing bonsai. Win a $25 gift certificate to Stone Lantern Be the first to properly identify the owner (artist), the species, where this photo was taken and the name of the photographer (if you are the photographer, please do not enter this contest), and you’ll win a $25.00 gift certificate to … Continue reading Mystery Tree: Win $25 Gift Certificate

$25 Critique Contest

This photo is from Kiki Bonsai. Win a $25.00 gift certificate to Stone Lantern Send me (wayne@stonelantern.com) your written critique of the planting in this photo. Try to keep it to 100 words or less. I will pick the winning critique based upon two criteria: 1. Content. How insightful your observations are. 2. Clarity. How clearly and simply you express your observations. DO NOT PUT YOUR CRITIQUE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. Email it to me at wayne@stonelantern.com. Put ‘Critique’ in the subject line. You will become famous I will post the winning critique and perhaps one or two others that … Continue reading $25 Critique Contest