Growing Superior Pine Bonsai

One of the most famous Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) bonsai in the world. After restyling by Masahiko Kimura (aka the Magician). This photo is from the White pine gallery in our Masters’ Series Pine Book. If you would like to grow pine bonsai, there no better place to start (and continue) than with our Masters Series Pine book. We’ll show you just a few photos and illustrations along with the Table of Contents, so you’ll have some idea of the depth and scope of this remarkable book. Though I know this post reads suspiciously like an infomercial (our Pine … Continue reading Growing Superior Pine Bonsai

Robert Steven Critiques a Black Pine and Offers Some Insights into the Five Schools of Penjing

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Japanese black pine that was submitted by Mike Liu (Mike’s original is immediately below). Mike’s original photo that was submitted to Robert. Robert’s Critique The Five Schools of Chinese Penjing The above black pine bonsai is sent by Mike Liu from China. Since Chinese bonsai is called penjing, I will offer a brief discussion of penjing. The main difference between penjing (Chinese: pen = pot; jing = panorama) and bonsai (Japanese: bon = pot; sai = plant), despite the terminology, penjing is more about artistic nuance in portraying natural phenomena; and bonsai is more disciplined … Continue reading Robert Steven Critiques a Black Pine and Offers Some Insights into the Five Schools of Penjing

Black Pine Critique by Robert Steven

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Japanese black pine that was submitted by Tom Duong (see below for Tom’s original). Where’s yours? Email us a photo of your bonsai and we’ll submit it to Robert Steven for a critique. So far about ten people have dared and have learned something about their bonsai in the process. Now it’s your turn. Tom’s original photo that was submitted to Robert. Tom also submitted a back, left, right and top view. Even though Robert requested these, very few submissions have included them. While we are on the topic; when photographing bonsai it’s always a … Continue reading Black Pine Critique by Robert Steven