Blazing Bonsai – An Embarrassment of Riches

This blazing bonsai is a prize-winning Shishigashira Japanese maple from a Peter Tea post on the 32nd Annual Taikan-ten bonsai exhibition in Kyoto. This photos shown here are lifted from a December 2012 Bark post titled An Embarrassment of Riches. In addition to the trees, there’s a special bonus offering below… NEW MID-WINTER SITE WIDE SALE Almost All Items Discounted 25% to 40% off List Prices* Some Items as much as 70% off List Prices Visit Stone Lantern Here’s what Matt Reel has to say about this tree: “This Japanese Red Pine has such a broad apex it makes me … Continue reading Blazing Bonsai – An Embarrassment of Riches

Pine Bonsai – Texture, Movement & Color

It’s hard not to notice what a powerful tree this is, even with the apex slightly nipped and most of the pot missing. It’s a Japanese white pine from the 34th Taikan-ten Bonsai Exhibition. Spring bonsai and other chores beckon and time is compressed, so we’ll delve back into our archives today. This one is from December, 2014. All the photos in this post are from the 34th Taikan-ten Bonsai Exhibition (with the exception of the wiring photo just below). Taikan-ten takes place once a year in Kyoto and is considered by most people to be the second most important … Continue reading Pine Bonsai – Texture, Movement & Color

Taiken-ten – Some Pines First, More Later

The top photo, with its rich deep colors, appears just the way we found it. I lightened up the bottom photo a bit to better show the details, especially the bark. All the photos in this post are from the 34th Taikan-ten Bonsai Exhibition. Taikan-ten takes place once a year in Kyoto and is considered by most people to be the second most important bonsai exhibition in Japan if not in the world (Kokufu is the king of bonsai exhibitions). I found them on Michael Bonsai’s facebook feed. There are more, but I decided to feature some of the … Continue reading Taiken-ten – Some Pines First, More Later

The Trend Only Gets More Outrageous

Snakes. From Estação Bonsai on Facebook. I couldn’t find any mention of the artist and even though I don’t like to show trees without attribution, just couldn’t pass this one up (there’s another from Estação, below). The old rules of bonsai, if they ever really existed, were broken as soon as they were made and the trend only gets more outrageous (in whatever sense you prefer: out·ra·geous: shockingly bad or excessive, wildly exaggerated or improbable, very bold, unusual, and startling). As you can see, this common Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) belongs to Harry Harrington (Harry on facebook and Harry’s famous … Continue reading The Trend Only Gets More Outrageous

Who Doesn’t Love Good Multi-Trunk Bonsai with Their Morning Coffee?

Trident maple at the 2013 Taikan-ten Exhibition which is happening right now (Nov 18-26). There’s a lot going on with the tree; three major trunks and a baby one sticking out the back, a large mounding nebari and a whole lot of movement. I particularly like the trunk on the right that emerges from the base of the nebari (the base of the base). I borrowed the photo from Bjorn Bjorholm (facebook of course). I started this post thinking we’d show a few Taikan-ten Exhibition trees from the last few years. A sort of mini-history lesson. But that proved too … Continue reading Who Doesn’t Love Good Multi-Trunk Bonsai with Their Morning Coffee?

Still the Best

When I first saw this tree I thought it might be a Yew. But, the bark isn’t right, and even the foliage, though close, isn’t quite right either. Fortunately, Peter Tea solved the problem in his 2011 Taikan-ten Exhibition post. Peter’s caption reads: “This Yew Hemlock caught many peoples attention. It made sense that it took the prize for medium conifer. We don’t have any Yews here at Aichien because they don’t do well in the hot weather that we have in Nagoya.” As for the species, it turns out that there are two Hemlocks that are native to Japan … Continue reading Still the Best

Bonsai Events, Dirty Pick Ups and a Few Loose Ends

This pine (looks like a Japanese white; Pinus parviflora) is from the 2011 Taikan-ten bonsai exhibition in Japan. The photo was borrowed from Empire Bonsai. You don’t see that many great multiple-trunk bonsai (here’s another one we posted recently) and I think this one qualifies. It’s hard to tell from this angle if all the trunks are sharing a single root-system. It could be a twin-trunk tree and a triple-trunk clump combined. Upcoming events. It’s time to catch up on some upcoming bonsai events and some other loose ends. Which reminds me, if you’d like to promote an event, just … Continue reading Bonsai Events, Dirty Pick Ups and a Few Loose Ends

An Embarrassment of Riches

I believe that this is our first tree from Matt Reel’s blog (though we featured a photo of Matt, with a tree that we lifted from Crataegus Bonsai almost two years ago). Matt is an American bonsai apprentice in Japan. We’ll have to more to say about him and his blog another time, but meanwhile, here’s what he has to say about this tree: “This Red Pine has such a broad apex it makes me giggle to myself at times, however, one might feel a little tipsy with all that leaning movement if there was a little dainty apex instead. … Continue reading An Embarrassment of Riches

Digging Around Pays Off

You can find this monarch of bunjin pines and other great trees on Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai website. This one is from the 2004 Taikan Ten show in Japan and is part of an article called Japanese Shows that Michael posted in 2008 (the caption says White pine; however, it looks like a Black pine to me). Digging around Sometimes digging around through old material pays off (if you call 2008 old). I found this powerful, stately old pine (above) and several other magnificent trees while digging around Michael Hagedorn’s postings on Crataegus Bonsai. It’s part of a posting called … Continue reading Digging Around Pays Off