Elevated Company

The sheer power of this magnificent tree places it in elevated company. It’s a 50cm (20″) tall Ficus microcarpa by one of our favorite South American bonsai artists, Nacho Marin of Venezuela. The pot is by John Evans of the USA. Yesterday we featured a Ficus from Taiwan, so picking up that thread… and because I’m still on mini-vacation, we’ll take the quick path This one originally appeared here in May, 2015 Though this post was inspired by Nacho Marin’s powerful Ficus (above) and though Nacho is South American, when we start looking at Ficus bonsai we seem to circle back to Taiwan NEW FALL … Continue reading Elevated Company

Daring Combinations

You don’t see pots this ornate everyday. Our source offers no information on the type tree or the artist. At least in English; what text there is, is Vietnamese. Speaking of, you may not know that Vietnam most likely has more bonsai per capita than any other country. Here’s some evidence from a 2014 Bark post. I found this photo while on my daily Facebook adventure. It was posted by Bonsai Nguyen Van Sau. You don’t see that many ornate or colorful pots in the West or Japan. The aesthetic seems to be one of restraint, where the artist is … Continue reading Daring Combinations

Somewhere North of Magnificent

I’m running out of superlatives. How about ‘somewhere north of magnificent?’ My only question is; could the pot be a little bigger? It’s a Ficus by Hsieh, Shun-Chin. This is at least the third time we’ve featured the ‘north of magnificent’ tree above. My guess is we’ll show it again before we chuck it all in. Though the Taiwanese aren’t alone, a large dose of creative bonsai energy seems to be emanating from that unique island. And it’s not just Min Hsuan Lo and Cheng, Cheng-Kung, they have plenty of talented company. If you want some evidence, check out the … Continue reading Somewhere North of Magnificent

More Dramatic Bonsai then Back to the Real World

It’s the pot stupid (just kidding and no offense intended)! Actually, it’s the pot and the tree. A perfect match. The artist is Yang, Kuo-Yin. The tree is a Malpighia glabra. Up against it today, so we’ll show you three more trees from the 2007 Taiwan Bonsai Creators 10th Exhibition booklet (this time with black backgrounds) and tell you about our FREE Green Dream bonsai fertilizer giveaway (see below), and then back to the real world. Three things jumped out with this one: the pot, the trunk and last but not least, the highly refined ramification (branching all the … Continue reading More Dramatic Bonsai then Back to the Real World

Wild Horses, Dramatic Bonsai, but No Snow!

That’s a tiny horse standing on a rock cliff. Which begs the question, do wild horses ever venture onto rocky cliffs, or do they avoid them? My guess is the later, but in this case it makes for a little more drama in an already dramatic and perfectly arranged scene by Li, Hung-Chien. The trees are Premna microphylla. The other day we featured a dramatic juniper bonsai by a Mr. Chiu Chung Cheng, a Taiwanese bonsai artist. It had been a while since we’d shown any bonsai from Taiwan and if you know Taiwanese bonsai, you know just how spectacular … Continue reading Wild Horses, Dramatic Bonsai, but No Snow!

Fukien Tea with Elephant & Other Wonders

That’s a lot of tree for a pot that size. But then that’s a commanding pot, at least in color and design. The pot and presumably the tree (Breynia officianalis) belong to Ruban Yu. This photo and the one just below are from The 11th Annual Shohin Pottery Competition, on Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots blog. Continuing from yesterday, here are a couple more trees from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots blog. Both belong to Ruban Yu. The pots below also belong to Ruban and are from his website. Here’s what Ryan has to say about the two bonsai shown … Continue reading Fukien Tea with Elephant & Other Wonders

A Dose of Creative Bonsai Energy

I’m running out of superlatives. How about ‘somewhere north of magnificent.’ My only question is; could the pot be a little bigger? It’s a Ficus by Hsieh, Shun-Chin. This is one of our two busy seasons (the other is spring). Of the two, this is the most intense; everything comes to a head in just a few short weeks. Long story short, I’m swamped. One solution is to resurrect old posts from our vast archives. This one is from December, 2010. Though the Taiwanese aren’t alone, a large dose of creative bonsai energy seems to be emanating from that unique … Continue reading A Dose of Creative Bonsai Energy

Elevated Company, Circling Back from Venezuela to Taiwan

The sheer size and power are of this magnificent tree places it in elevated company. It’s a 50cm (20″) tall Ficus microcarpa by one of our favorite South American bonsai artists, Nacho Marin of Venezuela. The pot is by John Evans from the USA. Though this post was inspired by Nacho Marin’s powerful Ficus (above) and though Nacho is South American, when we start looking at Ficus bonsai we seem to circle back to Taiwan. In this case, much of the elevated company (mentioned in the caption above) comes from that island nation. It doesn’t hurt that they have the … Continue reading Elevated Company, Circling Back from Venezuela to Taiwan

One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Great tree. Great pot. Great photo too (the uncropped original is below). I’m guessing the tree is a Taiwanese juniper. Here’s the translation: This and the other photos in this post are from 2014, with Chinese-style bonsai Exhibition prize categories: bronze medal for species: Cypress bonsai collection: Lin Minghui All the photos in this post are from one person’s facebook feed. I can’t say who the person is (can’t read Chinese), but I know he’s Taiwanese and his photo does look familiar. Fortunately the trees have captions with translations that include the artist’s names. Feel free to do your own … Continue reading One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Great Trees, Great Pots

Much of the bonsai in Taiwan seems to pair truly remarkable trees with truly remarkable pots. Not that the best bonsai elsewhere aren’t usually in suitably excellent pots, but still, there’s something both bold and refined about these uniquely beautiful hand-painted Taiwanese pots that create extra excitement and pleasure (something like that anyway). I found these photos on facebook a while back, but now, after spending 30 minutes looking for the source, I’ve given up. This is a little embarrassing because I’m usually a bit of a fanatic about attribution. I guess we’ll just have to wait for Jose Luis … Continue reading Great Trees, Great Pots