Wild Apples & Other North American Natives

This humped back Wild apple appears on the back cover of Nick Lenz’ Bonsai from the Wild (long out of print). In fact all of the photos shown here are from Nick’s book. I’m a little pressed for time, so we’ll use our old archives trick. The photos are from a June, 2011 post. The text is heavily edited. It’s no secret that Nick Lenz is a brilliant, innovative and daring bonsai artist. It’s also not much of a secret that Nick is a genuine holder of extensive bonsai (and horticultural) knowledge and wisdom, with perhaps more expertise when it … Continue reading Wild Apples & Other North American Natives

Still Crazy…

It’s hard to deny the mind stopping power and originality of this bonsai. It’s by Luis Vila and the photo is by Salvador De Los Reyes. We pinched it from Empire Bonsai (apologies to Salvador and Empire for our crop; we wanted to maximize the tree). I usually try to come up with a good excuse for resorting to our archives (rather than going to the trouble to come up with something new), but today there’s no good excuse. Unless you think laziness qualifies. This post originally appeared in November 2013. It was titled ‘Crazy Bonsai.’ Beyond laziness, another reason … Continue reading Still Crazy…

Born in the U.S.A. & A Couple Recent Immigrants

Picasso’s (aka Dan Robinson’s) now famous wild and wonderful Hinoki. It’s from Will Hiltz’ excellent book, Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees, about Dan’s life and work. It’s no longer available through Stone Lantern, but I think they might still have some at Dan’s Elandan Gardens. Here’s the original Bark post. It’s Independence Day (here in the USA at least)! To help you celebrate, why not enjoy a sampling of home-grown (and a couple recent immigrant) bonsai from previous Bark posts? But first, because many of our readers are not US Americans (and because some US Americans don’t know much about history … Continue reading Born in the U.S.A. & A Couple Recent Immigrants

Nick’s Bonsai & FREE ITEMS Last Day

I know many of you have already seen this somewhat unruly apple, but many of you haven’t. Either way, it’s a very distinctive bonsai, and it’s flowering no less! You can find it on the back cover of Nick Lenz’ landmark book on collecting, Bonsai from the Wild. Larch master Lenz It seems like high time to return to our old friend Larch Master Nick Lenz. Especially since we just received some new photos of some of Nick’s trees from Candy Shirey, who is now their proud owner. This isn’t the first time we’ve featured bonsai of Nick’s that now … Continue reading Nick’s Bonsai & FREE ITEMS Last Day

A Not-So-Well-Kept Bonsai Secret

This wild, Wild apple, appears on the back cover and in the chapter titled ‘Wild Apple’ in Bonsai from the Wild. A confession and a little insignificant history I’ve never met Nick Lenz. I don’t think we’ve even talked on the phone. Andy Rutledge (a student of Nick’s who’s been featured on Bonsai Bark) introduced us via email years ago because he thought we’d enjoy each other (we share certain unrelated-to-bonsai views). The upshot was a flurry of emails and finally, a decision to reprint an enhanced version of Nick’s now famous book, Bonsai from the Wild. So what’s the … Continue reading A Not-So-Well-Kept Bonsai Secret