Photo Art Contest: Entry #8

That’s Jeremiah Lee sitting on the huge surface roots of a tree in Santa Barbara, California. His girl friend Courtney Hood took the photo. Jeremiah believes that the tree is a variety of ficus. It’s not too late for yours We are still accepting entries for our $100 Bonsai Art Photography Contest, though it seems to be turning out to be a contest about photographing trees in the wild. That’s okay, full sized trees, or parts of full sized trees are acceptable. It would be interesting however, if someone would send in an artistic shot of a bonsai (or part … Continue reading Photo Art Contest: Entry #8

When to Hack Off 98% of a Tree

Why is this man smiling? Is it something he did? Who is he and what did he do? He’s Michael Hagedorn (we just featured him the other day) and he just did some very fierce hacking on a Zelkova. If you count carefully, you’ll see that there are 1,376 leaves on this tree. If you subtract the 31 remaining leaves (top photo) you’ll see that he cut off almost 98% of the leaves. That’s pretty radical. BTW: don’t try this on your pines. Not that you’d want a broom style pine anyway.

A Wonderfully Eccentric Bunjin by Budi

We’ve featured bonsai by Budi Sulistyo before, and for good reason; his bonsai are innovative and daring. Budi isn’t afraid to try new ideas and break with convention. I’d say on balance, that this has served him very well. Budi’s tropical gallery book In addition to being an innovative bonsai artist, Budi is a photographer and the author of an excellent gallery book on tropical bonsai (now on special at Stone Lantern).

Photo Art Contest: Entry #7

Margaret Wong submitted this photo along with her comments: “I thought it looked like a lovely inspiration for a group planting. It is a small island off the coast near Nelson in New Zealand. I take lots of photos of trees for inspiration wherever I travel :)” Richard Warner’s beech has set something off Margaret also has something to say about the photo that got the contest started: “Kiwis never, as far as I have heard (I am a kiwi living in Australia) call the tree a birch. It is a mountain beech, most likely Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides (New … Continue reading Photo Art Contest: Entry #7

Bonsai Seasonals with Michael Hagedorn

You could spend your whole life collecting bonsai and never find one as impressive as this. From Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai Seasonals. Here’s what Michael says about this photo… “Initial potting of a large Rocky Mountain Juniper, Winter 2010 Seasonal.” Just a little understated. If this is any indication, it’s worth noting that Michael has his students working on trees of this caliber (and caliper). Study with one of the very best My guess is that three days with Michael will be worth months or even years of fumbling about in your backyard in hopes that trial and error will … Continue reading Bonsai Seasonals with Michael Hagedorn

So You Think Winter Is Over?

Icy larches from my back yard this morning (May 11). 25 degree Fahrenheit (-4 celsius) last night here in the lovely, underpopulated (now you know why) Northeast Kingdom, Vermont. I left a mist on all night to protect these newly dug and newly sprouted larches. It worked, the ice has melted (it’s sunny and around 50 now) and all is well. Photos by Amy Palmer. An ugly little Eastern white cedar (Cham thyoides) made beautiful by icing. Eastern white cedars (not to be confused with Northern white cedars ‘Thuja occidentalis’ which are abundant around here) don’t do very well here, … Continue reading So You Think Winter Is Over?

Photo Art Contest: Entry #6

Submitted by Tyler (no last name given). “I took a trip to visit a buddy of mine who lives in the Bitterroot Mountains in western Montana. I found many naturally occurring bonsai but this one really looked the part. It was just jammed between these huge rocks on the side of a mountain overlooking a river valley. Hope you like it!” What it is? It’s best when people send along the name of the tree (as well as their last name), though I suspect that people often don’t know what it is. In this case, my first guess was lodgepole … Continue reading Photo Art Contest: Entry #6

Photo Art Contest: Entry #5

Susan Richards submitted this entry to our $100 Bonsai Art Photo Contest. The photo was taken at 7-mile Lake in Colorado. It’s not too late for you to enter We’ll keep the contest going until we have at least ten entries, maybe many more if interest remains high. So don’t be lazy, send us your photo. It’s a good thing to share your inspiration. The prizes First prize is a $60 gift certificate to Stone Lantern. Second prize $30 gift certificate. Third prize $10 gift certificate. The rest of the details

Grow Your Own (Moss)

Moss Milkshake. Just add water. Grows up to 20 square feet of just the kind of moss you want for your bonsai. Something new We haven’t had a new product for a while now (except for some rare out of print issues of Bonsai Today… not exactly new really), though there is a new Japanese gardening book that’s on its way (stay posted). Field grown bonsai stock… …is coming soon too.

Photo Art Contest: Entry #4

James Miles submitted this entry to our $100 Bonsai Art Photo Contest. It’s a juniper somewhere in the high Sierras. That’s granite that is appears to be growing on. How do they do that? The contest Here are the details. Don’t be shy, send us a photo. You might win a gift certificate to Stone Lantern. Speaking of Stone Lantern, our current deep sale ends tomorrow morning Even though we always seem to have sales, this one is particularly good, with a range of items double discounted. Check it out.