A Brilliant New Book!

Houses and Gardens of Kyoto. In this case, you can tell a book by its cover. This is one of the two or three most beautiful Japanese gardens we’ve ever seen. And it’s not just about Japanese gardens. The houses (actually houses and other types of buildings) present some of the most perfect artistry and craftsmanship anywhere and the gardens are every bit as good. Best of all, the photos are original (well, almost all of them) If you’ve spent much time with garden books from Japan, you may have noticed that most of them feature many of the same … Continue reading A Brilliant New Book!

Weeping Bald Cypress Critique by Robert Steven

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Bald cypress that was submitted by Mac McAtee (see below for Mac’s original). It will cost you absolutely nothing (except maybe a little pride) Email us a photo of your bonsai and we’ll submit it to Robert Steven for a critique. Robert is a world renowned bonsai author, teacher and artist (you could say bonsai master, but I tend to shy away from using the term) and we are delighted to be the recipients of his generous offering of his time and expertise (how’s that for a string of prep phrases?). Normally you would pay … Continue reading Weeping Bald Cypress Critique by Robert Steven

New Planting Angle (Plus) Equals New Tree

After. Ezo spruce by Tomohisa Fujikawa. From Bonsai Today issue 50. Changing the planting angle is only part of the story At first glance you might think that just changing the planting angle is the whole story here. True, it’s a big part of the story and changing the planting angle so radically and making it look so natural is no mean feat. But if you take a closer look at the before picture (below) and the after picture (above) you might notice that there’s more than first meets the eye. The whole story If you’d like to see a … Continue reading New Planting Angle (Plus) Equals New Tree

Fertilizing & Back Budding

Speaking of Mario Komsta (previous post), this instructive and somewhat self explanatory photo about a lesser known benefit of fertilizing, is something he cooked up. I don’t remember where I found it (facebook?), but I do know where you can find Mario. Fertilize! Skip ahead to the fourth point unless you are a beginner (or, either ignorant or lazy – or both)* Many, if not most people under fertilize their bonsai. I imagine it’s laziness on some people’s part and ignorance on others (they’re related). There’s nothing we can do about the laziness part, but, maybe we can help with … Continue reading Fertilizing & Back Budding

Super Mario

Hornbeam (Soro in Japanese) by Mario Komsta. Mario Komsta is his name Once upon a time, when I was the publisher/editor of Bonsai Today, we featured an article by a rising young European bonsai star (issue 102 – we also featured him in issue 105). His name was Mario Jano. Or so we thought. Turns out, we were wrong (for the whole story see Bonsai Today issue 104 page 53). His name was, and remains Mario Komsta, and judging by the photos here (there’s more on his site) he’s a bonsai star that has fully risen. Japanese winterberrry (Umemodoki). Another … Continue reading Super Mario

List Your Bonsai Events for FREE!

Our Calendar of Events Send us your upcoming events (including 2011 and beyond) and we will (in almost all cases) include them in our Calendar of Events. All entries will remain on the calendar until the event has passed. Put them in the comments below… …or email me: wayne@stonelantern.com Check out our tool sale. 30% to 40% off.

Fall Color: Writ Small

Trident maple from the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, North American Collection in Washington DC. Donated by Brussel Martin. You can tell by the color It’s most definitely fall here in Vermont (you can tell by the color and the swoonable luminous sunny days). But even though our fall color is renowned, we’re not the only place with such good fortune. Washington DC, Japan, Germany, pretty much everywhere there are distinct seasons have their own psychedelic displays. This time it’s a Japanese wax tree (Rhus succedanea) in Japan. The photo is from Bonsai Today issue 26. Fall color in Germany. … Continue reading Fall Color: Writ Small

Penjing Book: All Good Things Must End & Tying Up a Loose End on a Robert Steven Critique

An old favorite is almost gone. Only 3 or 4 left Thought we’d give you a fair warning in case you’ve been meaning to procure your own copy. It’s a the only Penjing book in English and, in my opinion, belongs in that elite group we call classics. Tying up a loose end A while back, Robert Steven asked me to post an original picture that he used for a second critique of an Atlas cedar (the photo for the first critique was posted). Given that most people probably don’t bother to read comments on old posts, I thought more … Continue reading Penjing Book: All Good Things Must End & Tying Up a Loose End on a Robert Steven Critique

Pots: A Flare for the Unusual

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a glaze quite like this one (or the one below for that matter). The potter is Michelle Dougherty. New pots I’ve been checking out Michelle’s posts at Bunjin Journal for quite a while now. Though she doesn’t post very often (lately she’s been on a bit of roll), when she does, she usually comes up with something a tad unusual. This time it’s some pots she just made. Not that all her pots are all that unusual, some are, some aren’t (I picked a couple here that I think are both distinctive and beautiful), … Continue reading Pots: A Flare for the Unusual

The Magician: After & Before

After. Pretty impressive, no? You’ll encounter very few bonsai that are both this powerful and this refined anywhere on this planet. In fact, I challenge you to find even one that rivals it (they do exist, but are oh so rare). Photo from Bonsai Today issue 59 (still available). Too refined? Masahiko Kimura has fallen out of favor with some people over the last few years. You might hear or see comments about how his bonsai is overly sculpted, overly refined, unnatural looking. For where I sit, it’s unfortunate when we feel we must take sides and pick either refined … Continue reading The Magician: After & Before