Displaying bonsai the old school way. It’s always great to see a world-class bonsai displayed in a well-put-together Tokonoma. It’s from Kunio Kobayashi’s website. Just in case you haven’t heart of Mr. Koybayahsi, he’s considered by many to one of the world’s most prominent bonsai masters.
Speaking of Bonsai Masters: We almost never use the term here on Bonsai Bark or at Stone Lantern. In fact, I think we’ve used it only for Masahiko Kimura and Kunio Kobayashi. This is not to say there aren’t others in their league, it just that it’s such a tricky term that’s so often misused, that it’s easier to just avoid it and stick with Bonsai Artist.
Joy of Bonsai. Kawa Bonsai (member of Bonsai Societies of Florida) is hosting the 10th Annual Joy of Bonsai in January. Our favorite shohin artist Suthin Sukosolvisit (Royal Bonsai) will be there. This is not to say that Suthin does shohin exclusively. His skill with larger bonsai, like his skill with Shohin bonsai, place him among the elite bonsai artists.
The best Holiday gift just might be a Okatsune hand tool.
I think Okatsune tools are the best garden tools in world (barring individually hand crafted tools). We’ve got them at Stone Lantern, and they are all discounted. Take a look for yourself. You’ll like what you see.
This world class Okatsune hand pruner is discounted from 79.00 to only 59.00 at Stone Lantern.
Bonsai from Scratch results. We are waiting for the results for one more of our illustrious judges. Don’t worry, as soon as we have them all, we’ll post them here and we’ll send out a newsletter.
More fuel for the fire. A couple posts ago we broached the subject of highly sculpted more abstract bonsai and naturalistic bonsai (it’s an old topic on Bonsai Bark). Here’s an excellent example of the former. It’s a Juniper procumbens by Marco Invernizzi, who is, among other things a student of Masahiko Kimura.
Shohin 2012. The famous California Shohin Seminar is scheduled for February 4-6. As usual, it will take place in Santa Nella.
One big bad Poderosa pine. That’s Ryan Neil of International Bonsai Mirai tackling an almost incomprehensibly massive Ponderosa that was collected by Randy Knight. The photo is from a slideshow on International Bonsai Mirai. BTW: Ryan is, like Marco (above), a student of Masahiko Kimura.
Bonsai in Chile. Exposición y Concurso Achibo 2011 takes place Saturday Nov 26th en el centro cultural de la reina, más información…
Bonsai Art magazine. Got our copy of Bonsai Art recently. It’s still one of our favorite bonsai mags. The quality of the trees, photography and overall production is the best. I can’t say much about the text (my German is primitive, to say the least), but my guess is that it’s not bad either.
Sound and sight. A sweet mix of music, dance, bonsai and suiseki from the 2nd Japanese Culture Festival and 6th International Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition that took place this year in Vilnius (Lithuania).
Top dressing. Bonsai Tonight has study of top dressings from the East Bay Bonsai Society’s 50th Anniversary Show.
The Amador Bonsai Society is located in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains (in the Heart of the Mother Lode). Their website won the Gold State Bonsai Federation Website of the Year Award for 2011.
End of the line for Bonsaiautumn. In our last post we featured a remarkable hornbeam by Andy Doerfliger. Andy is a key player in Europe’s Bonsaiautumn show. This year featured the 7th, and unfortunately, last show in the series.
Jerry Meislik, author of Ficus: The Exotic Bonsai, presents a wealth of information on Tropical/Indoor bonsai culture and care on his website.
Iowa Bonsai Association‘s meetings are held at the Des Moines Botanical Center.
Green Mountain Bonsai Society‘s next meeting is November 20th.
The “one big bad Ponderosa Pine” that Ryan is working on is cool but a bit absurd to use as a bonsai. Way, way too big. Put it in the ground as an accent plant in a Japanese garden.
Lee Squires
Hi Lee,
Yeah. No doubt it would make a great focal plant in a garden. I guess we’ll just have to stay posted to see what happens.