Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s Colorful Side

It takes a strong tree to handle a pot like this. This Pistacio (Pistacia chinensis Bunge) has at least two features that qualify: its muscular trunk which works well with the depth of the pot (deep pots with thin trunks just don’t work) and its lush, full, colorful crown (subtle, but still colorful) which contrasts with, and is not overpowered by, the pot’s brilliance. The trees shown here are all Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s creations. Cheng is famous for his Sidiao method (a technique for creating and enhancing deadwood – more on this tomorrow), but today, in keeping with yesterday’s theme, we’ll show his more colorful side. We’ve featured Cheng, … Continue reading Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s Colorful Side

Bonsai Bark Has a New Home & We’ve Got a New Website

I cropped this Ficus microcarpa for a close look at the sheer power and beauty of the trunk, pot and stand (the uncropped original is below). It’s by Huang,Ching-Chi of Taiwan We’ve got a New Website & Bonsai Bark has a New Home (right there on our New Website)! You can go directly to Bark with this link, or you can go to our New Website and scroll down just a tad and there it is Today we’ve got three bonsai from the 2008 Taiwan Bonsai Creators Exhibition booklet which appears on Bonsai Shari Si-Diao, Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s website. It’s the … Continue reading Bonsai Bark Has a New Home & We’ve Got a New Website

Great Pots Deserve Great Trees

Barbados cherry (Malpigia glabra) by Hsieh, Cheng-Hua These three magnificent trees with their equally magnificent pots are from the 2008 Taiwan Bonsai Creators Exhibition booklet which appears on Bonsai Shari Si-Diao, Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s website. All three photo originally appeared her in April, 2011 20% OFF SITE WIDE SALE at STONE LANTERN SEE BELOW – Ficus microcarpa by Huang,Ching-Chi. Variety unlisted. By Tung, Wen Chi 20% OFF SITE WIDE SALE OUR 20% OFF SITE WIDE SALE MEANS DOUBLE DISCOUNTS ON ITEMS THAT ARE ALREADY ON SALE AND 20% OFF ON EVERYTHING ELSE 20% off will show up when you check out – FREE Shipping Still Applies … Continue reading Great Pots Deserve Great Trees

Bonsai Superlatives

I’m running out of superlatives. How about… ‘somewhere north of magnificent.’ My only question is, could the pot be a little bigger? By Hsieh, Shun-Chin of Taiwan Continuing with spectacular Ficus bonsai… 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 Taiwan Bonsai Creators Exhibitions FALL POTTING SEASON SPECIAL 25% OFF LIST ON ALL HIGH IMPACT PLASTIC BONSAI POTS 25% OFF LIST ON ALL BONSAI SOIL … Continue reading Bonsai Superlatives

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

Movement, Power & Artistic Freedom

Abstract bonsai art. I think there’s a temptation to judge trees with elaborately carved deadwood. But maybe it’s best to just appreciate the skill involved and not worry about too much deadwood or whether the result look like our sense of what’s natural or not. Not to downplay the importance of bonsai the look like trees in nature, rather to appreciate the vast variety of approaches and results in our wonderful world of bonsai Yesterday we featured Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s colorful side. Today we’ll touch upon his famous Sidao carving method and some results. Hopefully this will peak your interest. If … Continue reading Movement, Power & Artistic Freedom

Not All Bonsai Need Deadwood

It takes a strong tree to handle a pot like this. This Pistacio (Pistacia chinensis Bunge) has at least two features that qualify: its muscular trunk which works well with the depth of the pot (deep pots with thin trunks just don’t work) and its lushly hued full crown which contrasts with the pot’s brilliance. Today is the first day of a short summer vacation. We’ll try to keep Bark going by employing some favorites from our archives. This one is from January, 2016 (with a couple revisions today) The trees shown here are all Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s creations. Cheng is famous for his Sidiao method (a … Continue reading Not All Bonsai Need Deadwood

Monster Bonsai, True Confession & the Meaning of Life

It’s hard to tell just how large this monster is from this photo (cropped from the photo just below), but it does provide some notion of how massive the trunk is and a pretty good look at the details on the pot… In the past I’ve always managed to post in spite of being on vacation… which might beg a question about the meaning of vacation (maybe even the meaning of life). Anyway, this is my first post in almost a week, and – true confession – much of it is borrowed from a 2011 post that was titled Vacation Gallery. The original … Continue reading Monster Bonsai, True Confession & the Meaning of Life

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

Hedge Bonsai #2 and Some Loose Ends

The other day we featured a bonsai hedge by Joe Selworthy (Dan Barton’s talented twin) and now here’s another one with this caption: “Picture of my first Cotoneaster hedge with Deshojo maple which I sold several years ago.” Though you can’t tell from here, there’s some impressive detail on and around the little fence under the maple (see below). Recognize this tree? It’s a Cheng, Cheng-Kung Shimpaku juniper that we featured last week. Here’s part of our caption: …there’s something very unusual going on here. Not that I expect you to read my mind, but still, the first person … Continue reading Hedge Bonsai #2 and Some Loose Ends