20% to 25% off Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow Night

Site Wide Sale 20% – 25% off Everything* plus FREE Shipping U.S. orders 50.00 or more Sale ends friday at 11:59pm edt 20% off orders 1.00 to 99.99 25% off orders 100.00 or more Bonsai Tools Site Wide Sale Ends Friday, April 15th at 11:59pm EDT Bonsai Books Bonsai Wire Site Wide Sale Ends Friday, April 15th at 11:59pm EDT Bonsai Fertilizers & Bonsai Soil Watering Cans Site Wide Sale Ends Friday, April 15th at 11:59pm EDT Bonsai Pots Bonsai Today Back Issues an additonal 20% off Site Wide Sale Ends Friday, April 15th at 11:59pm EDT Embroidered Bonsai Clothing … Continue reading 20% to 25% off Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow Night

Which Pot Again – Another Tree, More Choices

These four images were borrowed from Juraj Szabó. Juraj lives, works and plays in Slovakia. The tree is a Shimpaku juniper (Juniperus chinensis sargentii). Juraj doesn’t say where the pots came from, though a couple look like they might be either Tokoname or Yixing pots. Most of our previous Which Pot? posts have been lifted from Boon Manakitivipart (including yesterday’s), so it was nice to discover one from someone (and somewhere) else. Nothing against Boon’s offerings, he puts on a world class bonsai show. It’s just a nice change of pace. Some details: First, it’s best if you put your … Continue reading Which Pot Again – Another Tree, More Choices

Great Tree but Which Pot Do You Like?

Great tree. But which pot do you like? You can never have too much Boon. Boon Manakitivipart’s Which Pot do you like? series has been the source of some of our most popular posts, as have other Boon posts we’ve presented over the years. So, no need to stop now…. Boon posted these Japanese red pine photos recently. The photo above shows the two choices together. Below, for a closer look, you’ll find photos of each choice. Feel free to tell us about your choice in the comments. Square pot. The order of appearance is important in how we judge … Continue reading Great Tree but Which Pot Do You Like?

Sweeping Dishes & Washing Floors in Exchange for Bonsai Lessons

A little change of pace. We almost always just focus on bonsai and avoid people photos (that’s social media’s job), but this one is just too good to pass up. The peaceful Bonsai Yogi is Gede Merta of Bonsai Bali. I cropped this photo (with apologies to Scott Jackson and his great tattoo).* Another blast from our past. Starting this week, we’re going to be upgrading most of our digital universe. Pain and suffering will no doubt ensue, but it has to be done. Not that I need an excuse for resurrecting old posts, there’s more than enough work around … Continue reading Sweeping Dishes & Washing Floors in Exchange for Bonsai Lessons

Beyond Dazzling Deadwood

Colorado spruce from Ryan Neil’s Bonsai Mirai. This one is more about the bark than deadwood. Normally bark that covers deadwood is stripped to reveal the deadwood, but in this case it makes sense to just leave it. While we’re at it, we would be remiss not to mention the fantastic pot. You might notice how the trunk almost completely fills it side to side. Such relatively small pots are usually for show and not year round growing. Today we’re featuring three remarkable trees from Bonsai Mirai that we’ve never shown before. Yesterday we featured three remarkable Bonsai Mirai trees … Continue reading Beyond Dazzling Deadwood

Dazzling Deadwood

Dazzling deadwood. I think I see a live vein on the left edge of the trunk. Otherwise, this spectacular old specimen is a study in deadwood (with a little rebar thrown into the mix). It’s a Rocky Mountain juniper. The artist and owner is Ryan Neil, Bonsai Mirai. The tree was originally collected by Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai (Stone Lantern offers Andy’s excellent DVD on collecting bonsai). Intenational Bonsai Mirai has a great little back story on this intriguing old tree. This post originally appeared here in January, 2012. A lot has changed and a lot remains more … Continue reading Dazzling Deadwood

An Eccentric Bonsai with a Exceptionally Long Cascade

We found this exceptionally long cascading bonsai on the Bonsai South (Australia) website (the old link no longer works). I’ll guess it’s Ficus of some sort. The blank gap above the photo is intentional and has to do with how our posts appear on social media. The original photo is below. It’s time to dig way back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2009, our first year. It was part of a series of posts on eccentric bonsai and was titled Eccentric Bonsai #4: A Very Long Cascade. The trees and the photos belong to Bonsai South. It’s … Continue reading An Eccentric Bonsai with a Exceptionally Long Cascade

Finding Fault Doesn’t Make You a Hater

Luigi Maggione’s wildly expressive, unusual bonsai with Itoigawa shimpaku foliage that has been grafted onto a Sabina juniper (Juniperus sabina). There’s a lot to like about this bonsai (I found it while perusing Salatore Liporace facebook feed) including just how strikingly unique it is and that way it jumps off the page and demands your attention. There are also some issues that might be called faults. Which begs the question of what constitutes a fault and also why bother to find faults at all (answer; finding faults doesn’t make you a hater* if you use them as learning tools – we … Continue reading Finding Fault Doesn’t Make You a Hater

Defoliating Grandfather – Redirecting Energy, Maintaining Balance & Creating Fine Branching

Here’s Juan Adrade’s English caption for this magnificent old Trident maple. “Partial defolation on one of the grandfather trees. Close to 100 yrs old.” Here’s his Spanish: “Defoliación de las ramas exteriores en uno de los tridentes del abuelo de mi maestro. Este arbol posiblemente se acerca a los 100 años.” You might notice the part about exterior branches in the Spanish. This would indicate that Juan is redirecting energy away from the outer tips and down closer to the center of the tree. This photo is from Juan’s facebook feed. Defoliation is an important technique for redirecting energy, maintaining … Continue reading Defoliating Grandfather – Redirecting Energy, Maintaining Balance & Creating Fine Branching

Dragon!

It’s time to revisit Bonsai Master Masahiko Kimura, the man, who more than anyone, revolutionized the art of bonsai. Dragon is one of the best examples of Kimura’s bonsai revolution. When he did it, there was nothing like it anywhere and it still stands as one of the most amazing bonsai transformations ever. Unfortunately, The Bonsai Art of Kimura where the transformation of the Dragon is shown in detail, is long out of print. Fortunately, the transformation is also in Bonsai Today issue 2, which shows up time to time. If you want to get your hands on Kimura in … Continue reading Dragon!