Bark

Don’t Starve Your Bonsai

Lush summer foliage and impressive deadwood on an old Shimpaku juniper.The lush foliage is the result of timely feeding. The photo is from our Masters Series Juniper book (due back in print in December). I know the tree is from Japan, but don’t know who the artist is. Many, if not most people underfeed their bonsai. There are many reasons why ample fertilizing is critical to developing healthy and beautiful bonsai. I’ll list a few (if I missed something important, please let us know in the comments). 1. It’s up to you. Most bonsai soils don’t contain nutrients. This means … Continue reading Don’t Starve Your Bonsai

More Deadwood & Six Reasons to Love a Bonsai

The uninitiated sometimes wonder how a tree like this stays alive. The answer; excellent care and that live vein that snakes its way up the trunk. The feature that really sets this tree apart (taking nothing away from the live vein and the tree’s overall beauty and balance) is that delicious deadwood reaching into the sky. I think it’s the fluidity of the movement that keeps it from being over the top (so to speak). The tree belongs to Nicola Kitora Crivelli. It’s from a gallery on  Bonsai Empire.   More deadwood. We’re on a roll so we’ll just keep … Continue reading More Deadwood & Six Reasons to Love a Bonsai

Carving Deadwood – How About Yew?

Every time I open Bonsai Today issue 106 and lay my eyes on this wickedly powerful, dynamic old English yew, my mind does a little double take. It may not look exactly like anything you’ll see in nature, but it certainly jumps off the page. It’s by Kevin Willson, bonsai artist and deadwood carver extraordinaire. Photo by Simon Carr. We’ve been flirting with deadwood a lot lately, so let’s keep going. This time we’ll dip back into our archives and resurrect a post that originally appeared in 2011. A labor of love Yew wood is very hard. Harder than almost … Continue reading Carving Deadwood – How About Yew?

The Sensationalism of Deadwood?

There’s deadwood and then there’s deadwood. This photo is from Francois Jeker’s website. Judging from the bark and the leaves, I’d guess this is a Yew. Probably European (Taxus baccata). Dick Matthews wrote this in the comments on a post from a few days ago (from my personal facebook feed). “Sometime I think that in a bizarre sort of way, bonsai is evolving into the sensationalism of dead wood. The more bizarre looking the dead wood, the more it represents the age of a bonsai, but I don’t think that the dead wood should be the central theme and eye-catcher … Continue reading The Sensationalism of Deadwood?

Super-Sized Penjing & Our Summer Bonsai Book Sale Is About to End

This super-sized three part penjing is by Robert Steven; renowned bonsai artist, teacher and author, and frequent contributor to this blog. It’s worth noting that this is freshly planted, so you might imagine what it would like after things settled and filled out. Every time I see this magnificent Penjing planting, I want to share it. For this and other reasons, this is the third time for this post, though the original photos have been enlarge to fit our newer format and a couple new cropped versions have been added. I’ve also stuck some pertinent books in to remind you … Continue reading Super-Sized Penjing & Our Summer Bonsai Book Sale Is About to End

The Sun Almost Never Gets Too Hot Here in Northern Vermont, but It Just Might Where You Live

Deciduous Award at the 2012 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition for the Finest Deciduous Bonsai. It’s a Japanese Maple by Suthin Sukolosovisit of Royal Bonsai. It has nothing to do with the topic of this post, at least directly, but the 3rd (2012) U.S. National Bonsai Exhibiton Album and all of our other books are now on special at Stone Lantern. Michael’s font of bonsai wisdom: The following very useful piece of summer advice is by Michael Hagedorn from his Crataegus Bonsai. When the sun gets too hot… July 16, 2015 by Crataegus “There are various ways of helping our bonsai … Continue reading The Sun Almost Never Gets Too Hot Here in Northern Vermont, but It Just Might Where You Live

An Astonishingly Eccentric Two Headed Monster

Calligraphy anyone? I think this is the third time we’ve shown this astonishingly eccentric two headed monster, but it’s been about four years, which means many of you haven’t seen it, and I think everyone should have at least one chance. I don’t know its full history, but I do know that it appeared on The Art of Bonsai Project in a post titled The Bonsai of Mario Komsta, as did all the photos shown in this post. Yixing pot. Once again it’s time for Mario Komsta (Super Mario), one of Europe’s and the world’s new wave of younger bonsai … Continue reading An Astonishingly Eccentric Two Headed Monster

Rich in Bonsai Wisdom & Advanced How-to Articles

Eric Schrader’s caption for this photo reads: “At Ryan Neil’s place the Ponderosa were all about the twists and deadwood.” Ryan Neil is the artist behind the wonders of Bonsai Mirai and Eric Schrader is a five star bonsai blogger. I just discovered a phenomenal bonsai blog. It’s called phutu and it belongs to Eric Schrader (Eric lives in San Francisco and is involved in the Bonsai Society of San Francisco as a volunteer and teacher). I don’t understand how I missed phutu for so long, especially considering Eric has been posting regularly since 2003. I encourage you to pay … Continue reading Rich in Bonsai Wisdom & Advanced How-to Articles

More Bougainvillea Bonsai but More Elegant & Less Showy this Time

There’s something about a beautiful bonsai in flower. If you let your eyes linger for a few moments, you’ll notice how the seemingly perfectly placed flowers enhance the power of the tree rather than overwhelm it. It’s a bougainvillea by Robert Steven. All this photos in this post are from Robert’s facebook gallery. Yesterday we featured three Bougainvillea Bonsai. The first two were covered with brilliant flowers (actually bracts) and the third was less showy, more like the two you see here. From a purely bonsai perspective, these two are splendid and elegant, with or without flowers, though the flowers … Continue reading More Bougainvillea Bonsai but More Elegant & Less Showy this Time

Boug Bonsai, That Gorgeously Gaudy Wonder Plant

Bougainvilleas can be a little ostentatious, even gaudy at times, and this one just might qualify. Still, ostentatious, gaudy, whatever, this lush combination of flowers, aged character and power is magnificent. The photo is from the Club de Bonsaistas (facebook). Bougs! That gorgeously gaudy semi-tropical wonder plant that seems to grace half the walls of the southern regions of our world. Turns out they make great bonsai too.   The power of the trunk rivals the brilliance of the flowers on this one. And then there’s that pot (anybody know anything about it?). I found this on Salvatore Liporace’s facebook … Continue reading Boug Bonsai, That Gorgeously Gaudy Wonder Plant