Bark

It’s All About Yew

The powerful tree with its heavy flowing deadwood (it reminds me of melting wax) and luscious reddish bark is truly wonderful, but then there’s that little companion too. Have you ever seen a piece of deadwood used as a bonsai companion? This Taxus (yew) and charming little piece of deadwood belong to Mauro Stemberger. The pot is a Tokoname. On the road again today, so we’ll go ahead and borrow from our archives once again. This one originally appeared in December 2012. Species specific series. I’ve been thinking about starting a species specific series (in this case it’s actually genus … Continue reading It’s All About Yew

Fertilizing for Back Budding

This shohin Carpinus coreana (Korean hornbeam) by Mario Komsta has appeared here on Bark before. As a companion plant no less (see below). No problem though. Any tree this good deserves to be shown more than once. Companion or by itself. Speaking of Mario Komsta, this instructive photo about back budding, a lesser known benefit of fertilizing, is something he cooked up. I don’t remember where I found it (facebook?). It and the text below (edited just a bit) originally appeared here on Bark in October, 2010. Fertilize! Skip ahead to the fourth point unless you are a beginner. Many, … Continue reading Fertilizing for Back Budding

Roshi Bonsai Tool Sale Ends Tomorrow

Our 15% to 25%  Sale on our enormously popular Roshi Tools is coming to an end at 11:59 pm (U.S. EDT) tomorrow (Friday) night. Roshi Bonsai tools are beautiful, sharp and strong. Best of all is the price.   Meanwhile our 25% off sale on our Okatsune Tools (the choice of Japanese professional gardeners) is still rolling along. Several of these brilliant quality tools are designed for bonsai as well as for the garden.  

Forever Young? How Not to Fertilize

You can bet that this Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) was fertilized with a master’s touch. Speaking of masters, this photo is from our Masters’ Series Pine Book. Staying in our archival mode, here’s another post on fertilizing (from last June). Well, fertilizing and needle reduction on Black pines (as opposed to fertilizing Black pines). Anyway, it’s the fertilizing part we’re most interested in now, which was the topic of our last post. But we left out one very important point: don’t fertilize old trees the same way you fertilize young trees. Whenever Michael Hagedorn writes, I read. What follows … Continue reading Forever Young? How Not to Fertilize

Feed Your Bonsai!

Your bonsai may never look like this, but they can be this healthy. This magnificently robust Willow leaf ficus (Ficus nerifolia) is by Jim Smith of Dura-Stone in Vero Beach Florida. The photo is from Bonsai Today, issue 61 and was taken by Jim. While we’re on basic bonsai health topics, we might as well discuss fertilizing. And, because I’m traveling again we’ll dig into our archives. All the way back to May 2009 (with some fairly extensive adding and editing this time). Your bonsai depend on you Bonsai do not survive on water, light, and love alone. Because most … Continue reading Feed Your Bonsai!

The Art & Science of Watering

  This drawing is from our Masters’ Series book; Junipers, Growing & Styling Juniper Bonsai. Our last couple posts have been about soil, so maybe it’s time to talk about watering. This will be the third time we’ve featured this post, but the time is right once again and, as it turns out, I’m on the road once again. A good time to dig into our archives. The more you know about watering, the better. Without timely, intelligent watering, any plant in a container is at risk. The more you know about watering, the better. BTW: A perfect complement to … Continue reading The Art & Science of Watering

Fear of Water & Kokufu Too

After Michael Hagedorn’s expert touch (the before photo is below). This photo is from Michael’s latest post which is about his trip to Japan to visit his teacher and the famous Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition. I’ve taken the liberty of combining pieces from three of Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai posts: His two latest posts from his recent visit to Japan and an an older post about Turface and Bonsai Soil. One of the many positives about visiting Crataegus Bonsai is that I always learn something. There’s more than just learning for sure, including great trees, Michael’s personable easy-to-read writing style and … Continue reading Fear of Water & Kokufu Too

Modern Masters Bonsai Soil

This Hawthorn in bloom is from Walter Pall’s Bonsai Adventures, as is the article below. The rest of the photos in this post are from Walter’s online gallery. It’s about the soil. This post originally appeared here on Bark June last year. We’re revisiting it because it’s about soil and because we’re about soil, at least for the moment (see our new Masters Bonsai Soil at Stone Lantern). Walter Pall, world famous bonsai artist and much more… We’ve feature Walter’s bonsai numerous times here on Bark (and in Bonsai Today) and will continue to feature them for as long as … Continue reading Modern Masters Bonsai Soil

A Bonsai Story (Sometimes You Just Can’t Tell)

You can get some idea that this might be a pretty big bonsai from this photo (the little leaf at the bottom helps). But how big, you could only guess. This and the other photos in this post are from Peter Tea Bonsai. I started this post with the title Sometimes You Just Can’t Tell. That’s because I wanted to talk about how difficult it is to tell just how big some bonsai are without something to indicate scale. In photos that is. Now you might not think this is a big deal, but it is. Photos, even when there … Continue reading A Bonsai Story (Sometimes You Just Can’t Tell)

Earth and Fire

Mottled beauty with just right mix of tradition (form) and innovation (glaze). One of many great pots by Peter Krebs. All the photos in this post are from Peter’s Earth and Fire website. We are well into our sixth year here on Bark and we’ve never devoted a post to Peter Krebs’ exquisite hand made bonsai pots. Fortunately, the time is right to repair this oversight. Potting season is here for some of us and soon to be here for most of us. This is not to say that everyone should hurry over to Peter’s website (Earth and Fire) and … Continue reading Earth and Fire