Michael’s Miraculous Escape

A famous Foemina juniper after Michael Hagedorn ruined it (just kidding…). Photos are from Michael’s Crataegus Bonsai. Tar and feathers If I was inclined to envy, I think I’d chose Michael Hagedorn’s writing skills to be envious of (taking nothing away from his considerable bonsai skills). Fortunately, my experience is more one of appreciation than envy (still, if I could only….). Anyway, I’ll let Michael speak for himself: “No matter how assured you are, changing the design of a famous tree is done with a deep intake of breath. One takes precautions. Like boarding up windows and doors, in premonition … Continue reading Michael’s Miraculous Escape

Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?

Pemphis acidula by Gedemerta Bonsaibali. For a while now, facebook has been inundated with bonsai by Gedemerta. Turns out, that’s a good thing if you like exciting tropical bonsai. If you’re not friends on facebook, you can see more of Gede Merta’s trees on Beial blog (on facebook it’s Gedemerta; on Beial it’s Gede Merta). Bonsai from Scratch prizes Are there any winners out there who haven’t collected their prizes yet? If so, please contact me at wayne@stonelantern.com. Do you have an upcoming bonsai event that you want to promote? Let us know and we’ll publish it for you. wayne@stonelantern.com. … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?

Wire By The Ton & A Simple Lesson

A very simple wiring lesson. It’s pretty self explanatory, but if you need more explanation, check out ‘Wiring a Young Tree’ in Bonsai Today issue 107 (Bonsai Today back issues are currently 70% off at Stone Lantern). That’s a lot of bonsai wire It’s now official. We have sold almost exactly one ton of Bonsai Aesthetics wire since we started offering it on June 26th of this year. Two very good reasons There are two very good reasons why Bonsai Aesthetics wire is so popular: first, quality: it’s easy to use and it holds very well. Second, low prices. 1 … Continue reading Wire By The Ton & A Simple Lesson

A Penjing Symphony in Three Movements

This super-sized three part penjing is by Robert Steven; renowned bonsai artist, teacher and author, and frequent contributor to this blog. In Robert Steven’s own words “This is a super large penjing I did two weeks ago. The total length is three meters (about 10 feet). I combined three large special-order white marble trays in the arrangement in order to give a unique presentation in perspective and composition. The mountains were made of real rocks by a friend who hollowed some areas for planting the trees (Triphasia trifolia, aka Limeberry). The problem was to find a background for the photo, … Continue reading A Penjing Symphony in Three Movements

Another Radical Transformation by Robert Steven

Robert’s simulation of a tree that was submitted for critique by Matthew Harhager (Matthew’s original is below). Attention to detail helps I don’t know exactly how Robert Steven does his simulations, but from the looks of them, I’d guess that plenty of time and effort goes into each one. Rather than settle for simple abstractions, Robert’s simulations look like the real thing (the photo above aptly illustrates this point). So much so, that if you didn’t know that they are simulations, you’d most likely accept them as photos of actual bonsai. I can think of at least two reasons why … Continue reading Another Radical Transformation by Robert Steven

Still Scratching (the Judges backs)

New England’s best. Teddi Scobi’s easy-going personal style is a big reason for New England Bonsai’s success for the past 27 years (photo is from New England Bonsai’s Kaikou School of Bonsai). If you don’t believe me, visit New England Bonsai and meet her for yourself. Be sure to tell her I said hello. Still scratching Judges Though we already featured our judges once, for some reason I feel compelled to do it again. I think it’s because I’m already getting excited about our next Bonsai from Scratch Contest (here’s an early post on the just completed 2011 contest) and … Continue reading Still Scratching (the Judges backs)

A Bonsai Story

This famous old Japanese white pine appears on the cover of Bonsai Today 43 (below) and in the gallery section of our Pine book (Bonsai Today Masters’ Series Pines: Growing and Styling Japanese Black and White Pines). It originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 31 where it is restyled by Japan’s most famous bonsai master, Masahiko Kimura and subsequently won the President’s Award at the 9th Taiken-ten Bonsai Exhibition. A revised version of this article later appears in The Magician, The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2. Back in good hands I stumbled upon the photo below in a 2009 post … Continue reading A Bonsai Story

Million Dollar Bonsai

This magnificent White pine was sold at the 11th Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention & Exhibition in at Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan, earlier this month. As you can see, the asking price was 100,000,000 yen (that’s close to 1.3 million dollars). I don’t know what the actual sales price was. Photo borrowed from Bonsai Tonight. $1,000,000 for a bonsai? I’ve heard of million dollar bonsai before, but don’t know if I’ve ever seen one (in person or in a photo). We don’t really know what this one sold for, but still, an asking price of 1.3 million dollars is a little … Continue reading Million Dollar Bonsai

Two Very Good Reasons

Shopping at Stone Lantern is a good way to keep Bonsai Bark coming & a very good way to save money! Koyo Heavy Duty Bonsai Shears (list 29.00) are now deeply discounted at 17.95 Over 100 Bonsai Tools deeply discounted at Stone Lantern Shohin Bonsai (list 24.95) is now deeply discounted at 9.95 Over 50 Bonsai Books deeply discounted at Stone Lantern Okatsune World-Class Garden & Bonsai Pruning Shears come in 2 sizes: 7″ size (list 66.50) now deeply discounted at 47.80 8″ size (list 79.90) now deeply discounted at 59.00 Quality Gardening Tools deeply discounted at Stone Lantern Japanese … Continue reading Two Very Good Reasons

Weekly Wire 7: The Old School Way

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 … Continue reading Weekly Wire 7: The Old School Way