Bonsai Pots at Stone Lantern

A small sampling of what we have and what’s to come. Finally We’ve been talking about offering bonsai pots for a while and now, finally, we’ve got them. So far we’ve put up thirty-some, with many more to come. Stay posted. A ways to go Organization-wise, we still have a ways to go. Once we get enough up, we’ll organize them into sub-groups for your convenience. Meanwhile, it’s pretty easy to go through what’s already up. Competitive prices too We are being very careful to keep our pot prices competitive. Feel free to compare. In this vein, we have also … Continue reading Bonsai Pots at Stone Lantern

Digging Around Pays Off

You can find this monarch of bunjin pines and other great trees on Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai website. This one is from the 2004 Taikan Ten show in Japan and is part of an article called Japanese Shows that Michael posted in 2008 (the caption says White pine; however, it looks like a Black pine to me). Digging around Sometimes digging around through old material pays off (if you call 2008 old). I found this powerful, stately old pine (above) and several other magnificent trees while digging around Michael Hagedorn’s postings on Crataegus Bonsai. It’s part of a posting called … Continue reading Digging Around Pays Off

Bill’s Bonsai & Stone Lantern’s Sale

I don’t think there are very many genuine Tokonomas in North America. Of the few I’ve seen, this is one of the very best. The funky curvy wood on the right and the wildly voluptuous wisteria contrast perfectly with the formality of the rest of the display. For your enjoyment Bill Valavanis of International Bonsai recently posted a series of excellent photos on facebook. We’ve included a few for you to enjoy. You can view them all here. Also for your enjoyment Stone Lantern (that’s us) is having a wild and woolly book sale and Bonsai Today sale right now. … Continue reading Bill’s Bonsai & Stone Lantern’s Sale

More Rare Out-of-Print Bonsai Todays

We just purchased an entire collection of Bonsai Todays from a long time bonsai maven who lives right here in northeastern Vermont. Many are rare out-of-print issues (some are very rare) and most are now up our site. We only have one copy of most (we do have a few doubles and even triples, but not many), so don’t wait. In print and out We still have over fifty issues of Bonsai Today that are what we call in-print. This just means we still have ones that have never been sold. They have been sitting in our warehouse and are … Continue reading More Rare Out-of-Print Bonsai Todays

Bonsai Journey by Lo Min Hsuan

I was just reminded (on facebook, where else?) that Lo Min Hsuan has a new book. I don’t know to much about it, except that the cover makes me want to know more. Well, the cover and the fact it is by Lo Min Hsuan. Continuing a thread We’ve been featuring Lo Min Hsuan some lately (here, here and here). For good reason; he seems to be a the cutting edge of bonsai right now (at least one of the cutting edges) and he has this new book. There is some info about the book on his website, but the real … Continue reading Bonsai Journey by Lo Min Hsuan

Some of the Very Best Bonsai in the World

The trees are exquisite and so is the book.192 pages of some of the best bonsai in the world. This book, along with the first one and all the others to come, will surely become collector’s items. We can lay that notion to rest For a long time many of us wondered if North American bonsai was falling behind the rest of the world. Now we can lay that notion to rest. It turns out that what we were lacking was something the Japanese have had for a long time (the Europeans have had theirs for a while too); a … Continue reading Some of the Very Best Bonsai in the World

Holiday Sale: The Party Is Almost Over

Stone Lantern’s Holiday Sale Ends Thursday December 16th Professional gardeners in Japan know that Okatsune Shears are simply the best production shears in the world. I use mine for bonsai and in the garden and have friends who use them for Ikebana (flower arranging) as well.

New Book from Japan: The Beauty of Bonsai

This sumptuously photographed new book is aptly named. In addition to numerous stunning color photos, it features a preface by Masahiko Kimura and a section on Kimura that includes thirty seven new photos of the master at work, as well as of some of his most daring bonsai. That and much, much more. Hardcover, 96 pages with 205 color photos. No matter how much we think… … that we in the West are catching up with the Japanese when it comes to the art of bonsai, we still lag behind when it comes to the art of bonsai display and … Continue reading New Book from Japan: The Beauty of Bonsai

Short & Very Muscular

One very muscular Shimpaku juniper. From Reiner Vollmari’s photo gallery. Hiding the action This wonderfully powerful bonsai presents a bit of a mystery. The live wood that peaks out in the V at the top of the shari is quite well developed, as is the entire crown, and would require at least one or two large living veins to support all that life. The small living vein in the front, though quite striking against the massive deadwood, is completely unconvincing. This is not a complaint, I like this tree a lot. It is unique in its strength and its style. … Continue reading Short & Very Muscular

Rare Out-of-Print Bonsai Todays

We just put this one, along with thirteen other rare out-of-print issues of Bonsai Today, up on our site. That makes twenty eight total. Most have been out of print for years and are quite rare. We only have a few copies of each (anywhere from one to five), so don’t wait. BTW: the wisteria on the cover is a good example of what we discussed in our last post. Where do they come from? We buy back old out-of-print copies of Bonsai Today whenever we get a chance. Then they sit around on our shelves for a few months … Continue reading Rare Out-of-Print Bonsai Todays