When Can You Call It Bunjin?

Bunjin (aka Literati), a style you don’t see too much in the West. I think it’s difficult to do bunjin properly. It defies our tendency to fill up space. Adding rather than subtracting, where subtracting all the way down to bare bones seems to be one of the keys. There’s much more, but I’m not that versed in the topic, so we’ll leave it at that This is the third consecutive day of our virtual visit to Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. Today it’s some pines in Michael’s portfolio that caught my eye. Though it started unintentionally, there’s a progression based … Continue reading When Can You Call It Bunjin?

Be Smart – Don’t Water Your Bonsai by Schedule!

This illustration by Kyosuke Gun is from our Masters’ Series Juniper book (due back in print in 3 or 4 weeks). It is a perfect fit for this post that is borrowed from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai Continuing with Michael Hagedorn from yesterday, we’ll stick with watering tips. This one originally appeared here in June, 2009 Before the real summer heat hits, consider how you are watering your trees. Have you ever seen your trees grow through spring just fine, only to get fried leaves at the first onset of early summer? Ever wonder why that happens? Those trees just … Continue reading Be Smart – Don’t Water Your Bonsai by Schedule!

One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

This old collected Rocky Mountain juniper is from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai portfolio. Spent long days all weekend rewriting my old copy for all 700 or so of our products for our new, soon to be live website. It’s a big job, but essential. If you don’t believe me, read some of our current, soon to be replaced thirteen year old website and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, I’m not finished yet and time is still compressed, so it’s back to our archives. This one originally appeared here in April, 2015. It’s one of the best pieces of bonsai … Continue reading One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

A Dramatic Juniper with a Slight List to the Left

This dramatic Juniper may be leaning just a tad too far to the left (or is it just me?) Either way, too far left or just right, to my eyes its almost unbalanced feel creates just enough tension to add interest Continuing with Luis Vallejo’s bonsai, here’s one from our archives (Novemeber, 2012). All the photos shown here are from Luis Vallejo’s Museo Bonsai de Alconbendas. I borrowed them from the Bonsai Center Sopelana in Spain’s Basque Country Continued below… THREE NEW SPECIALS 25% OFF BONSAI WIRE FOR 3 OR MORE ROLLS 35% OFF ROSHI BONSAI TOOLS 25% OFF BONSAI … Continue reading A Dramatic Juniper with a Slight List to the Left

Bonsai Tie Pots – NEW Deeper Discounts!

We just started offering our remarkable New Tie Pots last September and already we’re closing in on 1,000 sold (during the off season, no less!). Now we’ve sharpened our pencil to make them available to more people. I think you’ll be happy with the results. NEW TIE POT SPECIAL 1-2 TIE POTS 16.00 each 3-7 TIE POTS 15.00 each 8 or more 14.00 each Discounts are applied at checkout Tie Pots have the potential to revolutionize bonsai growing The tie knobs are only part of the story the interior is ingeniously designed for optimal development of fine feeder roots … Continue reading Bonsai Tie Pots – NEW Deeper Discounts!

Blue Skies & Beautiful Bonsai

There’s a lot to like about a good Stewartia like this, including the fine ramafication (branching). Only years of careful trimming can accomplish this. There’s also the strong nebari that offers a sense of stability and a sign of age on any good Stewartia. And then there’s the beauty of the exfoliating bark with its soft reddish shades. All this makes for a masterpiece bonsai. I cropped the original photo for a closer look (it’s below with the original caption) We can’t stay away from Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Museum for very long. Though I don’t have time to count, I’d … Continue reading Blue Skies & Beautiful Bonsai

That Rugged Yamadori Look in a Tropical Bonsai World

An an ancient sinuous root stand in Robert Steven’s tropical bonsai world Continuing with Robert Steven (see day before yesterday) with some of my favorites he has posted over the years. There are many more to be sure, but these provide some powerful glimpses. They are all from his fb timeline TWO NEW SPECIALS 25% OFF BONSAI WIRE FOR 3 OR MORE ROLLS 35% OFF ROSHI BONSAI TOOLS Specials include items already discounted – This and the other trees shown here all have that rugged collected-from-the-wild (yamadori) look A simple tree with its gnarled time-twisted trunk, leans into the … Continue reading That Rugged Yamadori Look in a Tropical Bonsai World

Warming Up for the 2020 International Bonsai ArtFest

This elegant composition is a small piece of a mixed media show that Robert Steven put together (with a little help from his friends) at the Pasar Seni Art Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. If you are near Jakarta, there’s still time to catch it before it closes (March 7th is the last day) I originally found this mixed media bonsai event on Robert Steven’s fb timeline. Most of the text is in Malay and rather than rely on machine translation, I ask Robert if he could write something for this post. Here it is, in his own words… “This was … Continue reading Warming Up for the 2020 International Bonsai ArtFest

Bonsai that Don’t Bust Your Bank Account & an Important Natural Phenomenon

We’ve featured this tree before and we may well feature it again in a year or two. The tree is a yew. The artist is Harry Harrington. Sticking with our friend Harry Harrington. We originally put this post together in September, 2017… All the photos featured here are courtesy of Harry Harrington, an artist who specializes in what you might call found bonsai; bonsai from the wild or from hedgerows and gardens or wherever bonsai stock might come from that doesn’t bust your bank account. For more found bonsai and other good news, you can visit Harry at Bonsai4me or on his … Continue reading Bonsai that Don’t Bust Your Bank Account & an Important Natural Phenomenon

Another Hawthorn & Harry’s Timely Reply

Another Hawthorn that belongs to Harry Harrington. It isn’t as advanced as the one we featured yesterday, but it’s full of promise Yesterday we featured a freshly repotted Hawthorn by Harry Harrington. Here’s the rub… the tree hadn’t been repotted for 15 years! As you might imagine this provoked some questions by several readers. So last night I emailed Harry and this morning I woke up to his reply (before you read on, I suggest you take a look at yesterday’s post). So here’s your answer, in Harry’s own words… “Ive been asked this quite a few times since Saturday! … Continue reading Another Hawthorn & Harry’s Timely Reply