Before & After Scots Pine – The trunk provided a good start, but the rest sorely needed Harry’s help

Before and after of a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) by Harry Harrington. The trunk provided a good start, but the rest sorely needed Harry’s help Harry Harrington has long been one of our main sources for good bonsai material (for good bonsai books too). Though there is room for a number of approaches to styling and refining bonsai, I like the rugged natural style expressed in this little Scots pine. It’s a hallmark of many of Harry’s trees, though he sometimes drifts into a more highly stylized, but equally impressive look. Especially with some of his carving (take a look at the English … Continue reading Before & After Scots Pine – The trunk provided a good start, but the rest sorely needed Harry’s help

Japanese Maple Bonsai Through Three Seasons

Japanese maple in its fall brilliance. From the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum Continuing with Maples at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum we came up with this one from our archives. It’s a single Japanese maple in three stages of it’s annual migration through the seasons. There’s a lot to like about this tree but there’s one question that arises; have you ever seen a bonsai with such a flat top? This is especially pronounced in the fall and summer photos Continued below… BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL ALL BONSAI TOOLS & GARDEN TOOLS 25% OFF LIST PRICES special ends Sunday, August 25th Winter. Maybe this is the … Continue reading Japanese Maple Bonsai Through Three Seasons

Maple Bonsai Perfection & New Lower Wire Prices

This Trident maple on root-on-rock is called Soshun-no-fu. It’s estimated age is 80 years. Like the other two trees in this post it’s from The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum Lots to do to get ready for the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (Rochester, NY, September 8th & 9th), so we’ll make this one short and sweet. All three Maple bonsai shown here are from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Saitama, Japan* BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL ALL BONSAI TOOLS & GARDEN TOOLS 25% OFF LIST PRICES special ends Sunday, August 25th Japanese maple named Musashi-ga-oka, estimated age 150 years Speaking of the 6th U.S. National … Continue reading Maple Bonsai Perfection & New Lower Wire Prices

A Bonsai in Hand – a Quick Study on Perspective

This Willow left Ficus (Ficus nerifolia) belong to Suthin Sukosolvisit. If you are familiar with this species and know something about its typical leaf size, then you may not be fooled by the presentation. However, if you aren’t familiar with this variety of Ficus, you might imagine that the tree is considerably larger than it is A study in perspective with a nod to pot color. When comes to bonsai photos, perspective can be an issue. This is sometimes solved by contrast with a familiar object. Suthin, the artist behind the Ficus shown above and below, sometimes uses a can (something I find a … Continue reading A Bonsai in Hand – a Quick Study on Perspective

Kissing the Rock

That’s a rock sticking out on the left side of this Trident maple. According to Juan Andrade, the maple is kissing the rock (Arce “besando” la roca) Continuing with the bonsai of Juan Andrade… Juan is one of a whole host of young Western apprentices (Costa Rica in Juan’s case) who are studying or have studied in Japan. This post is from our archives (July, 2017) and the photos and quotes shown here are from Juan’s timeline POTTING SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT 25% OFF LIST PRICES ON ALL BONSAI SOIL & SOIL INGREDIENTS Special ends Tonight, Sunday, August 19th at 11:59pm … Continue reading Kissing the Rock

A Kimura-esque Bonsai Transformation

This Kimura-esque transformation was accomplished by Juan Andrade. Here’s Juan’s caption… “Trying to make the shortest tree you can when styling a bonsai? Hmmm … ? 2 yr. project comes to fruition at AichiEn. 2016: I bent, cutback, repotted with the assistance of John Milton and Martin Díaz. 2018: I styled after a solid growth period. I‘m still on the pursuit of happiness.” Here’s your link to Juan’s fb timeline for more photos. BTW, Juan doesn’t mention the type tree Juniper (he doesn’t even mention juniper, but that part is easy) Bonsai transformations like the one above require a high level of … Continue reading A Kimura-esque Bonsai Transformation

Strolling Through Walter’s Backyard Bonsai Garden

Well, we know it’s a pine, but we could only guess the variety and we’ll forsake guessing today (your guess is as good as mine) Seeing the trees photographed at home on their benches is a different experience than seeing them when they are photographed in a studio setting. All the photos shown here are from Jennifer Price’s timeline. The only text provided is… “Discussing trees in Walter Pall garden today….. We’ll leave the rest to you (no guessing or researching today) FALL POTTING SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY 25% OFF LIST PRICES ON ALL HIGH IMPACT PLASTIC BONSAI POTS 25% OFF … Continue reading Strolling Through Walter’s Backyard Bonsai Garden

Our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, an American Treasure

This famous old Japanese white pine is one of the most powerful bonsai anywhere. You can find it at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. As always. the photo, though enticing, doesn’t begin to do justice Overslept this morning and then had to deal with delivery of 127 boxes of Bonsai Aesthetics wire (about 7,000 individual rolls of wire in 3 sizes: 100gram, 500gram & Kilo rolls), so we’re already way behind schedule. Time for our archives. This one is from Bark’s first month in existence (Feb, 2009) Next time you are in Washington DC, don’t miss the opportunity to visit our exciting National … Continue reading Our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, an American Treasure

Simplicity, Elegance & More than a Little Skill…

Simplicity, elegance and more than a little skill is expressed in plantings like this and the one below. Often Penjing landscapes will include a whole range of items, both manmade and natural. In this case we have only three trees and what looks like three rocks, or rock clusters. And of course the elegant long thin white penjing tray (white trays are common, especially with waterscapes) I found the two Penjing landscapes featured here on Pham Thái Bình’s timeline. It’s not clear who the artists are, though the caption for the one above says with Dang Nguyen Van, though there are reasons to believe Dang is … Continue reading Simplicity, Elegance & More than a Little Skill…

Bill Likes Red Pots Too!

Red berries, red pot. Or maybe more accurately, orange berries, red pot (colors vary from screen to screen, so it’s hard to tell). The tree is a Firethorn (Pyracantha) that belongs to Bill Valavanis. Bill sent it to us with the line I LIKE RED POTS TOO!, in response to a post we did a couple days ago that was titled, Red Bonsai Pots, a Shift in Taste As long as we’re featuring Bill… The 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition is less the four weeks away. This monumental Bonsai extravaganza is without a doubt, THE North American Bonsai event and it only happens once every … Continue reading Bill Likes Red Pots Too!