Saving a Broken Bonsai Tool & a Proper Understanding of Overlapping Blades

The header from Adam Lavigne’s Adam’s Art and Bonsai Blog. We almost always lean towards the art part of bonsai, but this time we’re breaking with tradition and going with a practical post on repairing a broken bonsai tool. The four photos shown here are lifted from Adam’s Art and Bonsai Blog. They exist to encourage you to visit Adam’s blog. Even if you never repair your own tools, if you take a moment to see the whole process, chances are you’ll know more about tools and tool repair than you did when you woke up this morning. And if … Continue reading Saving a Broken Bonsai Tool & a Proper Understanding of Overlapping Blades

Dwarf Kingsville & Other Boxwood Bonsai

You can tell this is a genuine Dwarf Kingsville boxwood by the tight tiny leaves. This planting by Boon Manakitivipart was the winner of the Certre Award at the 2010 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Let’s touch back in with boxwoods for a moment (see our post from two days ago). This one originally appeared in September of last year. This post was inspired by an article on boxwoods in Bonsai Mary that sheds some light on the rampant confusion about dwarf boxwoods and particularly, what is and what isn’t a Dwarf Kingsville. Here’s one of the photos from Bonsai … Continue reading Dwarf Kingsville & Other Boxwood Bonsai

More Bonsai-San & Deadwood Wizardry

Nice close up. Based on the reddish bark and what you see of the leaves, I think this might be a Yew (how’s that for hedging? and no pun intended – Yews are often used for hedges). Back to the present. Our last two posts have featured trees from European Bonsai-San shows. The first from the just completed 2015 show and the second from 2013. Now it’s back to 2015 with some shots by Philippe Massard that I stumbled upon yesterday (we featured Phillippe’s Noelanders Trophy XV photos last year and a couple months ago). This is the second time … Continue reading More Bonsai-San & Deadwood Wizardry

That Relaxed, In-Synch Feeling

Aside from being a phenomenal tree and a great pot, there’s a relaxed in-synch feeling, like the pot and tree are old friends. This might have something to do with the color, texture, soft lines and aged look of each. The color and texture of the stand fits right in too, while contrast is provided by its sharp rectangular lines. All together a masterpiece. The artist is François Gau (pot by Greg Ceramics). All three photos in this post are from Parlons Bonsai (I took the liberty to crop all three to bring the trees closer). Yesterday we featured some … Continue reading That Relaxed, In-Synch Feeling

Bonsai-San

Two powerful trees from the European Bonsai-San 2015 Show. We lifted all the photos shown here* from Bonsai Empire (something we’ve been doing for a long time). They are from the just completed European Bonsai-San 2015 Show in Saulieu France. Oscar at Bonsai Empire wrote the following: “We thank Stephanie and Frederic Chenal for organizing and allowing us to film the exhibit. Visit their website here. Feel free to share these photos, but please mention the source. Thanks!” We don’t have any information on the artists or the owners of any of the trees shown here, though Oscar offers an … Continue reading Bonsai-San

The Sargent

This dynamic tree with its unusual trunk shaped liked the number 3 (this effect is enhanced by the fluid, brush stroke like movement that runs up and down the length of the trunk) belongs to Marcelo Michelotti. He calls it Il Sergente (see below). Yesterday I stumbled upon the bonsai of Marcelo Michelotti, yet another of the talented bonsai artists that seem to be popping up everywhere lately. Marcelo lives and works in Alta Gracia, Argentina. All the photos shown here are from his facebook feed. A lovely confusion of names. Marcelo calls the tree above Il Sergente (the Sargent). … Continue reading The Sargent

Bonsai Brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Cork bark Chinese elm in full fall brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. You don’t see that many good Chinese elm bonsai. I like this one a lot; its color, the heavy trunk with its corky bark, the handsome Tokoname pot. This photo and the others in this post are from the bonsai collection on the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens website. With the exception of the Trident maple root-over-rock just below, and some re-writing to bring things up to date, the rest of this post appeared back in December 2013. Though I haven’t been there for a long time, I think … Continue reading Bonsai Brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Breaking the Bonsai Mold

For every highly stylized Japanese bonsai, there’s one like this that breaks the mold. It’s a Japanese red pine from Japan’s 80th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition (2006). The other Japanese pine. Japanese black and white pines comprise some of the most famous bonsai in the world. And thousands that aren’t so famous. Japanese Red pines (Pinus densiflora) are much less common in bonsai circles, but judging by the ones shown here and some others we’ve seen along the way, they have no problem holding their own. All the photos shown here are Japanese red pines from Japan’s famous Kokufu-ten Bonsai Exhibition. … Continue reading Breaking the Bonsai Mold

Staying on Theme, Only this Time with a Little More Color

The color on this flowering pear was a bit ahead of most of the other trees at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. This and the other photos in this post were shot in late September by Kurt Simonson. Close up so you can see some of the leaves, the base of the trunk and the moss a little better. Were going to keep going with our the Pacific Bonsai Museum theme. This time with a bit more color. Even though late September was a little early for full force fall foliage (sorry) in the Pacific Northwest, some of the trees were … Continue reading Staying on Theme, Only this Time with a Little More Color

A Strong Statement in Favor of the Wild Look

A strong statement in favor of the wild unmanicured look. It’s a Cork bark Japanese black pine that lives at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. This photo and all the other photos shown here, were taken by Kurt Simonson. Here’s its plaque: Last month, while at the Artisans Cup, I and a large group of fellow bonsai lovers took a Cup sponsored tour to the Pacific Bonsai Museum. While there, I had the good fortune to meet Kurt Simonson who came ready and willing to shoot every tree at the museum, which he did (with the exception of the trees in … Continue reading A Strong Statement in Favor of the Wild Look