Bonsai Photos: from Black & White to Colorized and Back

You can find the color version of this Japanese white pine on the cover of our Masters’ Series Pine book. The black and white version is the same image with the color photoshopped out. Though the B&W version does have it qualities, the vivid pot color and the robust green foliage provide a strong argument for shooting bonsai in color. This post is a composite of two posts from 2012 with some thoughts added today. The attempt is to contrast B&W bonsai photos with color bonsai photos. There are four types of photos here. Black and white photos. Color photos. … Continue reading Bonsai Photos: from Black & White to Colorized and Back

Fall Transplanting: Timing and a Light Touch

A freshly transplanted Black pine. From our Masters’ Series Pine book. When it comes to transplanting, timing depends on your climate. This post is based on conditions here in northern Vermont where seasons can change rapidly and winters are very cold. If you live in a warmer climate, there is more margin for error. One advantage to transplanting in the early fall is that when the spring season starts, little or no growing time is lost. Roots experience strong growth in the fall while the soil is still warm and after the top has shut down. By the time the … Continue reading Fall Transplanting: Timing and a Light Touch

Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

This amazingly rugged sinuous root raft style planting is by our friend, Robert Steven. I don’t know the variety, but my guess is that Robert, who seemingly keeps track of the entire bonsai universe, will let us know. Rounding out our discussion of forest bonsai, it’s time to take a look at raft style bonsai. I don’t need to say much (Peter Adams has it covered below) except that all the rafts shown here are sinuous root style (netsunagari in Japanese) as opposed to rafts with straight line trunks (stay posted). The section just below by Peter Adams originally appeared … Continue reading Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

Multiple Trunks Sharing a Single Root Stystem – Clump Style Bonsai Forests

We found this extraordinary clump style deciduous bonsai on Bonsai Nakayoshi. They don’t give a variety. You can imagine that all the smaller trunks started as suckers on the roots of the main tree (you could also imagine that they started from seeds dropped by the main tree; in which case this would not qualify as a clump style bonsai). We’ve been discussing forest bonsai for a while now without mentioning clump style (Japanese: Kabudachi or Kabubuki) . Rather than boring you with my take on clumps, here’s something that I lifted from ofBONSAI Magazine: “Clump style bonsai should have … Continue reading Multiple Trunks Sharing a Single Root Stystem – Clump Style Bonsai Forests

Rolling Along with Bonsai Rock Forests

Three robust Shimpaku junipers on a rock. From the Omiya Bonsai Museum via Empire Bonsai. We’re on a bonsai forest binge these days, so let’s keep going. Though it’s questionable if you’d call these rock plantings forests, they do share the multiple tree and the landscape features with more conventional bonsai forests. That’s Ryan Neil’s hand posing for a professional photo with a one of the largest root-on-rock plantings you’ll ever see. Here’s his caption: “In the studio today with @hornbecker shooting for the Artisans Cup promotional material.” He doesn’t say what the tree’s are. If you’d like to … Continue reading Rolling Along with Bonsai Rock Forests

Digging Deeper into Our Forest Bonsai Excavation

Does five trunks constitute a forest? Maybe we should call it a glade. A mossy glade at the edge of meadow somewhere. Whatever we call it, it has to be one of the most impressive multiple trunk bonsai anywhere. It doesn’t hurt that the individual trees can stand on their own, especially the twin trunk tree on the right (the focal point). With or without the second trunk. The magnificent pot looks like an escarpment in the Rockies. Robert Steven took the photo at the 2012 BCI convention in Guangzhou, China. We’ve been digging into forest type bonsai lately, so … Continue reading Digging Deeper into Our Forest Bonsai Excavation

Forests Again – Focal Point, Balance, Scale, Age & That Elusive Quality…

I stumbled across the European hornbeam (Carpinus betulas) by Walter Pall on his Bonsai Adventures blog. The shot looks like spring with some trees lagging behind others. Continuing with our forest theme, we’ll go back in time once again to a post that originally appeared about 17 months ago (we’ve added a photo and a little more text). I think it’s one of our best on forests, and worth another look. Without the dominant tree this forest planting by Walter Pall would be a whole lot less interesting. With the dominant tree the planting has a focal point, balance, scale, … Continue reading Forests Again – Focal Point, Balance, Scale, Age & That Elusive Quality…

Evening the Bonsai Odds

How many trunk does this spectacular Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) grove have? It’s from an award winning display at the 2013 Taikan Bonsai Exhibition. The artist is Kenji Oshima. The photo is from Bill Valavanis Bonsai blog. The odd rule. Almost anyone who plays with bonsai for a while will incorporate the odd number of trees rule into their storehouse of bonsai wisdom. It goes something like this: In any group planting (with more than two trunks), you should use an odd number of trees. This applies at least up to eleven trunks. After eleven, it doesn’t matter because who … Continue reading Evening the Bonsai Odds

Stumbling Upon Some Strange & Wonderful Bonsai After Six Plus Years of Blissful Ignorance

I’ve never seen a bonsai quite like this. It would be unusual even without that long joining root and those stubby trees in the back. With these almost alien features (and others), it stands alone as an absolute one-of-a-kind bonsai. It is also the only photo in this group (from bonsai4me) to give the artist’s name (Richard R Gomez) and the type tree (Strebulus asper). This is a first. A post on bonsai in the Philippines. After over six years of blissful ignorance, I discovered these wonderful (and in some cases, strange) bonsai by accident this morning. I won’t bore … Continue reading Stumbling Upon Some Strange & Wonderful Bonsai After Six Plus Years of Blissful Ignorance

John Naka, Dave De Groot & the Principles of Bonsai Design

This has got to be one of the most magnificent Chinese hackberry (Celtis sinensis) bonsai anywhere. Though the distinctive split trunk needs no comment, you might also notice the highly developed ramification (fine branching). The tree was donated to the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection (now the Pacific Bonsai Museum) by Ben Oki. There are a couple good reasons for resurrecting (with a whole lot of enhancing and editing) this post from 2013 . First, just looking at these magnificent trees might inspire you to visit the Pacific Bonsai Museum, and second, it provides a good excuse to talk about Dave De … Continue reading John Naka, Dave De Groot & the Principles of Bonsai Design