Cuttings

Bonsai Train, Deadwood in Deadwood, How-to Tips

Vive bonsai! Ever wonder why European bonsai events are so well attended? Thanks to Rosade Bonsai for this great photo. It’s an archival day. It has been way too wet lately, and now the clouds have blown away and the sun is beckoning. Only a fool would spend the day in the office if he didn’t have too. This post is from 2012. I love the train and rest is pretty good too.   Deadwood in Deadwood. If you’re ever near Deadwood South Dakota, visit Andy Smith at Golden Arrow Bonsai. Andy is known for his yamadori bonsai (bonsai collected … Continue reading Bonsai Train, Deadwood in Deadwood, How-to Tips

An American Bonsai Celebration

Goshin by John Yoshio Naka. This famous bonsai resides at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC. Photos will never do it justice. It is huge (about 1 meter tall – just over 3 feet) and is so dramatic in person that it almost seems to vibrate with power. This photo, by Peter Bloomer is originally from Timeless Trees by Peter and Mary Bloomer. It also appears on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 93, an issue that features a tribute to the life and works of John Naka. Four times a tradition? This is forth time for … Continue reading An American Bonsai Celebration

Photographing Bonsai – Which Background Is Best?

Background #1. This exceptional Mugo pine belongs to Walter Pall. The pot is by Peter Krebs. For more on this tree and others you can visit Walter’s Bonsai Adventures blog. If you’ve been following Bark for a while, you might have noticed that we have long advocated paying attention to the quality of the photos you present and that just shooting willy-nilly with little concern about background noise, lighting, space around the tree and so forth, diminishes the beauty of even the best bonsai. Walter Pall grows and styles great bonsai and goes the extra distance when it come to … Continue reading Photographing Bonsai – Which Background Is Best?

Bach and Bonsai

A small slice of Michael Hagedorn’s bonsai world (aka Crataegus Bonsai). This photo and the page below are from Andrew Robson’s website. Not that you need it, but here’s another good reason to visit The Artisan’s Cup this September.   Here’s the whole page from Andrew’s website.  

All You Need Is the Right Pot and Just a Touch of Art

This unusual gem is part of an excellent selection of Kusamono from Tony Tickle’s garden. In Tony’s own words… “I have a large collection of dwarf Hostas, these flourish in my rather damp garden, in summer the other Kusamono come into flower and leaf. Here are a few they include Astilbie, Thrift and sedums. Most of the Pots are from my friend Dan Barton but there are pots from Gordon Duffet and many other European Potters.” Five of the nine photos in this post are Tony’s. It’s summer, the sun is shinning for a change and my bonsai and gardens … Continue reading All You Need Is the Right Pot and Just a Touch of Art

More Bonsai Color & a Snake About to Strike

This is one of those azaleas that would look good even without the flowers. Speaking of the flowers, I suspect the photo has been shopped a bit as the color is a little too bright. You can find this and the other four photos shown here (along with a couple dozen others) at the Akademia Bonsai web gallery. We’ve been featuring a lot of color lately, especially Satsuki azaleas in bloom and the response has been very positive, so here are a couple more azaleas for your enjoyment and some fall color as well (apologies for those of you who … Continue reading More Bonsai Color & a Snake About to Strike

Adventures in Bonsai

This splendid Mugo pine with its impressive deadwood belongs to Walter Pall. You can find it on his blog, Bonsai Adventures. It was collected in Switzerland by Peter Thali in 2003. It is 60cm (24″) high and according to Walter, about 150 years old. The pot is by Derek Aspinall. Even though more and more bonsai action is moving to facebook, there are still a number of excellent bonsai blogs out there in our digital wonderland, and Walter Pall’s Bonsai Adventures is one of the very best. How Walter puts together, styles and maintains such a vast and impressive collection … Continue reading Adventures in Bonsai

Choosing a New Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

Which pot would you choose for this Western juniper (please reply in the comments – Im trying to keep my email traffic down to 7,000 a day)? This and the other photos shown here are from a 2013 Boon Manakitivipart post. Sooner or later every serious North American bonsai artist is influenced by Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). For some this influence is face to face (if you’re lucky). Or indirectly though one of his students that now teach bonsai (Michael Hagedorn comes straight to mind, though there are others). And then there are his regular posts on facebook that … Continue reading Choosing a New Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

Tea, Poetry & Flowering Bonsai

Ume (Prunus mume) flowers. Once again we find ourselves borrowing from Peter Tea. This photo and the next three photos shown here are from a post of Peter’s that provides a sweet moment’s glimpse into a small private bonsai show. Something you don’t see everyday. Can’t go too long without borrowing from our archives (and indulging our passion for flowers). This one is from March 2013. At that time Galway Kinnell was still alive and writing and reading his poetry. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a poetry reading couple years ago through a good friend who was … Continue reading Tea, Poetry & Flowering Bonsai

Episode 2 of the Ginkgo Story

I’m not so sure about the apex or the way it’s so crowded in this photo, but I like the tree anyway. Especially that gnarly old trunk. It’s a Chi Chi, a small leaf Ginkgo cultivar. As you can see, it’s from Lakeshore Bonsai (Toronto area). Here’s Lakeshore’s caption: “Ginkgo biloba ‘chi-chi’, 7 years in development from imported raw material. Probably started as an air layer in Japan.” All of the sudden we’re interested in Ginkgo bonsai. I don’t have any, but if I find a good one… I borrowed the following from an ofBonsai article by Heather Hartman: “It … Continue reading Episode 2 of the Ginkgo Story