I’m on the coast of Maine. You might even call it a vacation, though work tends to follow me. The wifi here isn’t so great, so to minimize aggravation, I’m just gonna show you some nice pics and leave it at that. Except to say that they are all Satsuki azaleas and all the photos were lifted from Omiya Bonsai Museum. One of our favorites. Enjoy.
This sturdy Contoneaster with its rich berry display is from our 2010 Bonsai calendar. Bill Valavanis just informed me that this an Ilex serrata (he calls it a Japanese fine tooth holly). I’ll always defer to Bill, though I’ve never seen a Japanese holly that looks like this tree. Last post featured Pyracantha bonsai with its inedible (some birds love ’em though) berries so we might as well feature another bonsai variety with inedible berries. This time it’s Cotoneaster (well, sort of – see above). Another sturdy Cotoneaster bonsai with berries, only this time a little one. It’s the … Continue reading More Bonsai Berries
Pyracanthas (aka Firethorns) are prolific bearers of berries and this one is certainly no exception. More like exceptional. It’s from a post we did in 2012. I’m trying to experience an approximation of a vacation of sorts. Easier said than done, though I’m determined to carve out some free time. So determined that I’m going to borrow four photos from previous posts this time. It’s almost fruit and berry season, so in anticipation here are three photos of Pyracanthas with berries and one in full flower. It won’t be long. From the many to the few. It’s another Pyracantha. … Continue reading Bonsai Bearing Berries
You know there has to be a living vein somewhere, but it must be hidden behind all that impressive deadwood. The crown belongs to a Shimpaku juniper that was grafted onto a collected Rocky Mountain juniper. The tree belongs to Michael Hagedorn (an Artisans Cup prime mover), as do all the trees (and boots) shown here. What if you woke up on September 25th and realized that you’re not at the Artisans Cup and it’s too late to get there? Your friends are there and some of the best bonsai in North America are there, but not you. Sadly, you’ll … Continue reading What if you woke up on September 25th and realized that you’re not at the Artisans Cup?
This Pemphis acidula was styled by Gede Merta and currently belongs to H.N. Holiq Effendi. Gede Merta titled it Snake Dance (I know of at least one other Gede Merta bonsai called Snake Dance). It’s height is 57cm (22.5″) and, as you can see it’s a rather spectacular bonsai. I don’t know how hard Pemphis wood is and how difficult it is to keep the deadwood from rotting, but it looks like it has been treated with lime sulfur. A good place to start. All the trees shown here were styled by Gede Merta. His nursery is called Bonsai Bali … Continue reading Snake Dance & other Tropical Wonders
The new growth on some Spruce is often a brilliant yellow. Almost like yellow flowers. In this case the spruce is an Ezo (Picea jezoensis). This one resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (Saitama, Japan) as do the other trees in this post. We’ve got a few themes running here; spring Satsuki flowers (last post), new spring growth and one of our favorites, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. For a lot of people, Satsuki azaleas are all about the flowers, so it doesn’t matter so much that you can’t really see the trunk in this photo. You can … Continue reading More Satsuki Flowers & Other Spring Surprises
We borrowed this stunning (some might say gaudy) Satsuki photo and the other photos here from Empire Bonsai. The photos shown here are from a recent Satsuki azalea Bonsai festival at Ueno Park in Tokyo. Satsuki means fifth month (May) in Japanese.In this case late May (the dates on the festival sign below say May 27th to June 1st). You might imagine Satsuki would bloom a little earlier in more southerly environs. Satsuki, almost more than any other plant, show just how far humans will push nature in the quest for beauty and distinction. Robert Callaham’s benchmark book, Satsuki for … Continue reading Satsuki Azaleas, the Never Ending Quest
It’s a little surprising that there are so few good shots of bonsai in creative settings. Not that they don’t exist, just that they don’t exist in larger numbers. This one was borrowed from Peter Warren’s Surayama, as were all the photos in this post. We’re merging two themes from recent posts: Rosemary bonsai and Peter Warren’s bonsai. Only one Rosemary actually, but all the bonsai shown here are Peter’s. This is not the first time we’ve featured Peter Warren’s bonsai and, as we are fond of saying, won’t be the last. Peter is an accomplish bonsai artist and teacher … Continue reading Surayama – Shimpaku, Spruce & Several Others
It’s here! It’s better than ever and it’s available at Stone Lantern. I was at the 2014 National Exhibition and the excitement in the display area was palpable. The trees were magnificent and, as in the past, the overall quality had improved from the previous Exhibition. Now we have the book… for those of you who couldn’t make it and for those of you who did make it and want to remember what you saw. Just in case you are new to this and not familiar with our National Exhibitions; every two years, Bill Valavanis and friends put together a … Continue reading 4th National Bonsai Exhibition Album Has Arrived
I guess we can live with the lighter. Several of the trees in Lam Ngoc Vinh’s photos also have distracting tags hanging from them. Still, we’ll take what we can get and in this case, what we can get is pretty good. And, speaking of pretty good, check out the facial expression on this very relaxed tea-drinker. I’m a little pressed for time today, so we’ll take a journey back through our archives to 2013. The quote below is lifted word for word from an old Art of Bonsai Project post. The same goes for the photos. “Lam Ngoc Vinh … Continue reading Just Drinking Some Tea and Relaxing