Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

This is the one that caused the most trouble (see D below). Our Bonsai Detective contest (from three weeks ago) turned out to be the most difficult one to judge yet. Remind me next time to be sure we have an ironclad grip on all the answers before we start. Not only were there lots of entries, but most were very good with only one or two misses. But what really made it difficult is conflicting, vague and otherwise unreliable information on the internet (surprise!). Especially on facebook (another surprise no doubt). The upshot is that after spending hours pouring … Continue reading Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

New Name, New Curator, Same Great Bonsai Collection

Simplicity. Elegance. Balance. Perfection. However you say it, this tree has it. The only thing that breaks up the perfect balance is the irregular nebari. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s a Japanese beech (Fagus crenata). The artist is Yasuo Mitsuya of Toyochasi, Japan. This masterpiece and the rest of the trees shown here reside at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. The bonsai photos are all by Hoe Chuah. From the Bonsai, Penjing & More blog. We’ve mentioned that the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection has a new improved website. What we haven’t mentioned is they also have a new name and … Continue reading New Name, New Curator, Same Great Bonsai Collection

Extreme Bonsai Beauty & Thank You for Your Patience

Once again Extreme Beauty is back and once again we could only get ten copies (don’t ask). If you’d like to know more about this remarkable book, here’s something from last year. We’ll make this short and sweet (lot’s of traveling these days so it’s hard to keep up with everything). Speaking of keeping up… we haven’t forgotten about our Bonsai Detective Contest. I promise we’ll have the results soon. Thank you for your patience. Bad news, good news. Our wire sale ended last night and our tool sale began this morning. 20% off all Bonsai tools and Garden … Continue reading Extreme Bonsai Beauty & Thank You for Your Patience

A Bonsai Teaser

I found this extraordinary and unusual bonsai on Bonsai Nakayoshi’s facebook photos. What’s unusual is the planting configuration and overall shape. What’s extraordinary is also the configuration, overall shape and excellent ramification. Still traveling so we’ll just throw a few miscellaneous trees at you today. A bonsai teaser. Here’s a funky old Oak in a funky old pot (I can’t tell for sure if it’s just a weather beaten terra cotta training pot or ceramic pot shaped like one) with some deeply hatched bark. It’s from a before and after on Jean-Paul Polmans’ facebook feed. A spectacular trident … Continue reading A Bonsai Teaser

Biennale 2 – Mixed Media Bonsai & Much More

I don’t know how big this planting is, though I’m leaning toward pretty big. Which means that’s a particularly impressive pot (taking nothing away from the impressive planting of course). This photo and the next three below are from Bill Valavanis’ blog. Three posts ago we featured some photos from Robert Steven’s just completed 1st International Bonsai Biennale. We referred to it as the most unusual and provocative bonsai extravaganza ever and nothing has happened since then to change that appraisal. We also promised to show some more photos soon, so here they are… One of many display areas. One … Continue reading Biennale 2 – Mixed Media Bonsai & Much More

Bonsai, Deadwood & Another World Series Win

Deadwood! Just before we originally featured this post (August 2012), we showed a couple of Serge Clemence’ bonsai in a post on deadwood. I guess the reason I didn’t include this Mugo pine in that post is because Serge has so many trees with powerful deadwood. Still…. Got excited about the SF Giants winning the world series last night and ended up sleeping until 9:00am this morning when I was shocked awake by a vicious horn blast from a truck delivering our 2015 calendars all the way from Japan (soil sieves –large & small – turntables and watering cans too). … Continue reading Bonsai, Deadwood & Another World Series Win

Improving Excellence

Morten Albek’s virtual restructing of Hans Vleugels’ Shohin display (the text and arrows are very helpful, though it would have been great to see a second version without them… but we’ll take what we can get). This photo and the three just below are from British Shohin Bonsai. The original. It’s a real eye opener when you realize that something this beautiful and simple can be improved upon. If you look at Morten’s virtual enhancement (above) the beauty and simplicity are still there, but a more dynamic element has been added. Here’s a piece of the text from British … Continue reading Improving Excellence

The Most Amazing and Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza…

Art, culture and the passage of time. I think this old tree and ancient Indonesian deity capture something of the flavor of the Robert Steven’s Bonsai Biennale. The uncropped version of this photo is from Bill Valavanis’ Bonsai Blog. Robert Steven’s just completed 1st International Bonsai Biennale may have been the most unusual and provocative bonsai extravaganza ever (it’s hard to imagine another bonsai event that even comes close, but these kinds of statements are subjective and open to question, so we’ll leave it at may have been…). For those of us who weren’t there, all we have to go … Continue reading The Most Amazing and Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza…

Grafting Lesson – Juniper on Juniper

Shimpaku foliage grafted onto a California juniper by Roy Nagatoshi. All of the photos in this post are by Dale Berman. They originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 108 in an article by Marcus Juniel. Still traveling, so once again we’ll dip into our archives. This one is from Bark’s early days (March 2010). The title back then was: Roy Nagatoshi Grafts Shimpaku Branches and Foliage onto a California Juniper. Shimpaku foliage on California junipers California juniper foliage is heavy and somewhat coarse (I think it looks fine on native stock, but Shimpaku foliage is beautiful and looks even better) … Continue reading Grafting Lesson – Juniper on Juniper

A Long Awaited Bonsai Event

This is the long awaited weekend of Robert Steven’s first International Bonsai Art & Culture Biennale. For those of us who were unable to make it to Indonesia, here are a few photos that Robert posted to promote the event. Many of these have already appeared here on Bark, but some are new to us. Stay posted for some photos of the event itself. Robert Steven’s Mission of Transformation and all of our other Bonsai Books are now on Sale for 30% to 40% off. Don’t wait though, the sale ends in a few days.