Dwarf Kingsvilles & Other Worthy 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. This post was inspired by an article on boxwoods in Bonsai Mary. I’ve been thinking of featuring some of Mary’s timely articles for a long time, but the photos are small for this format and don’t enlarge very well. Finally a solution dawned; include some full sized photos from previous Bark posts and mix in some of Mary’s smaller photos. BTW: Mary’s article sheds some light … Continue reading Dwarf Kingsvilles & Other Worthy Boxwood Bonsai

Simple Changes with Profound Results

One of Robert Steven’s two simulations of a tree in a rock-like container that was submitted by Kian (no second name given). In spite of the somewhat fuzzy images, the general ideas come through loud and clear. It’s Labor Day weekend here in the States, a good time to relax and enjoy family and friends, so we’ll take the easy way out (once again) and dig into our archives. This Robert Steven critique was originally posted back in December, 2010. It contains useful tips for planting on rocks and slabs and is well worth another look. Especially considering that … Continue reading Simple Changes with Profound Results

The Future of American Bonsai

This photo and the other photos in this post are from Ryan Neil’s Mirai, American Bonsai. Ryan Neil’s International Bonsai Mirai has transformed itself into Mirai, American Bonsai. As you can see, it’s mostly Mirai, with American Bonsai as a small tag line. This transformation is accompanied by a new website. What’s distinctive about this new website is that it’s flat out luscious. Luscious and also highly professional with an abundance of great photos and informative, easy to read text. I won’t say much more (better if you just go and see for yourself), except that Mirai means ‘future’ in … Continue reading The Future of American Bonsai

Deadwood & Much More at North America’s Signature Bonsai Event

Going down? There’s a lot to love about this old tree: that little piece of wood that hangs over the edge of the pot, the remarkable texture and color of the bark and the way the powerful old trunk seems to cling to the pot. There’s also the fact that the tree is a Southwestern White Pine (Pinus strobiformis), not your everyday bonsai species. And then there’s that remarkable jin that seems to be unconcerned if it fits or doesn’t fit with the rest of the tree. The tree belong to Greg Brenden. The photo is from the 2010 2nd … Continue reading Deadwood & Much More at North America’s Signature Bonsai Event

A Magnificent Affront to Bonsai Orthodoxy

This magnificent old yamadori Shimpaku, with its self framing deadwood has to be one of the most outrageously unusual bonsai we’ve ever posted (ever seen, for that matter). It’s from Taisho-en in Japan. I originally found this image here. Trees as unusual as the one above are often controversial. I think some of this controversy is a human tendency towards orthodoxy. We get used to things a certain way and next thing you know we’re defending that way as the correct way. All three photos shown here are of trees that live at Taisho-en. Here’s a short discription I lifted … Continue reading A Magnificent Affront to Bonsai Orthodoxy

Magician on the Rocks

The mature look. It helps to start with well developed trees. I think most of us would be happy to have trees like these Shimpaku as single bonsai, let alone as parts of group plantings. Summers are short here in Vermont, it’s Sunday morning and the sun has decided to make an appearance. Time to dig into our archives and vacate this office before petrification sets in. We just mentioned Kimura (last post) so why not show some of his remarkable bonsai? This post originally appeared last summer. To shed a little more light, you might want to visit the … Continue reading Magician on the Rocks

A Remarkable Transformaton by a Bonsai Artist Not Named Kimura

We don’t usually feature such grainy shots for our lead photo, but this is the best we could find of this remarkable tree (plus we blew it up to fit our format). It’s an ‘after’ photo of a Kishu shimpaku juniper by Steve Tolley. When I first saw the before and after shots of this remarkable Kishu shimpaku, Master Kimura’s revolutionary transformations immediately came to mind (some examples of Kimura’s transformations are here, here and here). I won’t say much more; we’ll let the photos and Steve Tolley’s text (below) do the talking. Before. Here’s some of what Steve Tolley … Continue reading A Remarkable Transformaton by a Bonsai Artist Not Named Kimura

Technical Skills, Great Vision & An Unsolved Mystery

After. By Salatore Liporace. It’s not in a bonsai pot yet, but in this case, who cares? There are at least five things that struck me almost immediately about this tree. First, it’s a great example of a before and after bonsai. The before is full of challenges and promise (good stock is half the battle) and when you look at the after, it’s obvious that the artist (Salvatore Liporace) has done a masterful job of rising to the challenge. Second, there’s the exceptionally strong and vividly colored living vein and the way it wraps around and contrasts so well … Continue reading Technical Skills, Great Vision & An Unsolved Mystery

Bunjin Creds

Caption from 2012: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bunjin style bonsai in such a deep pot. You almost always see them in shallow round or near-round pots. No problem though, this one works to perfection; a spectacular tree with a lustrous pot. I think the heavy foliage (unusual for a bunjin) helps balance the heavy pot (Message from 2014: I think it’s a stretch to call this tree a bunjin. Mostly because of the very robust foliage and the deep flashy pot. More below…). It’s time to dig into our archives. This is one of our earlier … Continue reading Bunjin Creds

The Time of Your Life (In Chicago)

Usually I don’t like distracting backgrounds, but the vertical lines in this display aren’t too bad. It doesn’t hurt that the tree is so powerful. It looks like a Yew, but there’s no verification with the photo. I found it at Michael Bonsai on facebook. Time to head to Chicago. Speaking of, you might be too young to know the song Chicago. It was written in 1922 and was recorded by a number of artists. The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra (1957). Anyway, whenever the I hear about Chicago the song immediately pops into my head. Fortunately, there … Continue reading The Time of Your Life (In Chicago)