Japanese Cedar, Few and Far Between

This Cryptomeria japonica is reminiscent of the unimaginably vast and towering Giant sequoias in California’s Sierra Nevada. This effect could be enhanced by photographing it from a little lower (see the photo below), but you still get the drift. Still on a vacation of sorts, so we’ll continue our archival adventures. This one was originally titled Quiet Dignity (July, 2011). Far and few between What a great tree. It’s from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. You seldom see a real good formal upright bonsai (you don’t see very many formal uprights at all) and you don’t see many good Cryptomeria bonsai … Continue reading Japanese Cedar, Few and Far Between

Wild & Wonderful Bonsai but No Rain in California

Wild! There’s so much going on with this delightfully crazy tree, that you could spend a long time looking at it and still see something new. It’s a Chinese juniper by Yang Hsui. Yesterday I flew from snowy Boston to sunny San Francisco. I mention this because we flew over the Sierra Nevada, California’s magnificent mountain range, which, in the winter always appears as an endless chain of white from north to south, as far as the eye can see. Only this time no white. Just dark green, brown and other earth colors. California and much of the west has … Continue reading Wild & Wonderful Bonsai but No Rain in California

Precision, Power & that Natural Feel

I don’t think there are many trees in our bonsai universe this powerful and that are styled with such precision (and without sacrificing the natural feel). It’s a Ficus by Min Hsuan Lo (Min doesn’t give the variety, but does say there are details in his book, Bonsai Journey). You don’t see many defoliated Ficus either. The absence of leaves allows you to better see the structure and fine branching, both of which are exquisite (in case you didn’t notice). I like the pot too. Its dark reddish-brown helps bring out the texture of the trunk and also highlights the … Continue reading Precision, Power & that Natural Feel

Trunks & Trunk Chopping Techniques

I borrowed this mesmerizing ancient black pine trunk from Andy Rutledge’s ‘the bonsai journal.’ I’m traveling again for awhile. I’ll try to find the time put together some new posts, but meanwhile, a little digging into our archives provides an easy way out. This post originally appeared almost three years ago (May 2011). I picked it for a couple reasons: I am enamored of the lead photo (above) and, we don’t do many ‘how-to’ posts. There’s a reason for the dearth of ‘how-to’ posts; people don’t seem that interested, at least based on comments (which is all we have to … Continue reading Trunks & Trunk Chopping Techniques

Nest of Cranes, Whirlpool Dancer

Mulitple trunk, raft-style Japanese white pine. This is a truly spectacular example of raft style bonsai. It’s mature and abundant, with a flowing natural feel that is the result of bonsai artistry at its best (nature too). In fact, it’s so spectacular that it has a name (Maiko – Dancer). In Japan, names are usually reserved for the best bonsai. This tree resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, as do all five trees in this post (from Omiya’s timeline on facebook). All the trees in this post are Japanese white pines that reside at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum … Continue reading Nest of Cranes, Whirlpool Dancer

$100 Contest: Choosing the Right Pot

The idea for choosing the best pot for this tree belongs to Boon Manakitivipart, as do all the photos in this post. The idea for turning this into a contest belongs to me. This is our second post on Choosing the Right Pot in the last few weeks (December 14. 2013). The tree is a Chinese cork bark elm. All the photos were borrowed from Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). The Contest: To to eligible to win the $100 Stone Lantern gift certificate you must do the following three things. 1. Choose your favorite pot & tree combination from the … Continue reading $100 Contest: Choosing the Right Pot

A Good Year for Bonsai Events

I like the flowing deadwood and the strong cinnamon vein on this powerful old tree. It’s from the 2013 Noelanders Trophy poster. The 2014 Noelanders Trophy poster is just below. While the year is still fresh, it seems like a good time to talk about some major bonsai events for 2014. Note the word some, no attempt will be made to list everything. Just a few to get started, with more to come later. Chronologically works best, so here goes… January 18-19. Fifteen straight years gives the Noelanders Trophy some real cachet. Great cast of characters too. February … Continue reading A Good Year for Bonsai Events

Bonsai Art & Free Flowing Information

Root-over-rock Trident maple by Wolfgang Putz. The photo is from Bonsai Master on facebook as are all three photos in this post. Here are a couple earlier posts on Wolfgang’s bonsai (from May, 2009 and from August 2012). All three of these photos are from someone called Bonsai Master (facebook). When I saw them, I was struck by three things: 1. All three are excellent bonsai. 2. The quality of the photos is also excellent. It make a big difference when people go to the trouble to take a good shot. Facebook (but not just facebook) is overflowing with poorly … Continue reading Bonsai Art & Free Flowing Information

Bonsai Meets Pop Music

This old triple trunk Japanese white pine (aka Japanese five needle pine, aka Pinus parviflora or parvifolia) resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Musem in Saitama Japan. There’s a lot to like here, including the ancient bark, a great pot and a nice play of shadows and light as a little bonus. First a confession. The title of this post ‘Bonsai Meets Pop Music’ has little if anything to do with the bonsai shown here. However, if you scroll down, you’ll see that it wasn’t made up out of thin air, and if you read Japanese, some light may be … Continue reading Bonsai Meets Pop Music

Year Round Bonsai

Dien Dàn Cây Canh Viet Nam is what the caption says. Both the tree and the language are Vietnamese, even though the photo and the other two in this post are from Indonesian Bonsai. It’s the tree above that caught my attention while scrolling through reams of facebook photos (part of the advantage of having several thousand facebook friends – there are disadvantages too, as you might imagine). Aside from the fact that it’s a dynamic tree with its powerful well-tapered trunk full of texture and movement, three staggered crowns and all the rest, there’s that thought that keeps popping … Continue reading Year Round Bonsai