Trophy Time and the Year of the Yew

Noelanders Trophy award; Best of Show. A Taxus cuspidata (Japanese yew) by Bonsai Museum Alcobendas. Can we assume that the artist is Luis Vallejo? It’s not really kosher to cut off part of pot, but who’s to complain? Bonsai Empire once again wins the award for fastest bonsai news scoop, and we’ll take what we can get. Gratefully. Up late last night* and now I’m trying to get out of town for a brief Montreal mid-winter epicurean extravaganza… so we’ll make this short. We have a Noelanders Trophy Best of Show Bonsai (actually there are two, but we’ll save the … Continue reading Trophy Time and the Year of the Yew

Sheer Bonsai Beauty

The black background provides a perfect contrast to the sheer white flowers. This Hawthorn bonsai belongs to Hans Van Meer. He doesn’t say what the the variety is but the flower looks like a Common hawthorn* (Crataegus monogyna). The pot is by Dan Barton Here’s another post I dug out of our archives (heavily edited to spare you unnecessary words). It’s from June, 2015. Both of the bonsai featured here are from the bonsai blog of Hans Van Meer. Continued below… Here’s the Wire Sale you’ve been waiting for… 20% to 25% off Kilo Rolls of Bonsai Aesthetics Wire 20% … Continue reading Sheer Bonsai Beauty

Bonsai Nibbler & The Foundations of Bonsai

A piece of a European Larch that was carved by Harry Harrington with his Bonsai Nibbler. Here’s Harry’s caption: “Images of a European Larch I carved and styled last year, with the help of a Bonsai Nibbler fitted to a Dremel multi-tool!” We’ve been featuring Harry Harrington a lot lately. Not only have we long been fans of Harry’s unique and innovative bonsai, but his book The Foundations of Bonsai is due to arrive at our warehouse early next week.* Bonsai Aesthetic Tool Sale Ends Tonight 30% off Bonsai Aesthetics Tools 30% off our already low prices a great opportunity … Continue reading Bonsai Nibbler & The Foundations of Bonsai

Drifting…

What a great photo. The tree is a Japanese black pine from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. Busy day today, so it’s a good time to dig back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2013. It was titled ‘Drifting a Little Farther Afield.’ There’s really not much theme with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it at that… except to say that we’re drifting a little farther afield than we usually do. Continued below… Yoshiaki Japanese … Continue reading Drifting…

Frozen Bonsai & 2 NEW Tool Sales

Frozen! Though there’s no explanation with the photo, it’s easy to guess that someone watered these trees to protect them from excessive cold. You probably know this, but cold damage or death is caused by dehydration; the dry cold pulls the water out of the foliage and stems. Though there’s more to it than this (having to do with cold hardiness, the difference between plants in the ground and plants in pots and other factors), we’ll leave it at that. I found this photo on Bonsai Art & Ink Paintings – Sakura Studio – Sonia Stella. No attribution given. After … Continue reading Frozen Bonsai & 2 NEW Tool Sales

Bonsai Art, Circles & Curves

Zen pine. In some types of art shapes are often suggested rather than completed. The mind of the viewer does the rest. In the case of this pine, it’s a circle (or maybe a fishhook). The tree and the photo belong to Mauro Stemberger. You can see more of Mauro’s bonsai here, here and here. Today themes are circles, semi circles and curves, as well as another bonsai by Mauro Stemberger (see above and our last two posts). This post originally appeared here just over a year ago. I’ve taken the liberty to edit my own writing. Continued below… Bonsai … Continue reading Bonsai Art, Circles & Curves

Rock Island Bonsai

One of three impressive rock plantings from Mauro Stemberger’s recent bonsai sojourn in India. The trees in all three plantings are Procumbens juinipers. The natural sandstone river rocks were put together with cement. I don’t know anything about the pot, except that it’s a monster. Yesterday I wrote that I wanted to feature these three Juniper forests on rock islands by Mauro Stemberger and friends but needed more time to do a little research. We’ll, I couldn’t find the time, but if you’d like, you can do your own research. Here and here are two facebook links. You might also … Continue reading Rock Island Bonsai

A Dancer, a Famous Snake & Other Impressive Bonsai

The Dancer by Mauro Stemberger. Mauro’s caption reads: Never give up!!!! Swedish Scots pine “The Dancer.” You can see that Mauro is planning a new planting angle and most likely a new pot. You might imagine a bunjin type pot; shallow, round, maybe a little rough… Today I set out to put together a post on some rock plantings that were created during Mauro Stemberger’s recent (on-going?) trip to India. However, time wasn’t on my side, so I decided to wait until I could do a little more research. Meanwhile, to set the tone we’ll borrow this one from our … Continue reading A Dancer, a Famous Snake & Other Impressive Bonsai

Reviving a Powerful Old Shimpaku Bonsai

After. A dynamic & powerful Shimpaku juniper that belongs to our friend Suthin Sukosolvisit, one of a handful of the most highly talented and accomplished North American bonsai artists. This is our third straight before and after. All three started with superior but neglected junipers and ended with masterful bonsai. And all three were revived and upgraded by highly accomplished and well known bonsai artists; Naoki Maeoka for the previous two and Suthin Sukosolvisit today. Continued below… NEW Sales 20% of Yoshiaki Tools, Turntables, Sieves & Wire plus an extra 10% off orders 100.00+ Before. Great skill is required to … Continue reading Reviving a Powerful Old Shimpaku Bonsai

No Problem that 20 Hours of Expert Work Can’t Solve

After. If you look at the before photo below, two big differences jump out. First is the trunk, where hours were spent meticulously applying lime sulfur on the deadwood and cleaning up the living vein. And then there’s the total restyling of the crown. The resulting form is classic Japanese style and the mastery is impressive. Naoki Maeoka wrote that he he spent 20 hours reviving this tree. Yesterday’s post was about reviving a neglected bonsai and so is today’s. The artist in both cases is Naoki Maeoka, and both trees are junipers, but this time it’s a Shimpaku. Yesterday’s … Continue reading No Problem that 20 Hours of Expert Work Can’t Solve