Circling Back to Needle Junipers

This luscious Needle juniper turned up on Juan Andrade’s latest facebook post. Juan is (or was?) an apprentice at Bonsai Aichien in Japan, where this tree resides. BTW, we featured a Before, During and After post by Juan exactly one month ago. Don’t be misled by the title; this is not another trip back into our archives, though the second tree in this post is from an earlier bark post. The rest of the photos are all originals for us. It has been over three years since we devoted a whole post to just Needle junipers (Juniperus rigida). This juniper … Continue reading Circling Back to Needle Junipers

Imagination and Striking Detail

A close-up of a part of a penjing style planting from the World Bonsai Friendship Federation Convention that took place in China last month. This photo was sent to us by Randy Clark (we featured Randy’s plantings in a post about figurines last week and last month we featured a photo of the whole planting that we borrowed from Bill Valavanis). Part of another planting from the World Bonsai Friendship Federation Convention, also courtesy of Randy Clark. We don’t have a photo of the whole planting, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Speaking of figurines (often called mudmen). … Continue reading Imagination and Striking Detail

Kokufu 2014 – Time to Get Busy

I don’t think you need me to point out that this is a great tree. Or, for that matter that it’s a great photograph (web photos this sharp aren’t all that common). It’s a Japanese black pine from Announcing the 2014 88th Kokufu ten Bonsa Exhibition on Bill Valavanis’ excellent new blog. If you haven’t already made plans to visit Kokufu ten 2014, it’s time to get busy. It will be held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery, February 4th – 12th. Just in case you are new to the wonderful world of bonsai, Kokufu is the most renowned bonsai … Continue reading Kokufu 2014 – Time to Get Busy

Go Figure

Using figurines in tray plantings doesn’t necessarily qualify as eccentric; it’s common in Chinese (and other) penjing plantings. Perhaps it’s the type (you don’t see many moose in China) and especially the relative size of the figurine that makes this trident maple planting unusual. This photo is from an article by Randy Clark entitled ‘Bonsai & Figurines’ that originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 95. Randy Clark is the owner of the Bonsai Learning Center (note: that was 2009, Randy has moved on since then). We’re digging way back into the recesses of time for this one. It was originally … Continue reading Go Figure

A Deep Ravine in a Shallow Pot

This planting from Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei classic is quite similar to the planting on the cover (below): same trees (cryptomeria), same (or nearly the same) pot and somewhat similar rocky ravine separating two tree and moss covered areas. The main difference is that this one shows a deep ravine. The rocks that define it represent tall vertical cliffs. A long time ago (January, 2010 to be exact) we featured this post as part of a series on a remarkable book by Toshio Kawamoto. Now, because I’m still out of town on a vacation of sorts, it seems like a good … Continue reading A Deep Ravine in a Shallow Pot

No Adornment Necessary

A prize winning Satsuki azalea from Bonsai -Matsuda Seishoen displaying it power, balance and tranquility. Still stealing from the past. This post appeared back in April 2011 (now edited a bit from the original). It was titled Three Monster Satsuki Bonsai. It has been a while since we featured any Azaleas and even though Satsuki are renowned for their flowers and these aren’t flowering, still, they have enough muscle and character to show any time, with or without adornment. A rare and wonderful trunk The lower half of the trunk on this Satsuki azalea (above) is near perfection; thick and … Continue reading No Adornment Necessary

Penjing Vs Bonsai

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Japanese black pine that was submitted by Mike Liu (Mike’s original is below). Still out of town and still digging deep into our archives. This one is from almost three years ago (December 2010). It’s original title is: Robert Steven Critiques a Black Pine and Offers Some Insights into the Five Schools of Penjing. It’s one of many brilliant Robert Steven critiques, though, aside from starting with such a well developed tree, what sets it apart is Robert’s discussion of the five schools of Chinese Penjing. As you may know, Robert is a world famous … Continue reading Penjing Vs Bonsai

Bonsai Muscle

European olives are often resplendent with character as well as muscle and this one is certainly no exception. I found it on flickr and then, one thing led to another and to the conclusion that this tree belongs to Luis Vallejo (though I couldn’t find evidence on his very attractive site). Fair warning I mentioned this last time, but just in case you missed it: I’m out of town and busy with things too numerous to mention, so we’ll dig into our archives once again. This digging should last about two weeks and then we’ll get back to fresh posts. … Continue reading Bonsai Muscle

Rebar Fix

Contrast this with the before photo below to get a hit of what you can do with a piece of rebar, some nerve, and more than a little skill. All the photos in this post are of bonsai by David Benavente. I’m out of town and busy with things too numerous to mention, so I’m going to mine our archives once again. Apologies if you’ve already seen this one, but considering that it’s from over three years ago, my best guess is that most of you haven’t, and if you have, you’ve forgotten it by now. And just in case … Continue reading Rebar Fix

Suthin Again

Suthin’s site calls this an Eastern white cedar which happens to be one of several common names for Thuja occidentalis (Northern white cedar is another, though around here we just call them cedars). To further complicate the issue, it’s not a true cedar, but rather an arborvitae. No matter, it’s a great tree. I particularly like the way Suthin hasn’t tried to manicure the natural looking cedar foliage. Makes for a raw and rugged look that’s in keeping with the rest of the tree. Everybody loves Suthin. When I was peddling our books and tools and other wares at the … Continue reading Suthin Again