Simple Bonsai Beauty

This Brazilian Rain Tree’s lush, perfectly balanced canopy almost shimmers with life. It comes from Photos from Bursa Bonsai Indonesia. It was added by Budi Sulistyo. Budi is a well known Indonesian bonsai artist and author. I don’t know if the tree belongs to Budi or someone else (though I imagine someone will clue us in soon). Another vacation resurrection (from March 2011). Thanks to our friend Jose Luis Rodriquez, we now know that the tree does in fact belong to Budi Sulistyo and that he grew it from a pencil sized cutting that he got in India, and that … Continue reading Simple Bonsai Beauty

Shooting The Magician at Night

Black pine in the black of night. From the collection of Masahiko Kimura (The Magician). All the photos in this post are from an El Tim Bonsai facebook photo album title KIMURA. It’s still mid-summer vacation time and we’re still digging deep into our archives. This post is from September 2012. Our last post featured The Magician (Masahiko Kimura), so it looks like we’ve got a theme, at least for the moment. To amuse myself I changed the title from simply The Magician at Night to what you see above. Shooting in the dark It’s not too often you see … Continue reading Shooting The Magician at Night

Kimura 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. Time for another summer rerun. Today I’m embarking on a trip to the other coast, so it seems like a good idea to continue our summer vacation series of resurrected oldies but goodies. This one is from last December. Kimura’s rock plantings. These photos are all from a facebook posting by Alejandro Sartori that he took during a recent visit to Masahiko Kimura’s nursery. I’ve … Continue reading Kimura on the Rocks

Highly Unusual & Strikingly Beautiful

This Hinoki forest is from the Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 2009 Annual Show. It’s a very unusual planting and quite compelling in its naturalness. I’ve come across spruce groves while hiking in Vermont and New Hampshire that look something like this. You find them near the mountain tops, where the harsh climate causes the trees to dwarf and huddle together. These little forests of dwarf trees with their lush moss carpets and time worn rocks, can evoke a peaceful almost other worldly feeling when you stumble across them. The photo and caption above are from a Bark post way … Continue reading Highly Unusual & Strikingly Beautiful

A Penjing Pioneer

Windswept Japanese white pine tray planting by Zhao Qingquan. I think the wind in this case, is a gentle but persistent on shore breeze. I think the two best known Penjing artists in the world are Zhao Qingquan and Robert Steven (Robert refers to what he does as bonsai rather than penjing, but to my eye many, if not most, of his bonsai show strong penjing qualities and he is certainly one of the world’s authorities on the art and history of penjing). We’ve featured Robert numerous times here on Bark (his critiques are quite famous by now) but we’ve … Continue reading A Penjing Pioneer

Hot Bonsai – Mid Summer Year Round

I like the fluidity of two main trunks and the contrast and depth that the third trunk provides. I also like the way the deadwood (shari) has been darkened to contrast with the light colored live wood. My only question is; why such a deep pot? We’ve shown this tree before, but for some reason I can’t find it right now. I looks a lot like a tree that Lam Ngoc Vinh would do. Here’s another rerun (from August 2011) for your enjoyment. There are two good reasons for this; first, it’s about tropical bonsai and so far this summer … Continue reading Hot Bonsai – Mid Summer Year Round

Developing Fine Branching on Deciduous Bonsai

This Hornbeam by Mario Komsta has appeared on Bonsai Bark in a number of incarnations. Though it does appear even more ramified in later photos (see below), still, this particular stage in its development shows a pretty good example of ramification on a deciduous bonsai, while maintaining an overall sense of proportion. In the photo below, the branching almost overwhelms the trunk, while in this photo, it serves as a perfect counterpoint that emphasizes the power of the trunk. Nice choice of pots too. Continuing our mid-summer semi-vacation, I’m taking the easy way out once again. This post is drawn … Continue reading Developing Fine Branching on Deciduous Bonsai

There’s Something About Junipers

The caption from our Juniper book and our original post back in 2010 says “Shore Juniper (J. procumbens)” but that just can’t be. If it’s a Shore juniper, then it’s J. conferta. If it’s a J procumbens then you have to decide if it’s the common ‘Nana’ variety or another variety of procumbens. If it’s another variety of procumbens then the whole naming game is a little more confusing. In any case, this stunning juniper bonsai is by master bonsai innovator, Masahiko Kimura. It combines the sculptural look that has been favored by some Japanese bonsai artists (especially in the … Continue reading There’s Something About Junipers

Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks

This time I took the liberty of cropping and adjusting the contrast just a bit to attempt to better show the details on this remarkable tree. Here’s our original caption: Trident Maple (Kaede) at the Kokufu-ten in 1972. It now lives in Washington D.C. at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The photo is from Capital Bonsai. It’s still mid-summer semi-vacation time, so I’m taking the easy way out once again. This post originally appeared just over a year ago. Because I’m such a big fan of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum (and Peter Tea’s excellent blog) and because … Continue reading Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks

Junipers: Don’t Pinch Too Much!

Even if you’re one of those curmudgeons who complains about the overly sculpted look of some Japanese bonsai, you’ve got to admit that this powerhouse Shimpaku approaches perfection. That trunk draws your eye like few trunks anywhere, with its single living vein, mysterious hollow at its base and the spidery fingers and hole at the top. But it’s the tight lush foliage that I want to point out here; the result of some serious trimming and pinching. The photo is from our Juniper book. Artist unknown. Time for another Summer Rerun (this post originally appeared in 2010). This works because … Continue reading Junipers: Don’t Pinch Too Much!