Rainbow & Bonsai Shadows

Couldn’t resist this great photo. It’s from David Benavente’s facebook photos (just slightly cropped). I think David Benavente is one of our most accomplished bonsai artists (by our, I guess I mean Westerners, but maybe you could just extend that to the whole world). You can check out David’s bonsai on facebook and on his website. His Before and After (Antes y Despues) series is particularly good (and instructive), but really, I’d recommend spending time and exploring all of his photos. Many tell stories, some with a little humor thrown in. Here’s one of David’s ‘Before and After’ series. Here’s … Continue reading Rainbow & Bonsai Shadows

World Famous Masterpiece Bonsai

I like this tree. It has great movement and wild, wonderful deadwood that runs all the way up the trunk, plays peekaboo in the crown and then finishes with a flourish at the top. If you removed the hanging branch that reaches down almost to the base of the trunk, it would still be an interesting tree (even though the remaining crown would be an inverted bowl)… but with that branch and the aforementioned deadwood, the tree is elevated to bonsai masterpiece. If you don’t believe me, you can check out Takahashi Iura’s facebook page, where it says: “My important … Continue reading World Famous Masterpiece Bonsai

Blowing in the Wind

The sublime windswept landscape planting is from Robert Steven’s now classic Vision of My Soul. The species of the trees is Dyospryros montana (Mountain persimmon is one of several English names). A very quick search will reveal that there are precious few good windswept bonsai. At least on the web. I suspect there are several reasons for this. First, it’s time consuming to make a superb windswept like the one above. All those little branches need to be wired. Second, you have to understand how the wind works on trees. This requires some study and paying attention to detail. Not … Continue reading Blowing in the Wind

A Congenial Way to Start Your Day

Aside from the very distinctive shari and jin (two types of deadwood), there are a couple other things about this Japanese white pine that you may have already noticed. First it seems somewhat top-heavy, and second, this top-heavy quality is exaggerated by the pot, which is quite small relative to the size of the tree. Still, amazingly it works quite well. Even better than quite well. The bonsai shown here are all from a gallery in Bonsai Today issue 96. Reminds me of the older galleries from the very earliest Bonsai Todays. How important they were back in the dark … Continue reading A Congenial Way to Start Your Day

Mister Windswept Bonsai

Robert Steven’s simulation of the tree pictured below. If you search windswept bonsai, you’ll most likely notice that almost all of the best windswept trees belong to Robert Steven. You could even say that Robert Steven is Mr. Windswept Bonsai. Both as an artist and as an authority on the subject. But then, you could say that about other types of bonsai as well (check out some previous critiques by Robert if you want some evidence). So, given this fact, here’s Mr. Windswept Bonsai himself with another of his illuminating critiques. This one is of unspecified variety of tree that … Continue reading Mister Windswept Bonsai

Grafting Master Masaru Ishii

I just spent over an hour digging around the internet looking for at least one really good photo of a masterpiece bonsai by Mr Masaru Ishii. The results are this photo of a grafted Shimpaku in training (from New England Bonsai Gardens) and the photo immediately below. This one is a quality photo, but far from one of the masterpieces that I remember seeing at Mr Ishii’s nursery. The one below is a little closer to a masterpiece, but the photo isn’t so good. Oh well… Sadly, Masaru Ishii, grafting master, bonsai artist, teacher, nurseryman, husband, father and much more … Continue reading Grafting Master Masaru Ishii

Saving a Yew from the Wood Pile

Friday. This and the other images in this post were are lifted from Graham Potter’s video, ‘A Yew saved from the woodpile.’ Graham Potter’s bonsai videos are remarkably popular (the one featured here has been viewed over 138,000 times on youtube and who knows how many times on Graham’s Kaizen Bonsai website) and it’s no wonder. Not only are they very well-made and highly instructive, but they are also, at times, simply astounding (too much coffee this morning?). This one features a five day transformation of an old English yew (Taxus baccata), some great highbrow music and a wealth of … Continue reading Saving a Yew from the Wood Pile

Good Companions

Sumptuous succulents, perfect pot. Planting by Wolfgang Putz. Pot by Dan Barton. From Wolfgang’s website. Good companions. We’ve featured Wolfgang Putz several times (mostly his bonsai) and ditto with Dan Barton (mostly his pots). Now we’ve got them in one place; Wolfgang’s website; specifically the section on Companion plantings. Looks like an altogether auspicious collaboration. Hosta “Golden Tiara” – FUNKIE by Wolfgang Putz. Slightly split pot by Dan Barton. All the companions in this post are by Wolfgang and all the pots are by Dan. Pleione limprichtii – TIBETORCHIDEE Sempervivum spec. – HAUSWURZ Sempervivum arachnoideum – … Continue reading Good Companions

Eye Popping Color, Some Spring Shows with a Northern California Bias & Boreal Bonsai

Great tree, great pot. It belongs to Wolfgang Putz. The pot is by Ingrid Kralovec. At the risk of stating the obvious, I’ll venture that it’s the eye popping color, the muscular well-gnarled lower trunk and the soft glow of the pot that caught your eye (in exactly that order no less). The tree is a Korean hornbeam. The botanical name is Carpinus turczaninowii (though you’ll sometimes see them referred to as Carpinus coreana). So many shows, so little… time, money, get up and go?. Though we just did a post about some upcoming bonsai shows, I’ve decided to follow … Continue reading Eye Popping Color, Some Spring Shows with a Northern California Bias & Boreal Bonsai

Bonsai Art

The day has barely started and I’m already running out of superlatives. I guess ‘spectacular’ will do in this case. It’s a Korean hornbeam (Carpinus turczaninowii) by Ian Stewartson. The photo is from Bonsai Art’s website. Bonsai Art magazine is very well named. As bonsai magazines go, it is as well-done, beautiful and professional as they come (taking nothing nothing away from International Bonsai Magazine and several other good ones). The problem, for most of us at least, is that it’s in German. But really, the photos and overall presentation are so good that maybe the language isn’t as important … Continue reading Bonsai Art