Three Famous Sargents

Everything about this famous Sargent juniper (Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii) seems to be flowing, with its shari that looks like melting wax and its gracefully descending foliage. The tree resides at Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum in Tokyo. It won the Prime Minister Award at the 1998 Taikan-ten. Its height is 26″ (66 cm) and its estimated age is 200 years. The photo is from Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature. Every morning before getting started with my recent bonsai lessons with Michael Hagedorn, we would spend a little time looking through Kokufu albums. The exercise was illuminating and I wanted … Continue reading Three Famous Sargents

Tea Flowers

Ume (Prunus mume) flowers. Once again we find ourselves borrowing from Peter Tea. This photo and the next three photos shown here are from a post that Peter just put up that provides a sweet moment’s glimpse into a small private bonsai show. Something you just don’t see everyday. “The last memory I have Is of a flower that cannot be touched…” Excerpt from Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock, From A New Selected Poems by Galway Kinnell (Mariner Books). ‘Boke’ flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa). This photo (also by Peter Tea) provides a peek at a piece of one of … Continue reading Tea Flowers

Still the Best

When I first saw this tree I thought it might be a Yew. But, the bark isn’t right, and even the foliage, though close, isn’t quite right either. Fortunately, Peter Tea solved the problem in his 2011 Taikan-ten Exhibition post. Peter’s caption reads: “This Yew Hemlock caught many peoples attention. It made sense that it took the prize for medium conifer. We don’t have any Yews here at Aichien because they don’t do well in the hot weather that we have in Nagoya.” As for the species, it turns out that there are two Hemlocks that are native to Japan … Continue reading Still the Best

An Inexplicable Oversight

I’m going to guess that this peerless pine, with its strong sinuous trunk is a Japanese black pine, rather than a Japanese red. However, there’s no need to guess about the quality of the tree or where we found it (world-class quality and Bjorn Bjorholm’s website). I don’t know exactly how this inexplicable oversight happened, but suffice it to say that I’m amazed and a little befuddled that we haven’t yet featured the truly remarkable bonsai on Bjorn Bjorholm’s website (Bjorvala Bonsai Studio) or the story of Bjorn’s apprenticeship in Japan. Especially given that Bjorn is practically from our own … Continue reading An Inexplicable Oversight

It Only Looks Like a Yamadori…

Unless you know the whole story (see below), you’d swear that this dynamic bonsai is an ancient yamadori (tree collected from the wild). But actually it’s a field grown Taiwanese juniper whose time on earth (so far) is measures in decades rather than centuries. The bonsai artist is the highly accomplished Mr Cheng, Cheng-Kung of Taiwan (you can see a spinning version on his website). The owner is Mr. Hsu,Lung-Fa. Though we have many friends and fellow bonsai lovers who to take the time and trouble to write comments, perhaps our favorite is Jose Luis Rodriquez. Jose Luis is a … Continue reading It Only Looks Like a Yamadori…

It’s No Secret

Michael Hagedorn worked on this spectacular Ezo spruce while I labored trying to follow his wiring instructions. He used copper wire because it’s a conifer (he uses aluminum wire on deciduous trees) and he frequently stopped to mist the foliage as he went, explaining that spruces are prone to dropping needles when disturbed and that spraying helps prevent this. I don’t think it’s a secret that Michael Hagedorn is an elite bonsai artists. I know this in part because I spend a lot of time looking at bonsai from around the world. Also, when I talk to other world-class bonsai … Continue reading It’s No Secret

Silk Carving & Some of the Best Bonsai in the World

I believe we’ve shown this remarkable tree before, but it’s worth another shot. It’s easy to be impressed by a tree like this; it’s massive girth and equally massive spread alone compel our attention. But there’s more of course; the strong nebari that helps create an overall sense of stability and balance, the texture and movement of the trunk and lower branches, the lush thick canopy with just enough open space to keep it from being too heavy, and so on. Altogether a world-class bonsai. This tree and the rest in this post are by Cheng, Cheng-Kung, a world-class bonsai … Continue reading Silk Carving & Some of the Best Bonsai in the World

Big Show, Small Trees

This pine by Mark and Rita Cooper was part of their second place Shohin display at the Noelanders Trophy. Mark and Rita also won the first place Shohin display (see below). All the trees in this post belong to Mark and Rita. All the photos are borrowed from Bonsai Eejit. In our last post we showed a small Chinese elm (see below) by Mark and Rita Cooper that was part of their first place Shohin display at the 2013 Noelanders Trophy. It was unattributed because I didn’t know who it belonged to. Now, thanks to Bonsai Eejit we know, and, … Continue reading Big Show, Small Trees

Lost & Found

Shadow dance. Here’s one that we didn’t show on our now vanished post (see below). The tree was on display at the Noelanders Trophy Exhibition and the image is courtesy Crataegus Bonsai, as are all the images in this post. I don’t know who the artist is. One more time. A week or so ago I accidentally deleted a post on the Noelander Trophy Exhibit. I had borrowed the images from Crataegus Bonsai, so I thought I’d go through and post some again, including one that was posted before. Speaking of Crataegus Bonsai, I just finished studying wiring with Mr. … Continue reading Lost & Found

A Stately Elegance

This Japanese Stewartia (S. pseudocamellia) from Bonsai Today issue 68, is a study in color, harmony and balance. Its stands as a reminder of an earlier day in the evolution of bonsai, before chainsaws. Even before wire. Great pot too. This is another post in our or series of species specific bonsai, or genus specific in this case. The genus is called Stewartia. It consist of a dozen or so flowering small trees and shrubs. You don’t see that many Stewartia bonsai in the West, but if you go through old issues of Bonsai Today, you’ll see plenty that reside … Continue reading A Stately Elegance