A Unique Bonsai Art – Wire Sale Ends Tonight

This is what you can do if you have the right stock, a great slab and a good eye. The planting belongs to Heinz Leitner (If you’d like to know more about the trees, visit our original post from last year). The slab is by Erik Križovenský. Once you’ve seen Erik’s distinctive looking slabs and other bonsai containers (for lack of a better word) you’ll be able to spot them anywhere. This post* started out with some photos of a unique bonsai forest on an equally unique cement slab (it’s a special frost-resistant cement) and ended with a photo of … Continue reading A Unique Bonsai Art – Wire Sale Ends Tonight

Why Every Bonsai Lover Needs to Make a Trip to the Northwest

This lovely bonsai lives at the Pacific Bonsai Museum near Seattle. We borrowed the photo from their website. I cropped some text and other images out of the original image (below). I love the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Not only do I love the idea of a museum devoted 100% to the art of bonsai, but I also love this particular 100% bonsai museum. The setting is beautiful, the trees are among the best and the devoted and knowledgeable staff host a series of exciting events. Continued below… Wire Sale Ends Sunday Night 25% off our entire selection Bonsai Wire we … Continue reading Why Every Bonsai Lover Needs to Make a Trip to the Northwest

20,000 Visitors & Hundreds of Breathtaking Bonsai

Lush foliage and an unusual design. This Japanese maple features branches that are almost down to the surface of soil. So low that foliage covers part of the nebari and lower trunk – something you don’t see that often. Conversely, the way so much of the mid and upper trunk is exposed is also a bit unusual (with no effort made to cover the unsightly black scar). The impression we’re left with is a trunk and branches designed to show off the foliage. Much the way flowering bonsai are often designed to show off the flowers. Thank you Bill Valavanis … Continue reading 20,000 Visitors & Hundreds of Breathtaking Bonsai

Boon & His Bonsai Friends

This Satsuki azalea’s trunk reminds me of some of Antoni Gaudi’s sculptural architecture that graces the great city of Barcelona. Though in truth, the tree resides in Boon Manakitivipart’s impressive bonsai collection in the great city of Alameda, California (birthplace of yours truly, btw). The last week of April and first week of May are peak digging and transplanting season around here, so to save some time, it’s back to our archives. This one is from October, 2010 (with some revisions today). Boon Manakitivipart is one of North America’s most influential bonsai artists and teachers. Several of his students have … Continue reading Boon & His Bonsai Friends

Spring Bonsai Power

Norway spruce spring power is Mauro Stemberger’s title for this series of photos. What caught me about this tree is how natural it looks. As in the case of most of the best bonsai, you know that it has been styled, but styled in a way that you might call just so. Or just enough. Welcome to another Bonsai Europe post (six of our last ten posts have featured European bonsai). It’s not that we don’t appreciate what’s going on in the rest of the world… it’s just that from where we sit it seems like the center of Bonsai … Continue reading Spring Bonsai Power

Field Grown Bonsai that Look Like Wild Trees

After. This sweet little Shimpaku and the one below were posted by Bjorn Bjorholm. The before photos for both trees are at the bottom of the post. Just spent late yesterday digging Larches (they’re called Tamaracks around here) on a friend’s land, and now I need to get them into the ground right away, so we’ll save time by borrowing from our archives. This one originally appeared August, 2014. Before I make another mistake and look foolish in the process, here’s my disclaimer for this post: I don’t know for a fact the origin of the bonsai shown here. Much … Continue reading Field Grown Bonsai that Look Like Wild Trees

Bark, Deadwood & the Ravages of Time

I’ve long been fascinated by close ups. Especially shots of deadwood and bark with their richly illustrated stories of time and the elements. Sunday morning. Crocuses, peepers in the pond and pure unobstructed sun. Time to get outside. So rather than taking the time to put together another new post, we’ll borrow from our archives. This one originally appeared in March, 2015. All the photos shown here are by Salvador De Los Reyes. I believe that all but one are of his trees (here and here are couple earlier Bark posts that feature Salvador’s bonsai). You can view more photos … Continue reading Bark, Deadwood & the Ravages of Time

Bonsai Before & After – Transforming a Badly Damaged Tree

Here’s what Harry Harrington has to say about this impressive tree, and in particular it’s recovery and transformation from what you see in the photo below… “This is probably the best example I have of the usefulness of anti-transpirant, an Itoigawa juniper bonsai that came to me in a very bad way a couple of years ago, and was sprayed with anti-transpirant once a month to reduce further moisture loss from the leaves while it recovered and grew new roots. (Second image is from just 6 months later after styling).” We’ve been featuring Harry Harrington a lot these days. Part … Continue reading Bonsai Before & After – Transforming a Badly Damaged Tree

Straight Up & Tightly Bunched

You don’t see that many Ginkgos bonsai and when you do, they’re usually not this good. A couple things that stand out are the brilliance of the new leaves and how that brilliance is reinforced by the green moss, the green pot and even the barely perceptible little green buds on the trunk. And then there’s the perfect little trunk that looks a bit like a termite mound. I borrowed the photo from Bill Valavanis’ blog, Welcome to My Bonsai World. Getting a late start today, so we’ll take the easy way out. This one originally appeared in June, 2015 … Continue reading Straight Up & Tightly Bunched

Mugo Pines – Achieving the Recognition They Deserve

This powerful old yamadori (collected from the wild) Mugo pine would be exceptional even if it didn’t have that piece of deadwood that doubles back on the trunk. With this feature it’s a tree you won’t easily forget. My one question has to do with balance. The long left side nebari provides an anchor, but is it enough to visually stabilize the strong lean to the right? I found this photo on Carlos van der Vaart’s timeline. All three bonsai photos shown here are from earlier Bark posts. However, most of the text was written this morning in front of … Continue reading Mugo Pines – Achieving the Recognition They Deserve