Before & After – Yearly Work on any Juniper

Before and after on cleanup day. It’s a Tam juniper (Juniperus sabina ‘Tamariscifolia) that belongs to Michael Hagedorn. Here’s copy about the tree shown above that I lifted from Michael Horndorn’s Crataegus Bonsai: “The day these photos were taken was a basic ‘clean up day’ for the juniper—no wire was applied, removing only old and dangling foliage and shortening shoots that were overlong, and also sanding the bark, cleaning deadwood, and applying lime sulfur. This is yearly work on any juniper.” It’s a little hard to fathom that the tree above is the exact same variety as this low … Continue reading Before & After – Yearly Work on any Juniper

Old Bonsai Beauty – Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow

This old beauty is one of hundreds of quality bonsai that was featured at the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It’s a Nikko Satsuki Azalea that belongs to The Kennett Collection. It originally belonged to Kunio Kobayashi who started it by planting small Nikko’s next to each other. The 5rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition will take place September 10th & 11th in Rochester NY. See you there! Running a little behind schedule, so we’ll dip back into our deep archival pool once again. The photos and some of the text in this post are from May 2012. You may notice … Continue reading Old Bonsai Beauty – Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow

Excellence in Bonsai for Over Fifty Years

Massive trunks and extensively carved deadwood aren’t the only way to go. Delicacy, grace and color work too. This photo and the others in this post are from Rosade Bonsai Studio. The tree looks a lot like a Virginia creeper. It has been a long time since we visited Chase and Solita’s Rosade’s Bonsai Studio. If you’re old enough, you might even remember when it first opened. I don’t know the exact date, but I do know that it was over fifty years ago (proof is just below). Which must make Rosade Bonsai Studio one of the older Bonsai nurseries … Continue reading Excellence in Bonsai for Over Fifty Years

Beating a Dead(wood) Horse

Flowing graceful lines with a minimum amount of foliage and a copious amount of masterfully carved deadwood. And though some people may take issue with this abstract, highly stylized type bonsai, to me this is sheer beauty. A delight to behold. One misconception about highly stylized bonsai with extensive carved deadwood is that they violate some basic principle of bonsai and nature. The famous John Naka line “The object is not to make the tree look like a bonsai, but to make the bonsai look like a tree” is sometimes used to reinforce this view. I think Mr Naka’s quote … Continue reading Beating a Dead(wood) Horse

It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden, but first, take a look at this!

Harry Harrington’s latest iteration of his English yew. Here’s what Harry said about this tree : “Finally, work on my Taxus baccata/Yew bonsai completed with the branches wired and laid-out. Height 25″/61cm, trunkbase (inc root jin) 12″/30cm. Pot by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery.” It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden. So rather than taking the time to put together a new post, I’m going to show you one of my favorites from our archives (last November). It’s titled … Continue reading It’s a stunningly gorgeous Vermont day and good sense dictates that it’s time to get out and work on our bonsai and pull some weeds in the garden, but first, take a look at this!

Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Here’s what Bjorn Bjornholm wrote about this impressive root-over-rock (root-swallowing rock) bonsai. “Trident Maple after defoliation and subsequent second flush. The leaves are all pinky nail size or smaller.” Given all the publicity lately, you might think Bjorn Bjorholm is a rising bonsai superstar. A couple weeks ago we featured a post about Bjorn Bjorholm’s Online Bonsai Course and so far we’ve featured about a dozen posts on Bjorn and his bonsai. All the photos in this post are from Bjorn’s facebook feed. You might also like to visit his website and Bonsai Empire’s site on Bjorn’s intermediate online bonsai … Continue reading Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Michelangelo & Bonsai at Its Best

I’m loving this tree. Even though we know it has been worked by human hands, the link to its natural state hasn’t been lost at all. If anything it has been enhanced. Bonsai at its best! No variety is given, though it looks like a collected juniper. Nacho Marin is someone who was already an artist when he discovered bonsai and who brought his vision, talent and experience to the art. And though people often say that we are all artists, still, most of us will never be Michelangelo,* no matter how hard we try… The images shown here are … Continue reading Michelangelo & Bonsai at Its Best

Old Masters Bonsai Displays

Hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) forest on a slab and Shimpaku juniper on a spectacular rock. This image captures only half of a display by Grand Master Saburo Kato. This post first appeared here in our earliest days (August, 2009). The displays themselves are from earlier (Bonsai Today issue 43, 1996). Our photo format is considerably larger now and I even cropped and enlarged a couple individual trees for closer views ( a little fuzzy, but might be helpful- see below). Otherwise, though bonsai keeps evolving, masterful bonsai is still masterful bonsai. Each group display in this post is by a single … Continue reading Old Masters Bonsai Displays

Bonsai Magic at Night

Black pine in the black of night. From the collection of Masahiko Kimura (The Magician). There’s a lot going on here and it’s just me today so we’ll plug back into our archives. This post is from September 2012. The photos were borrowed from El Tim Bonsai. It’s not often you see bonsai photographed in the dark. In this case the effects are rather magical (no pun intended). If you look at the El Tim KIMURA album, you’ll see a bunch of photos of phenomenal bonsai that were shot during the day, followed by a few photos of phenomenal bonsai … Continue reading Bonsai Magic at Night

A Common Mistake?

This image showing three tropical bonsai, each with two different crowns, was originally borrowed from Robert Steven. This post is worth another airing (here’s the original from last year). The topic is something many of us don’t think about that much when designing bonsai, though maybe we should. We’ll let you be the judge. The three trees on the left (above) are tropicals that are shaped like conifers. To Robert Steven and to many others, this a mistake. A common mistake to be sure, but still a mistake. The three trees on the right have more rounded and therefore natural … Continue reading A Common Mistake?