Powerful Pines & Bonsai Wire

This powerful pine with its aged, heavily plated bark (reminiscent of our North American Ponderosa pines, especially the reddish section at the base of the trunk) is one of many spectacular trees displayed at the recent 2012 BCI convention in China. This and all the photos in this post are courtesy of Robert Steven. Summer sun beckons, so we’ll take the easy way out once again. This post, with some text added today (in italics) originally appeared in April, 2013. Pines now, the rest later. Robert Steven just sent us a whole host of great photos from the recent 2012 … Continue reading Powerful Pines & Bonsai Wire

Playing It Straight

Straight line raft Juniper. I borrowed this photo from Bill Valavanis’ blog. Bill took the photo at the 2015 38th Mid America Bonsai Exhibit. This is a somewhat failed attempt to finish our series on forest plantings. Specifically raft style forest plantings. More specifically straight line raft plantings. Problem is, couldn’t find good photos of straight line rafts (the exception is above). So rather than spending more time searching, we’ll settle for some informative text on raft-style borrowed from ofBONSAI Magazine (one of the better online bonsai sites). “Raft style bonsai mimic a natural occurrence when a tree topples onto … Continue reading Playing It Straight

Kimura 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. It’s hot here in Vermont, my bonsai need water and so do I. Once again it’s time to dig into our archives and vacate this office. This post originally appeared summer before last and again last summer. A question about watering came up when this was originally posted. I’ll preempt this time with my answer: “My guess is the hinoki plantings are kept in shade … Continue reading Kimura Rocks

Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

This amazingly rugged sinuous root raft style planting is by our friend, Robert Steven. I don’t know the variety, but my guess is that Robert, who seemingly keeps track of the entire bonsai universe, will let us know. Rounding out our discussion of forest bonsai, it’s time to take a look at raft style bonsai. I don’t need to say much (Peter Adams has it covered below) except that all the rafts shown here are sinuous root style (netsunagari in Japanese) as opposed to rafts with straight line trunks (stay posted). The section just below by Peter Adams originally appeared … Continue reading Going Rafting on Sinuous Roots

Multiple Trunks Sharing a Single Root Stystem – Clump Style Bonsai Forests

We found this extraordinary clump style deciduous bonsai on Bonsai Nakayoshi. They don’t give a variety. You can imagine that all the smaller trunks started as suckers on the roots of the main tree (you could also imagine that they started from seeds dropped by the main tree; in which case this would not qualify as a clump style bonsai). We’ve been discussing forest bonsai for a while now without mentioning clump style (Japanese: Kabudachi or Kabubuki) . Rather than boring you with my take on clumps, here’s something that I lifted from ofBONSAI Magazine: “Clump style bonsai should have … Continue reading Multiple Trunks Sharing a Single Root Stystem – Clump Style Bonsai Forests

Rolling Along with Bonsai Rock Forests

Three robust Shimpaku junipers on a rock. From the Omiya Bonsai Museum via Empire Bonsai. We’re on a bonsai forest binge these days, so let’s keep going. Though it’s questionable if you’d call these rock plantings forests, they do share the multiple tree and the landscape features with more conventional bonsai forests. That’s Ryan Neil’s hand posing for a professional photo with a one of the largest root-on-rock plantings you’ll ever see. Here’s his caption: “In the studio today with @hornbecker shooting for the Artisans Cup promotional material.” He doesn’t say what the tree’s are. If you’d like to … Continue reading Rolling Along with Bonsai Rock Forests

Digging Deeper into Our Forest Bonsai Excavation

Does five trunks constitute a forest? Maybe we should call it a glade. A mossy glade at the edge of meadow somewhere. Whatever we call it, it has to be one of the most impressive multiple trunk bonsai anywhere. It doesn’t hurt that the individual trees can stand on their own, especially the twin trunk tree on the right (the focal point). With or without the second trunk. The magnificent pot looks like an escarpment in the Rockies. Robert Steven took the photo at the 2012 BCI convention in Guangzhou, China. We’ve been digging into forest type bonsai lately, so … Continue reading Digging Deeper into Our Forest Bonsai Excavation

Forests Again – Focal Point, Balance, Scale, Age & That Elusive Quality…

I stumbled across the European hornbeam (Carpinus betulas) by Walter Pall on his Bonsai Adventures blog. The shot looks like spring with some trees lagging behind others. Continuing with our forest theme, we’ll go back in time once again to a post that originally appeared about 17 months ago (we’ve added a photo and a little more text). I think it’s one of our best on forests, and worth another look. Without the dominant tree this forest planting by Walter Pall would be a whole lot less interesting. With the dominant tree the planting has a focal point, balance, scale, … Continue reading Forests Again – Focal Point, Balance, Scale, Age & That Elusive Quality…

Forest Bonsai – A Deeper Understanding

Robert Steven’s simulation of a forest planting that was submitted by Paulo Netto (photo immediately below). Here’s some of what Robert has to say about this simulation: “The irregular placement of the trees creates a better perspective and the impact of the focal point is more obvious. Sufficient empty space makes the scenery much more interesting and natural.” Yesterday’s post, ‘Evening the Bonsai Odds,’ featured forest plantings with some excellent commentary by Robert Steven. So it seems like a good idea to dig out an old forest planting critique by Robert. It originally appeared in February 2014. A good place … Continue reading Forest Bonsai – A Deeper Understanding

Evening the Bonsai Odds

How many trunk does this spectacular Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) grove have? It’s from an award winning display at the 2013 Taikan Bonsai Exhibition. The artist is Kenji Oshima. The photo is from Bill Valavanis Bonsai blog. The odd rule. Almost anyone who plays with bonsai for a while will incorporate the odd number of trees rule into their storehouse of bonsai wisdom. It goes something like this: In any group planting (with more than two trunks), you should use an odd number of trees. This applies at least up to eleven trunks. After eleven, it doesn’t matter because who … Continue reading Evening the Bonsai Odds