Tanuki Bonsai – Is It Cheating?

Boug

This colorful full bloom Bougainvillea bonsai has nothing to do with Tanuki (that's below). It belongs to Rick Jeffery and the photo was taken at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. It came to us via Bonsai Mary's newsletter.

Just two seemingly unrelated bonsai photos today. The common thread is Bonsai Mary (Mary Miller). Mary lives in Florida and writes mostly (but not exclusively) about tropical bonsai on her excellent blog. Mary also offers an equally excellent newsletter which you can sign up for on her blog.

tanuk

This photo of Randy Clark's Juniper is from an article on Bonsai Mary about Tanuki bonsai (Phoenix grafts), that asks the question "Is it cheating." Rather than try to answer here, I'll encourage you to visit Mary's blog and see what she has say.

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More Dramatic Bonsai then Back to the Real World

 It's the pot stupid (just kidding and no offense intended)! Actually, it's the pot and the tree. A perfect match. The artist is Yang, Kuo-Yin. The tree is a Malpighia glabra.

Up against it today, so we’ll show you three more trees from the 2007 Taiwan Bonsai Creators 10th Exhibition booklet (this time with black backgrounds) and tell you about our FREE Green Dream bonsai fertilizer giveaway (see below), and then back to the real world.

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Three things jumped out with this one: the pot, the trunk and last but not least, the highly refined ramification (branching all the way out to the profusion of fine twigs). A labor of love, time and skill. The artist/laborer is Huang, Chen-Hui. The tree is a Celtis senensis.

tai2

And so it goes... another great tree and another exceptional pot. Wu, Tung-Tai is the artist. The tree is a Hibiscus tillaceus.

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FREE Bonsai Fertilizer – in Generous Amounts

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We are giving away Green Dream, our favorite Bonsai Fertilizer
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And not just in dribs and drabs, but in generous amounts

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Wild Horses, Dramatic Bonsai, but No Snow!

tai

That's a tiny horse standing on a rock cliff. Which begs the question, do wild horses ever venture onto rocky cliffs, or do they avoid them? My guess is the later, but in this case it makes for a little more drama in an already dramatic and perfectly arranged scene by Li, Hung-Chien. The trees are Premna microphylla.

The other day we featured a dramatic juniper bonsai by a Mr. Chiu Chung Cheng, a Taiwanese bonsai artist. It had been a while since we’d shown any bonsai from Taiwan and if you know Taiwanese bonsai, you know just how spectacular they can be. So, now that my memory has been jogged, let’s go ahead and make a quick trip to Taiwan.

All the trees shown here (except the snowy one) are from the 2007 Taiwan Bonsai Creators 10th Exhibition booklet.

tai6

Colorful pots abound in Taiwanese bonsai. As do dramatic bonsai. The exposed root trunk can be accomplished by gradually removing more and more soil from the base or the tree. Of course, if you live in the tropics where new roots grow like crazy, the amount of time to achieve something like this is much shorter than if you live in a cold climate (it's snowing right now here in northern Vermont - see below). The artist is Huang, Ching-Chuan. The tree is a Ehretia microphylla.

tai4

Is that a dead rabbit in the dog's mouth? Dead rabbit or not, this is a very powerful bonsai in yet another colorful pot. Even in the tropics it takes a long time to develop such a massive trunk. The tree is a Eurya japonica and the artist is You, Pen-I.

tai3

Chinese (Taiwanese in this case) bonsai artists don't seem to be very concerned about things like spaghetti roots or crowns made of near perfect disks of foliage. Still, once you let go of any ideas about how bonsai should or shouldn't be, it's hard to deny that this is a spectacular tree in a beautiful pot. The artist is Lin, Ming-Shan and the tree is a Pemphis acidula.

taiwan

Simple lines, simple pot. Still, there's something very unusual about the perfectly groomed elongated, pointed crown. And am I crazy to think that the tree is both static and dynamic at the same time (or just too much coffee this morning)? No matter what you think about that, there's no denying that the powerful trunk is full of character and that you just don't see that many baby blue bonsai pots. All this adds up to a very distinctive bonsai. The artist is Fang, Mao-Ti and the tree is a Pemphis acidula.

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snow

Not exactly a dramatic tropical bonsai from Taiwan, but then they don't have snow on April 26th.

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Half Price Bonsai Today Sale Ends Tonight

We still have one of this rare collector's Bonsai Today issue. Most other issues are still in stock, but like this one, many are down to one or two.*

50% off Bonsai Today Sale ends tonight at 11:59 EDT
For years Bonsai Today was the premier English language bonsai magazine. Fortunately we still have a selection of back issues that feature how-to articles and world class bonsai from many of the world’s greatest bonsai masters (East and West). However, our selection is limited. Some issues are already gone and many others will be gone soon.*

Our Bonsai Aesthetics and Okatsune Tool Sales also end tonight (below).

This Hornbeam appears in Bonsai Today issue 94

* We sometimes buy back Bonsai Today collections from people, so issues that are out-of-stock now may or may not be back in stock later.

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Pots, Chops and a Spectacular Juniper Bonsai

This spectacular juniper belongs to  Mr. Chiu Chung Cheng. I found it on Ryan Bell's Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog.

This will make three posts in a row that feature photos from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog. The last two were new Bark posts, this one is from our archives (December 2012).

For a relative bonsai newcomer, I’m impressed with just how thoroughly Ryan Bell has jumped into the thick of the bonsai fray. I’m especially taken with his pot collection (many are for sale) and his recent (remember this is from 2012) photo journey through many of our bonsai nurseries here in the Northeast (part 1 and part 2).

All the photos in the post are from Ryan’s Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog.

Hand painted geometrics on porcelain by Owari Yuho.

Hand painted pot by Sano Daisukie.

Another hand painted pot by Sano Daisukie. Do you suppose that that's a Japanese black pine?

What kind of tree would you put in this pot? Ryan's caption says "Super rare Tojaku porcelain arabesque. Pristine porcelain. Beautiful painting."

A piece of a photo collage that Ryan calls his Chop, Seal and Signature Resource.

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Fukien Tea with Elephant & Other Wonders

breyniacropped

That's a lot of tree for a pot that size. But then that's a commanding pot, at least in color and design. The pot and presumably the tree (Breynia officianalis) belong to Ruban Yu. This photo and the one just below are from The 11th Annual Shohin Pottery Competition, on Ryan Bell's Japanese Bonsai Pots blog.

Continuing from yesterday, here are a couple more trees from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots blog. Both belong to Ruban Yu. The pots below also belong to Ruban and are from his website.

Here’s what Ryan has to say about the two bonsai shown here: “Ruban’s containers pair very well with bonsai, I’ve seen some fantastic examples from Taiwan. That’s perhaps the best Fukien Tea Shohin I’ve seen (below), and I’m quite envious of the second tree (first here, above), as well, a collected Taiwan Native, Breynia Officianalis. Give his website a visit to see more of his work here: Ruban Yu.“

Ftea

Fukien tea with elephant. The pot is by Ruban Yu. I don't know for sure about the tree (or the elephant for that matter).

yupot

One of dozens of Ruban Yu pots you can find on his website.

Most of Ruban's pots show scenes, though he has some with simple non-representational designs. Of all of those I saw, this one really jumped out.

yupots

Wanna buy a pot? Here's a sampling from Ruban Yu's website. If you put on your readers, you just might be able to make out the prices.

breynia

Here's the Breynia from above, before I cropped it for a closer look.

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Shamelessly Stealing Bonsai Pots (Trees too)

kumquat

I found this Kumquat on Ryan Bell's Japanese Bonsai Pot blog. My apologies for the fuzzy photo. It's cropped from a larger photo that originally came from Bonsai Tonight. The full photo and Ryan's caption are below.

It has been a while since we borrowed (shamelessly stoled*) from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pot blog. As you might expect, it’s a great photo source for some of the best bonsai pots in the world. We’ll offer a glimpse of a few here, with and without trees. If you’d like to enjoy a whole lot more, I suggest you pay Ryan a visit.

twotrees

Here's Ryan Bell's caption: "The bonsai on the right is in a Tofukuji pot. The left bonsai is a kinzu(kumquat) and you may recognize it from Bonsai Tonight, Jonas Dupich’s wonderful blog." I just searched Kumquat on Bonsai Tonight and though I did find a lot of brilliant photos, this one didn't turn up.

pot3

Ryan's caption: "Another traditional style painting, of Ume in bloom.  The single offset bloom to the right of center creates an assymetry that makes the pot stand apart(and gives direction and flow to."

The pot just above and the two below were created by Kiyoumine Ogurayama. Here’s a little history courtesy of Ryan Bell: “Karahashi Homiyabi was born September 5, 1920, in Kyoto. Before bonsai pottery, he helped with the family business making traditional Kyo-yaki ware. He started his earnest apprenticeship as a potter/painter in 1970 under Heian Matsumoto, and gained his independence in 1975, whereupon he built a hybrid gas/electric kiln and took the potter name “Kiyoumine Ogurayama”. Ogurayama entered his first big bonsai pottery exhibition, the National Masterpiece Kobachi, in 1981, and took the Grand Prize. Since then, he’s won numerous awards and medals for his work. He is now retired, and his son is the Ogurayama.”

pot2

Ryan's caption: "Ogurayama creates some of the best winter scene painted containers I’ve seen, from any painter.  This piece is sublime, with just enough color to focus the attention on the figures crossing the bridge.  The demon feet are a great touch, and show his carving work in addition to excellent painting."

pot1

Here's an unusual pot and here's Ryan's caption:  "A really unique piece.  The top a very highly detailed 5 color figure painting, and the base a gold overglaze enamel. Astounding contrast."

All the pots shown here (and many more in Ryan's Ogurayama post) are excellent, but I think this one is my favorite. Here's what Ryan has to say: "This piece throws me for a loop.  Sitting under a tree, we are looking out on a landscape, rather than looking in.  Like the finger crossing the frame in the previous piece, this shows something entirely different and more artistic in meaning and purpose than we see from most painters of bonsai containers.  Very different…. "

*According to the Urban Dictionary, stoled is “past tense of stole, usually used by slack-jawed yokkles.” I guess that’s me.

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Brilliant Bonsai Berries

berry

Pyracanthas (aka Firethorns) are prolific when it comes to berries and this one is certainly no exception. It's from a post we did in 2012.

Just back from a way too short vacation and now it’s catch up time, so once again we’ll dig into our archives. This one is borrowed from last June.

In just a few short months it will be fruit and berry season (sooner for some of you), so in anticipation here are three photos of Pyracanthas with berries and one in full flower.

haru31

From the many to the few. It's another Pyracantha. By Shohin master Haruyosi.

Nepal Firethorn (Pyracantha crenulata), in training since 1966, donated to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum by Yee-Sun Wu. We originally featured this tree back in 2011 in a post about Capital Bonsai.

bonsaimike-500x408

Flowers come first, so maybe we should have started with this sweet little Bonsai Mike Pyracantha that we originally featured in 2010.

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The Maximum with the Minimum

Even though the crown is leaning back a bit, I'm going to call this side the front, given that it provides the best view of the trunk and the deadwood. The four photos of this tree are by Haruyosi, as are the tree and the pot.

Still enjoying a short vacay, so we’ll show you another Haruyosi rerun (see yesterday). And while we’re at it, why not start at the beginning (March, 2014)? Our first of many Haruyosi posts.

We don’t usually show four shots of the same bonsai, but I like this little tree a lot and the shots were just sitting there begging to picked up and shared. It’s a Shohin (you could even say Mame) Shimpaku juniper by Haruyosi. From his numerous great facebook photos.

This side is also very good and presents a better view of the crown. But we're going to call it the back. It doesn't really matter, especially since the tree is in a round pot.

Close up.

Another close up.

A little color for you to enjoy. Cherry blossoms, also by Haruyosi.

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