Bonsai Stempede & You Don’t Need to Remove ALL the Wire

pon

Stampede. This photo is from Michael Hagedorn's Crataegus Bonsai blog. It was taken just after restyling by Micheal and friends. The tree is a Ponderosa pine. The story of its name 'Stampede' is in a caption below (second photo down)

Two for one. I wanted to show you a post about removing wire that Michael Hagedorn put up on his Crataegus Bonsai blog recently. Problem is, we need a good lead photo of a bonsai for all our posts (don’t ask, it’s just the way we’ve always done it) and Michael doesn’t provide one in his removing wire post. So I picked some photos and text from a post Michael did on styling a  Ponderosa pine not too long ago. Here’s you link to each of the two posts: You Don’t Need to Remove ALL the Wire, and ‘Stampede’ Ponderosa Pine Styling…
Continued below...

STONE LANTERN
TOOL SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT

30% off list prices on all tools

special ends tonight, Sunday, Oct 14th at 11:59pm EDT
see below
–

wire

Here's Michael's photo from You Don't Need to Remove ALL the Wire. And here's some of his text on the topic... "Fall is a good time to check on what wires may be biting in on the branches. If you see some, don’t go for the default of taking it all off. That is very often a simple waste of your past work, the work you did putting it on."

poncu

Here's closeup of the Ponderosa trunk. And here's what Michael wrote about this tree's strange name... "There’s a story about the name ‘Stampede’. The Backcountry Bonsai guys enjoy naming the trees they collect, and having received several with memorable names I asked if this Ponderosa Pine had one. I only got an abbreviated version by text and maybe not the full story, but I gather it involved some galloping extraterrestrials or horned animals that were shooed away by Steve Varland, saving the pine’s life. Dust cloud from retreating herd of mysterious animals…mountain peaks…a man bent over, worrying over an old tree…you can sort of see the ageless moment there. And the name Stampede was born."

poncu2

The trunk even closer...

TOOL SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables
SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT, SUNDAY AT 11:59pm EDT

FREE Shipping on most* Continental U.S. orders 75.00+
but you must chose Free Shipping when you check out
*Free Shipping does not include bonsai wire, soil
& non hydraulic turntables

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

A Dangerously Beautiful Tree that Grows Against all the Rules of Bonsai

fallmain

I borrowed this luminous Amur maple (Acer ginalla) from Mariusz Folda's Ibuki Studio Bonsai & Ceramics. Here's Mariusz' caption... "Everybody who knows the growth characteristics of the variety knows how ginalla is unique with their branch structure. It happens that It just grows against all 'the rules of bonsai’ ?  Still I wanted to show the true nature of the tree. It was developed from a yamadori. It was a perfect stamp (does he mean 'stump'?) and the rest is a result of many years of our cooperation (?). 75 cm high. Pot and table by Ibuki." We found all three images shown here and this caption on Mariusz' fb timeline

Continuing with our fall color theme, we’ve got a tree that you seldom see used for bonsai and that we’ve never featured after almost ten years of posting. I can think of at least two reasons for this absence: First (as mentioned in the caption above) it just grows against all the rules of bonsai. Second, it is considered an invasive species (at least here in the U.S., see below), so it may be difficult or impossible to find in nurseries
Continued below…

TOOL SPECIAL ENDS TOMORROW NIGHT

30% off list prices on all tools

special ends Sunday, Oct 14th at 11:59pm EDT
see below

 

fallcu

Close of the trunk and some of the luminous leaves...

Continued from above…
Here’s a quote from the Morton Arboretum… “Amur maple has invasive traits that enable it to spread aggressively. This tree is under observation and may be listed on official invasive species lists in the near future. Review of risks should be undertaken before selecting this tree for planting sites. One tree can produce more than 5,000 two-winged seeds that are widely spread by wind. In open woods, Amur maple displaces native shrubs and understory trees. In prairies and open fields, it can shade out native species of plants, disrupting the ecosystems that plants and animals depend on.”

fall

Tree and stand which, along with the pot, was made by Ibuki Studio

TOOL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables

FREE Shipping on most* Continental U.S. orders 75.00+
but you must chose Free Shipping when you check out
*Free Shipping does not include bonsai wire, soil
& non hydraulic turntables

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Brilliant Bonsai in Full Fall Colors & Other Famous Trees

Suthin10

Always nice to lead with a little color. This cheerful full fall color Trident maple belonged to Suthin Sukosolvisit when we first showed it way back in 2009. I don't know who the lucky owner is now

Still trying to catch up from vacation so it’s archive time again. I used to have a 30 hour a week office person, but now it’s just me (with a little help from a friend), so keeping up, let alone catching up, requires more time, though new technology and other innovations help, but only to a point. The photo at the top of this post originally appeared back in 2009. The rest of this post is from exactly 366 days ago. All the trees are by our friend Suthin.

TOOL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT

30% off list prices on all tools

special ends Sunday, Oct 14th at 11:59pm EDT
see below

suthinjwp

For some reason there was no caption with the original, but I'm pretty sure this is a Japanese black pine
hinokihalfshellThis Tsukomo cypress-on-a-half-shell was offered for sale at Suthin's big sell-down-most-of-his-bonsai sale (so he could spend more time with his grandkids) that took place a couple years ago

 

st31Coiled Shimpaku juniper snake. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another full cascade bonsai quite like this one.

 

suthin6

Another Suthin Shimpaku juniper with a deadwood snake. I think this one is quite famous by now.

Bonsai Aesthetics Wire Special

simply the best prices you’ll find
Wire32-500x1591

 

shohinpine

A bonsai is hand is worth more than two in most collections. It's a Japanese black pine.

 

shohinsuthin

One of Suthin's prize winning Shohin displays from the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition.
Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

One Sweet Little Tree While Waiting for More

BETO

Our first photo from the just completed 2018 European Bonsai Sans Show. The tree belongs to Carlos Beto. I couldn't find the species or size, but it looks like a Sohin (small) Cotoneaster. In any case, it's got all the right stuff; heavy trunk with good movement, a strong nebari, and attractive little berries with a pot to match (red pots are on rise!). The moss is good too, with enough variation in texture and color to create interest (this is an often overlooked feature... slapping some moss on or just using sand or gravel isn't good enough for a top show). Some might take issue with the pruning scar smack dab in the middle of the trunk, though I think the trunk has enough texture and color variation to soften and almost disguise the scar

I’ve been waiting for photos from the recent 2018 European Bonsai Sans Show. So far I’ve found a few, but they lack identification and attribution, so we’ll keep waiting. Meanwhile, I did find this one on Magdalena Chiavazza’s timeline
Continued below…

TOOL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT

30% off list prices

special ends Sunday, Oct 14th at 11:59pm EDT

 

BETOcu

I cropped the original for a better look at the trunk (berries, leaves and moss too)

Continued from above…
Here’s Magdalena’s caption… European Bonsai San Show 2018, Saulieu (Autor? ni idea) Bellisimo ejemplar!!! Gracias Carlos Beto por la información y felicidades por tan hermoso ejemplar!!!
Here’s a machine translation… European Bonsai San Show 2018, Saulieu (Author? No idea) Beautiful example! Thanks Carlos Beto for the information and congratulations for such a beautiful copy!

Though there are a couple place where you might take issue with the machine and I’m not sure that Magdalena knows the tree belongs to Beto (he says it’s his in the comments to her post), we’ll leave it at that

betocu2

The pot. For a long time it seems like almost no one liked red pots. Now they're becoming common


Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Mixed Media Bonsai from Down Under

main

This unusual mixed media bonsai presentation was posted by the National Bonsai & Penjing Collection of Australia. Here's part of the caption... "Chinese Junipers set among moss, ferns and stones have been carefully trained for thirty years by Australian artist Syd Green to create this tranquil Penjing. Inspired by the beauty, digital artist Jane Long has transferred the Junipers into a magical realm..." Here's your link if you'd like to read more

I don’t mind bonsai as part of mixed media settings. Experimentation is part of any art, though some experiments work better than others. In this case, I think the bonsai part of the presentation is excellent, with a lot of skill evident in expressing character, age, naturalness, balance etc. A lot of what you might look for in a bonsai. Nor do I object to the digital setting. It’s quite well done and evocative. Even magical (see their quote above). Though I would have liked to also see a photo of the just the tree, including its slab (assuming it has one)

Visit Stone Lantern
for BONSAI WIRE

This is your chance
even though duty for aluminum was just increased another 15%,
we are going to continue to hold our low prices for as long as we can

–

jun

Here's another one that gives a little more pause for thought. It was also posted by the National Bonsai & Penjing Collection of Australia using the same mixed media technique as above, though this time the size of the island is very small for such a large tree (artistic license?). Here's part of the caption .... "Nepal Juniper by Jane Long Photography. Bonsai and Penjing shot at the National Arboretum in Canberra in December 2017 and released into the wild! Bonsai artist - Jarryd Bailey" I was a little confused about the "released into the wild!," but I guess they're saying that this presentation gives the effect that the tree is growing in the wild.
 I'd never heard of Nepal juniper, though it turns out that it's a Juniperus communis  or Common juniper. A plant found in much of the Northern Hemisphere

BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables

STONELANTERN.COM

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Ginkgo Bonsai – Spring, Summer & Fall

lakechichiI'm not so sure about the apex or the way it's so crowded in this photo, but I like the tree anyway. Especially that gnarly old trunk. It's a Chi Chi, a small leaf Ginkgo cultivar. As you can see, it's from Lakeshore Bonsai (Toronto area). Here's Lakeshore's caption: "Ginkgo biloba ‘chi-chi’, 7 years in development from imported raw material. Probably started as an air layer in Japan."

Finally home last night from vacation. Now to attack and vanquish two weeks worth of accumulated loose ends. Meanwhile, to save a little time, we’re resurrecting a post we did back in June 2016. We’ve added one tree that was recently sent to us (see just below)

I borrowed the following from an ofBonsai article by Heather Hartman:
“It is best to style Gingko based on their natural inclinations toward a column, or flame shape. Ginkgo can resent pruning, and as a result, many ginkgo bonsai have a similar look, due to how they show their dislike. Pruned branches are prone to dieback, either shortly after being pruned or the following winter. This can result in a heavy trunk with relatively few, upward facing branches. Twigs will grow in clusters from the branches. As the growth and replacement of branches is repeated over the years, it can result in interesting, gnarled areas on the trunk. Fortunately, not all shoots will dieback, but predicting which ones will and which ones won’t is nearly impossible.”

BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

 

ginkgoCase

Here's a good one in full fall yellow from this season (2018). It belongs to Roger Caseofbon
This one belongs to Dan Barton. I found the photo on ofBonsai Magazine. It and the photo just below are part of a Ginkgo article by Heather Hartman (a good read, especially if you like Ginkgo - see above for an excerpt).

 

ofbon2

Same tree as just above, different time of year and no moss covering the roots.

 

Ginkgo_biloba_2This eccentric Ginkgo with its rough bark, great taper and impressive hole (sabamiki) was sent to us by Calin from Italy. Would you remove the middle trunk?

lakechichicu

I cropped the photo at the top of the post for a closer look at the trunk

BEST PRICES for BONSAI WIRE

BONSAI AESTHETICS WIRE SPECIAL

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Too Big for Bonsai – Another Magnificent Monster

boonBoon Manakitivipart takes a good look at an impressive wild specimen just before he digs it up (just kidding). From Boon's website

Flying west to east today, so no time to put together a new post. This one, that originally appeared in October 2010 (with a little value added today), should do though. Not only does it tie in with yesterday by featuring another of nature’s magnificent trees, it also features one of our favorite bonsai people

VISIT STONE LANTERN
FOR THE LARGEST SELECTION
AND BEST PRICES ON BONSAI WIRE
–

boom2This shot gives you an idea of the scope and size of one of nature's more impressive trees. I haven't talked to Boon, so I don't know the what or where, but my best guess is a juniper somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas
 BT108coverThe final issue of Bonsai Today (still available) features a Sierra juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) by Boon. All remaining back issues are now only 5.00 each

booncu

Mea culpa for the fuzz. Just want a closer look at some of the details

 

BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables

STONELANTERN.COM

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Nature’s Wild Bonsai

SGRANITE

A Sierra juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) sculpted by wind and snow. It lives near Granite Lake at 8,500 feet in the Emmigrant Wilderness (near Yosemite in California's Sierra Nevada mountains). This photo and the next two are borrowed from Bonsai Society San Francisco. Thanks to Terry Davis of Mullet Wrapper fame for the suggestion

Tomorrow and Sunday are travel days, so today is our last full day of vacation. To save time I decided to resurrect this post from April of this year. It relates to what we’ve been up the last five days (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and environs), though we didn’t see any trees quite as dramatic as the one above. Nor did I get any photos anywhere near as striking (my photos skills leave a lot to be desired, especially with my cell phone).

There are more reasons why this post is appropriate. Though these photos are from the California’s Sierras, many of the trees are the same types you find in northern Arizona and southern Utah, and we are now in SF visiting family (see above and below for this connection)

The following quote which refers to the tree in the first three photos, is from Bonsai Society San Francisco… “The tree is about 7 feet tall and has the shape of a bonsai after many years…”

Continued below…

VISIT STONE LANTERN
FOR THE LARGEST SELECTION
AND BEST PRICES ON BONSAI WIRE
–

SGRANCU

I cropped the original for this closer view

Continued from above…
“This tree shows that under harsh conditions we see that the lifeline on the top of the tree or on the windward side is frequently killed while the lifeline that is more protected is the portion that soldiers on, gaining protection from some of the environmental harshness from the deadwood sections. Where the wind and snow conditions are particularly harsh the successive killing of portions of the lifelines can cause the live sections of some branches and trunks to seem to melt over the dead sections that they neighbor.”
Quoted from Bonsai Society San Francisco

 

SGWINDWARD

"Detail of deadwood on the top of the windward side of the tree. The different sections appear to melt together."

 

SBENNET

The most famous Sierra juniper (or is it a Sierra juniper?, see below) is called the Bennett Juniper. You can visit it in the Stanislaus National Forest of California. It's considered the oldest and largest Sierra juniper (or Juniper period?) at possibly 3000 years old, with a height of 26 meters (85 feet) and a diameter of 3.88 meters (almost 13 feet).[2]

For a long time the Bennett juniper was considered to be a Sierra juniper (J occidentalis), but according to Wikipedia, it was recently reclassified as different species (Juniperus grandis).*

SBCU

Cropped for a closer look at the trunk

 

SBENWITH

A little perspective

*From Wikipedia… “Originally the Bennett was considered to be a Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis – Western juniper is another common name for Sierra juniper). Over time the differences between the northern and southern populations of western junipers justified dividing them into two subspecies and the Bennett is in the southern population which was named Juniperus occidentalis australis. A field guide published by UC Press in 2001 gives the common name Mountain Juniper for the australis population.[3] DNA studies (2006) by Adams[4] resulted in the southern population being raised to species status and it was given the common name “Grand juniper” (Juniperus grandis). This name and status is recognized in the USDA Plant Database.[5]“

NEW BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables

STONELANTERN.COM

–

–

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Three Powerful Bonsai, a Quick Spelling Lesson, Ancient Pines & Towering Hoodoos

cbspruce3-1

Colorado spruce from Ryan Neil's Bonsai Mirai. This one is more about bark than deadwood. Normally bark that covers deadwood is stripped to reveal the deadwood, but in this case it makes sense to leave it.

Leaving the high plateaus and mountains of northern Arizona and southern Utah today. A quick detour to SF and family, then back to Vermont via Boston on Sunday. Once we’re back in the office, we’ll find time to sort through our photos. Meanwhile here are some bonsai from our archives that shows three species we’ve seen growing in the wild on this trip. All the photos in this post were originally  borrowed from  Ryan Neil’s Bonsai Mirai
Continued below…
–

cpspruce3cu

Nice pot. Ryan usually provides great close-ups and this one is no exception.

Continued from above…
I don’t think I’ve ever had my spelling corrected by someone from Tasmania. Until yesterday that is, when I received this note from Noel Kemp…
Dear Wayne, I look forward to your Stone Lantern e-mails, and enjoy reading them, but, even I, way down here in Tasmania know that a national park you have there, near that Huge Canyon, is spelt “Bryce”, not “Brice”.
Kind regards, Noel

As long as we’re referring to yesterday… I mentioned that we’d seen no Bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva and Pinus aristata) so far. That changed when we walked right by several small ones on our hike into the heart of Bryce (note the spelling) Canyon’s magnificent towering Hoodoos (stay posted for photos). The Bristlecones we saw were nothing like the ancient beauties we’ve seen in California’s White Mountains, but the main Bryce trail for Bristlecones was closed, so we couldn’t view their best
Continued below…

–

rmjun7cu

Rocky mountain juniper with some crazy natural deadwood and another perfectly suited pot.

 

ppine6

This wild Ponderosa pine looks like a sinuous root raft on a wooden slab.

Continued from above…
Speaking of magnificent old pines… Ponderosas are by far the dominant large tree in this part of the world. The good news is we didn’t see any beetle ravaged stands like we’ve seen in Colorado’s Front Range. The bad news is we saw thousands of fire ravaged Ponderosas, especially in the higher reaches of Bryce National Park. Most dead, but some the only living trees in blackened hillside after blackened hillside

 

ppine6cu2

Another great close up

NEW BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices

Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS
& ALL BONSAI AND GARDEN HAND TOOLS

TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS

*Special does not include Green T turntables

STONELANTERN.COM

–

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Nature’s Bonsai Growing Out of Rocks in Some of the Most Sensational Surroundings Anywhere

gcmainIn this part of the world (Grand Canyon, Zion & Brice National Parks and surroundings) it's not unusual to see trees like this growing out of rocks. Somewhere there has to be some soil or duff, but often you can't see it. The magnificent old tree is a pine (see below) and the dramatic backdrop is the Grand Canyon. The photo was borrowed from Bonsai Mania

The photos shown here are from a post we did back December 2010, a while after my last trip to the Grand Canyon. It was the South Rim then. Now it’s the North Rim as well as Zion and Bryce National Parks. We’ve got some hopefully decent cell phone photos, but probably won’t have time to sort through them all until we get home. Meanwhile, here are some from a post we did back in December, 2010. The text is being written now. Quickly, so we can get back outside!

BRAND NEW TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices on all Bonsai Tools
including turntables, soil sieves etc
SEE BELOW
–

gcpine

This blurry blowup confirms my notion the the tree is a pine, perhaps even a Bristlecone. To be sure, I got my trusty National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America out, and sure enough, the Intermountain Bristlecone (Pinus longaeva) has a spot on the map that falls right on the Grand Canyon (this was written in 2010. What follows is from today). The pines we see most around here are Ponderosa and Pinyon. I haven't noticed any Bristlecone this trip (Note: a day later and just back from Bryce where we did see some Bristlecone pines)

 

gcjun2

This one looks like a Juniper with the foliage in full winter color. Both Rocky Mountain junipers (J. scopularum) and Utah junipers (J. osteosperma) are found around the Grand Canyon and your guess is as good as mine. The shot was borrowed from Flickr

BRAND NEW TOOL SPECIAL

30% off list prices all Bonsai Tools
TM-Roshi Banner

ROSHI TOOLS, KOYO TOOLS, OKATSUNE TOOLS
AESTHETICS TOOLS, YOSHI TOOLS & OTHERS
Special Includes…

BONSAI TURNTABLES* SIEVE SETS, TOOL SETS & KITS 
SHEATHS & CASES, WATERING TOOLS & MORE

*TURNTABLES DOES NOT INCLUDE GREEN Ts

FREE Shipping on most* Continental U.S. orders 75.00+
but you must chose Free Shipping when you check out
*Free Shipping does not include bonsai wire, soil
& non hydraulic turntables

STONELANTERN.COM

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern