Big Show, Small Trees

This pine by Mark and Rita Cooper was part of their second place Shohin display at the Noelanders Trophy. Mark and Rita also won the first place Shohin display (see below). All the trees in this post belong to Mark and Rita. All the photos are borrowed from Bonsai Eejit.

In our last post we showed a small Chinese elm (see below) by Mark and Rita Cooper that was part of their first place Shohin display at the 2013 Noelanders Trophy. It was unattributed because I didn’t know who it belonged to. Now, thanks to Bonsai Eejit we know, and, as one thing leads to another, that knowing has led to this post.

 

Trident maple by Mark and Rita Cooper. Though I wasn’t able to find the dimensions, it’s a shohin so we know it’s small, which makes the impressive nebari, taper and ramification even more impressive.

 

This little pine was part of Mark and Rita’s first place Shohin display (see below).

 

Nice pot-tree combo with this sweet little broom-style Zelkova. It’s from Mark and Rita’s second place Shohin display.

 

I think we’ve shown this colorful little Pyracantha with its bright yellow pot before. It was part of Mark and Rita’s first place display at this year’s Noelanders Trophy.

 

Mark and Rita’s first place Shohin display. The photo isn’t perfect, but you get the idea. The photo on their second place display is even less perfect, so we won’t bother. You can see it here at Bonsai Eejit though.

 

Here’s that little elm that we showed last time. Given it excellent features, especially its remarkable ramification for such a small tree, its attractive corky bark and of course, the great pot, it’s worth another show.

The best (and only) Shohin bonsai book in English. If you want to really dig into the art of Shohin bonsai, there’s no better place to start than with Morten’s classic. Now on special at Stone Lantern.

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Lost & Found

Shadow dance. Here’s one that we didn’t show on our now vanished post (see below). The tree was on display at the Noelanders Trophy Exhibition and the image is courtesy Crataegus Bonsai, as are all the images in this post. I don’t know who the artist is.

One more time. A week or so ago I accidentally deleted a post on the Noelander Trophy Exhibit. I had borrowed the images from Crataegus Bonsai, so I thought I’d go through and post some again, including one that was posted before.

Speaking of Crataegus Bonsai, I  just finished studying wiring with Mr. Crataegus, Michael Hagedorn. There’s a bit of a story around that, but I won’t bore you right now. Except to say that trying to learn to do something the right way after doing it the other way for so many years, is a bit of a challenge. The good news is that my Sensei is in possession of a kind disposition with a matching sense of humor.

 

Gnarly little Cork elm. Great pot deserves a great tree.

 

Cascading Shimpaku. Most shimpakus have dense lush foliage, but here the foliage is open and somewhat spare, in keeping with the ‘struggling to stay alive on the edge of a cliff’ effect.

 

Great balance, great ramification, great tree. I’m not so good at identifying trees from photos, but the color suggests Japanese beech.

 

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Satsuki, Starflower & Not Much More

You can tell by the little symbol in lower right corner that this azalea was borrowed from Bonsai Empire. However, when I went back to find it, it seems to have vanished. So, no name, no specs & no attribution (our friend Jose Luis says that it’s from the Kennentt Collection and Terry Davis say it’s a Nyohozan – see comments below). Just a great Satsuki with a massive gnarly trunk, a colorful display of flowers, two large holes (like dark eyes peering out), and a nice pot.

I’m in Portland studying with Michael Hagedorn (more on this later), so not much time today. Just a couple photos for your enjoyment.

 

This tree is a Lavender starflower (Grewia occidentalis). It belongs to Ken Schultz (my mistake, owner unknown) of the Columbus Bonsai Society. Grewia are not all that common, in fact, I don’t think I’ve seen one in years. As you can see, they have some bonsai potential, but what really sets them apart are the flowers (below).

Here’s some of what Ken has to say about Grewia (taken from the Columbus Bonsai Society newsletter).
“The Grewia genus number about 400 and are found in Africa, Asia, Australia and Florida. Occidentalis is a shrub that in nature may be found in a variety of habitats ranging from arid areas, coastal dune bush, evergreen mountain forest and wooded grasslands, mostly in Zone 9. In Africa on the Highveld, it grows in clumps of bush and rocky places, often in the shade of trees. The natural distribution of the Grewia occidentalis ranges from the Western Cape up to Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and thus often described as a fast-growing, sprawling South African native. Left untrained it grows 6 to 10 ft. tall (sometimes taller) with equal spread….”

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A Stately Elegance

This Japanese Stewartia (S. pseudocamellia) from Bonsai Today issue 68, is a study in color, harmony and balance. Its stands as a reminder of an earlier day in the evolution of bonsai, before chainsaws. Even before wire. Great pot too.

This is another post in our or series of species specific bonsai, or genus specific in this case. The genus is called Stewartia. It consist of a dozen or so flowering small trees and shrubs.

You don’t see that many Stewartia bonsai in the West, but if you go through old issues of Bonsai Today, you’ll see plenty that reside in Japan. This may be because most Stewartia species are from East Asia, though there are two species from North America but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen them as bonsai.

A few features stand out, at least with some Stewartia. One is nebari (the spreading surface roots at the base of a tree’s trunk) and in particular, heavy impressively fused nebari (see Speaking of nebari… below) that you sometimes see on deciduous trees, particularly maples and beeches.

There are at least two more outstanding features, that when taken together (and combined with an impressive nebari), can make for a very attractive bonsai (this is particularly true of  S. monadelpha). These features are smooth, variegated (reddish & tan) exfoliating bark and a stately elegance that you just don’t see everyday. The trees below express these excellent features with flair, especially the one immediately below.

 

We’ve shown this lovely Stewartia monadelpha before, but it never hurts to show such an exceptional tree again. It’s a Japanese bonsai that was originally featured in Bonsai Today issue number 6 (1990).

 

Trees that tend to grow strong nebari often make good root-over-rock bonsai. This is another S. monadelph (Tall Stewaria).

 

Speaking of nebari. This photo of one very impressive Stewartia nebari (not sure how that got through, I think it’s a maple, but still an impressive nebari) was taken by Jonas of Bonsai Tonight. It’s titled Tosho. Jonas also has a couple interesting posts on leaf-pruning Stewartia.

 

Here’s a S. monadelpha in flower. It’s from the cover of Bonsai Today issue 13.

 

This mulitple-trunks-fused-into-one-solid-nebari look, is not all that uncommon with Stewartias. The photo is from Bonsai Today issue 14.

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Uh oh!

Avant-garde bonsai. This wonderfully fluid tree with its distinctive flying pot is from Bonsai Do. The caption says with Tony Tickle (I visited Tony’s blog and couldn’t find it, though I’m sure someone with a little more patience can pinpoint it). There’s also this quote by Thomas Browne (it’s in Spanish on Bonsai Do, but here’s the original English): Art is the perfection of nature. Nature hath made one world, and art another.

Uh oh! A moments confusion. Fingers moving too fast, awareness disengaged, and suddenly it’s gone. I just deleted our January 29th post! It was titled A Famous Winter Bonsai Show. Our IT maven is on vacation and I’m at a loss. My hope is some savvy soul will know just what to do to get it back.

Meanwhile, here are some photos I captured at Bonsai Do on facebook. The good news is they have put together a impressive selection of photos along with some famous quotes. The bad news is that most of the trees aren’t identified by species and many don’t list the source. Not to mention (but to mention) the quotes are in Spanish.

 

Truly spectacular, if just a little fuzzy. The caption says with El Tim Bonsai, but alas, a quick search resulted in a whiff, so the artist will remain anonymous for the moment. I’m going to guess that it’s a Japanese beech and really go out a limb (so to speak) and say that it’s one of the most impressive deciduous bonsai you’ll ever see. In every regard, including sheer power, movement, ramification and all the rest.

 

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen deadwood patterns quite like this. Almost as good as this deadwood and the tree’s impressively massive base, is the fact that both the species and artist are identified: it’s a European olive and it belongs to Stefano Defraia.

 

Something a little different. No source listed, but there is this quote by Friedrich Von Schiller (I can’t find the English version and my powers of translation leave much to desired, so we’ll settle for the Spanish); “Si buscas lo más elevado, lo más grandioso, una planta te lo puede enseñar: lo que ella es sin querer, tú, queriendo, puedes serlo.”

 

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Silent Elegance

A piece of the Isabelia Gardens in the Czech Republic. If you look closely, you can see some bonsai in the back.

I recently stumbled upon the Isabelia gardens while tracking down a bonsai pot. I won’t say much more except that you can look for a follow-up post that features their bonsai collection (any day now) and that the ‘Silent Elegance’ name was lifted from their site. Meanwhile, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

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Winter Sale Last Day & New Pots

Bonsai Pots. You may or may not know this, but we are now offering a very large selection of Yixing bonsai pots. I think Yixing pots are among the very best pots in the world. Especially when you consider the prices.

Winter Sale. Today (January 31st) is the last day of our Winter Sale. Right now we have hundreds of items that are reduced below our normal low prices, and our usual volume discounts also apply.

It’s not that we won’t keep some items on sale after this (we’ll always have deep discounts), but just not so many at once.

Bonsai soil is on its way. Spring potting season is starting down south and out west and soon it will be happening up north as well. To make sure that you’ve got everything you need, we’ve got pallets of soil on the way from two different locations. As soon as they arrive you’ll be able to choose from a large and varied selection of quality bonsai soils.

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Scots & Scotch

Great tree, great pot. This powerful old Scot’s pine by Enrico Savini was an overall winner in a contest that was held at the Art of Bonsai Project way back in 2005. The pot is by Isabelia.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is another in our bonsai species series. I used to think they were Scotch pine (some people say Scotch pine is incorrect and others say it’s an acceptable variation) and had the notion that you could enjoy a sip of Scotch while working on you Scotch pine (oh well…).

No matter what you call them, Scots pine make excellent bonsai (as you can see from these photos), especially some of the small needled varieties. I won’t bore you with too much information (you can visit Wikipedia for that) except to say the Scotland is not the only place where these trees appear. Far from it in fact, they range all the way east way into Siberia (almost to the Pacific), south to near the Mediterranean Sea (in the mountains), and way up north into the Arctic Circle.

Here’s what Dan Barton (well known bonsai potter and bonsai artist) says about this sweet little tree: “Scots pine grown from seed planted through a hole in a stone in 1972. The tree expanded so much that it eventually split the rock. Planted in a Dansai pot and now in the collection of Marco Invernizzi, Italy.” I’m going to have to show my ignorance once again; does anyone know what a Dansai pot is? All I could find is a reference to a place named Dan Sai in Thailand

 

Couldn’t do Scots pine without Walter Pall’s famous tree. We’ve featured it in various stages and various times, including on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 104. Here’s a post from last year.

 

This intriguing tree with its unusual movement (looks like clip-and-grow) was field-grown in Maine by Colin Lewis, a well known bonsai artist and teacher, and a fellow transplanted northern New Englander.

 

At a glance I thought this Scots pine by Nick Lenz was another of his larches. Most of the good Scots pines you find are in Europe for obvious reasons, but I did manage to find a a few good ones that migrated west (see immediately above and below for the others). This photo is from an Art of Bonsai pine gallery.

 

A simple tree with simple lines and good taper. It’s at the New York Botanical Gardens.

Have you seen our Masters’ Series Japanese Black and White Pine Book? Though it’s not specifically about Scots pines, most of the information is useful with most pines.

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Still Sleeping at the Switch

Do you recognize this award winning Shimpaku juniper? It appears in Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature (and older version is in the gallery of our Masters Series Juniper book). It belongs to Masahiko Kimura. The photo is by Jonathan Singer, as are all three photos in this post and all of the photos in Fine Bonsai.

The three trees shown here are all from a review of the book Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature, that appears at Smithsonian.com. We were alerted to the review by Matt Calcavecchia in the comments on a recent post (scroll down to the last tree in this post for the someone convoluted ‘sleeping at the switch’ part of the story).

 

This 40-year-old Koto Hime Japanese Maple is also featured in the Smithsonian review of Fine Bonsai. The artist and owner is Bill Valavanis (of the International Bonsai Arboretum in Rochester, New York and author of Fine Bonsai).

 

A couple posts ago we (that’s me) featured this forest planting with this caption: I’m not so sure this planting would attract much attention when contrasted with the higher caste bonsai that you see in top exhibitions, but there’s something uncontrived and natural about it that seems almost wholesome (is that the right word?), especially its lush green canopy. It’s from Bonsai Do. Unfortunately unattributed and unidentified (Bonsai Do most likely borrowed in from the Smithsonian review). BTW, this planting is part of the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, which we also happened to feature recently.

Still sleeping. It turns out that this planting is from Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature a book that I’ve spent time with and even written about (and that we sell). So, it’s another case of forgetting (to use a generous term) on my part. I found the tree online, didn’t recognize it, and then, thinking that I’d just discovered it, featured it in a post. A little embarrassing but not all that unusual.

To set the record straight, here’s your attribution from Fine Bonsai. “Taki Nagasawara created this Sargent juniper saikei planting in 1979 during a workshop with Toshio Kawamoto.”

You might remember Toshio Kawamato from several earlier posts here on Bonsai Bark. And to close the circle a little more, Mr. Kawamato was one of Bill Valavanis’ early bonsai teachers (you can read about it in this interview with Bill in The Bonsai Journal).

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The 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album Is the Best One Yet

This worthy old Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) from the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection is one of 248 fine bonsai that are featured in the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album.

Here are four of the many things to love about the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album:

1. The bonsai are a notch better than the second album and the second album bonsai are a notch better than the first. This speaks very well for the evolution U.S. & North American bonsai.

2. It has 32 more pages than albums 1 & 2 and yet is the same price.

3. Like the other two albums, it’s a beautiful book.

4. It and the other two albums are available at discounted prices at Stone Lantern

 

The cover of the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album.

Here’s some of what Bill Valavanis the man behind the Exhibition and the Albums, has to say about the 3rd album. “See and study 248 of the finest bonsai in the United States as displayed in the 3rd US National Bonsai Exhibition held on June 9-10, 2012 in Rochester, New York. Magnificent full color photos of each bonsai in perfect color shows fine details so you can study the forms, species and styles of each artist’s best creations. Overall candid photos of the sales area and demonstrations complete this beautifully produced and horticulturally accurate book.”

You can order the set of all three albums for a sizable discount at Stone Lantern. You can also order the albums individually.

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