Searching for the Unusual

At a glance you might think this is just a stump with some foliage tacked on, but then as you look closer you notice the taper at the base and the way the texture of the wood creates movement and a feeling of age. Then there’s that little cave that enhances the story of time and place and natural forces that came together to help create this Dogwood by Franco Berti. From a post titled Reportage Vi Trofeo Bonsai e Suiseki Città di Poppi by Bonsai Romano.

Searching for the unusual
I spend a lot of time looking for unusual bonsai. Bonsai that they might cause a shift in how we view the art of bonsai and even how we see and approach our own trees. If that’s asking too much, there’s always the hope that something happens, positive or negative (hopefully not neutral) and that some spark awakens something, if only for a moment.

 

I don’t think you’ll see trees that grow like this in nature, with such symmetrical back and forth movement. This looks like the result of the old clip-and-grow technique. You don’t see as much clip-and-grow these days as you used to, wiring is faster and allows for more variation, but it’s still an excellent time-tested way to shape a trunk. This elm by Claudio Tampucci is, like the tree above, from a post by Bonsai Romano.

 

Too unusual? Though there’s plenty to like about this old olive, especially the powerful trunk with its aged bark and expressive deadwood that piggybacks up from the first curve to the crown, I wonder if the heavy piece of deadwood at the top right isn’t a little too distracting. Or, maybe it’s an important part of the tree’s story? The tree belongs to Franco Berti (just like the one at the top of the post). I found it on ubibonsai.it.

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Bunjin Lives (Lungo vive il bunjin!)

I like the movement on this tree, with its sudden changes of direction. I also like the way the moss and lichen are growing up the base of the trunk. I wonder if it’s a Scot’s pine.

Robert at the Crespi Cup
The photos here were culled out from a large selection that was taken by our old friend Robert Steven at the 2012 Crespi Cup in Italy. I’ve cropped and otherwise fiddled a bit, but mostly they are pretty close to how I found them. Some don’t have any identification and some do.

Speaking of Robert, it has been a while since we reminded you about his two benchmark bonsai books.

 

Bunjin wannabe? The trunk is way thick for a bunjin and there’s more foliage than what you might find on most bunjin. But still, it does have some bunjin qualities. And then there’s the story of abuse that the bark and shari and sudden turn of the trunk tells. Robert’s caption on this one say ‘with Mario Pavone.‘


What a great trunk (would you forgive me if I said that it’s a picture of lyrical grace?)! However, the foliage is a little denser than you find on most bunjin (or, at least Japanese bunjin).

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Cold Mountain Bonsai

At first glance I was drawn to this tree. Later, I wasn’t so sure. But then, after a long slow look, I came back to my first thought; the spectacular pot, the deeply striated bark and the tree’s overall simplicity and naturalness won me over.

Have we been overly influenced by Japanese bonsai?
When I look at the trees in this post I sense a wild naturalness that seems distinctly Chinese. A sensibility that dates back to the ancient poet-calligrapher hermits deep in the Cold Mountains. This connection doesn’t occur with most Japanese and Western bonsai (the exceptions are mostly Bunjin bonsai). Anyway, enough said to get me in trouble; time to just relax and enjoy some exquisite Chinese bonsai.

All of the photos in this post are from Nail Sari’s facebook photo album titled Chinese Bonsai Ever… Unfortunately, none are attributed to the artist or labeled with the variety.

 

Expressing the primacy of nature; you can barely see the people who live in this magical forest.

 

Uncontrived, a lyrical poem with flowers.

 

Rugged, strong, well-balanced and perfectly tapered, all the way out to smallest twigs.

 

Halloween. Do you see the little arms sticking up out of the soil?

What would it be like to be small enough to walk under this natural bridge?

Lonely trees growing on cliffs.

So strong and closer to the more modern Japanese look. Yet still…

 

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Monster Bonsai

A Halloween monster (trunk, that is). It’s not that often you see a tree with such a powerfully thick trunk, especially when you consider its size relative to the rest of the tree. According to Mareta Marrtell (facebook), it’s a 50 year old Kuromatsu (Japanese black pine ) that was grown from seed.

Mareta says the photo is via sgforums.com. I tried that address, but came up empty. I did find a bonsai gallery at The Singapore Penjing and Stone Appreciation Society as a result of a search using s g forums, but couldn’t find this tree. In any case, my guess is that it’s from Japan rather than Singapore, though no matter where it’s from, it still qualifies as a true monster (in the positive sense of the word, of course).

An accident that spun out of control
My excuse for the Halloween theme is that it was an accident that spun out of control. I didn’t set out to do a Halloween bonsai post. In fact, I had already chosen all three of these photos before I noticed the possibility of a Halloween theme. Now the damage has been done, so I guess I’ll just forgive myself and move on. Hopefully, you’ll forgive me too.

 

I think this contorted little gem makes for a suitable Halloween bonsai. The photo (by Michael Hagedorn) was taken in Peter Wilson’s backyard on Vancouver Island. Here’s what Michael has to say about this gnarly little specimen “Very nice bunjin shore pine, Pinus contorta contorta, in Peter’s yard…I thought this specimen was very successful in living up to its scientific name. Contorted to heck by something in the wilds of Canada.”

You might notice how small the pot is relative to the tree. I imagine this is because it was growing in very little soil when Peter collected it (I’m guessing that it was collected by Peter) and so it’s perfectly happy to continue growing with very little soil.

 

I often find the monster nebari that appear on some bonsai (especially Japanese bonsai) to be quite strange (and, admittedly, quite impressive at the same time). This photo of this almost otherworldly Stewartia nebari was taken by Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight) during his 2011 trip to Japan. The tree belongs to a Mr. Ishii.  I’m not sure why we don’t see more Stewartia bonsai in the West. Though most are native to Asia, there are two varieties that are from our North American southeast.

 

 

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Four New Books

I liked this book at first glance and still like it after spending a few days with it. I can say with some confidence that it’s the best book yet on Penjing, at least in English. It goes way beyond Zhao’s earlier Worlds of Wonderment in all respects: quality and variety of the Penjing, quality of the photos, amount and level of information and overall production value of the book itself. This is to say that this is a very handsome and very useful book.

Zhao Qingquan is one of thee world’s most renowned Penjing artists and when you see this book you’ll know why. It has a wealth of information about Penjing, including design, care, categories, techniques and much more, and the plantings are exquisite, as are the 340 color photos. Hardcover. 9.8″ x 10.3″ (25 x 26 cm) 144 pages. The cover price 26.95. Stone Lantern’s low price is only 21.55.

 

This sweet new offering is my favorite of the three new Asian gardens books featured here (the other two are immediately below). Shunmyo Masuno’s gardens provide a breathtaking blend of the best of the modern world and the best of traditional Japanese gardens. Shunmyo is widely considered Japan’s leading garden designer and landscape architect. He is also an eighteenth generation Zen priest, so, in this case, the Zen in the title comes honestly. This is an very handsome book that is full of great photos and highly practical illustrations with ideas for both designing and appreciating the best in Japanese gardening. By Mira Locher. Hardcover 9″ x 10″  224 pages with 320 color photos and 110 illustrations. The cover price is 39.95. Now offered at Stone Lantern for only 29.95.

 

If you’re into Chinese gardens your going to love this excellent new book. In fact, if you’re into gardens at all, there’s a good chance you’ll love it. The author Hu Jie presents a wealth of great photos and more information (including a very unique and informative glossary) than most of us will ever need. Though I’m not an expert on Chinese gardens, I suspect that this attractive new book is one of the best ever on the the topic. It covers pretty much everything there is to know and appreciate about gardens in China and it does it in style. Hardcover – 8.5″ x 11″ – 240 pages with 350 color photos. The cover price is 34.95. Available at Stone Lantern for only 27.95.

 

I love the cover photo of the Koraku-en stroll garden in Okoyama City. Now if only all the other photos were of similar high quality (some are just a little washed out and lack sharpness), this would be a remarkable new book. This has long been a problem in Japanese gardening books (and other books as well), where it’s not uncommon to find truly inferior photos of superior gardens (this book’s photos don’t fall into that truly inferior group and it’s my guess that many people would never notice that some aren’t tip top; it’s just when you’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of garden books, you’re eye gets a bit more critical).

Otherwise, there’s a lot to like about this handsome introduction to many of Japan’s best known and least known gardens (some of which don’t appear in any other books), and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any garden enthusiast. Hardcover – 9″ x 8″ – 144 pages with 150 color photos. Cover price 24.95. Now at Stone Lantern for only 19.95.

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Delightful Points of Color & More…

There’s much to say about this magnificent tree: First the gem-like male pine cones that cover much of the tree add delightful points of color; and they go perfectly with the well-chosen (and beautifully cleaned up) pot. Then there’s the way the undulating twin trunks harmonize so well; one slanting style and one semi-cascading style. You might also notice that there isn’t much in the way of counter-balancing branching, yet the whole planting seems stable. I think this is mostly due to the weight of the pot and mounded soil, and also to the anchoring effect of the gnarly nebari (exposed roots at the base of the trunk). Finally, the preparation of the scene (including the sweet little companion) and the high-quality photo don’t hurt at all. This photo and many other great photos appear on Piotr Czerniachowski’s facebook pages. The caption says “This bonsai was qualified for the exhibition Noelanders Trophy 2012, Pinus for sale — with Paolo Mariotti.“

 

Sometimes photos just seem to appear on my desktop without any reference. This is the case here, so my apologies for failure to attribute this multi-hued Satsuki to its rightful owner.
One thing you might notice is how the photo was taken to emphasis the flowers, rather than the tree. If you were to take a photo of this tree when it’s not in flower, you’d take it a from a point a little lower in order to emphasis the powerful trunk and nebari.

 

Bonsai bathing in the mist. Ryan Neil’s International Bonsai Mirai has a new website and this is just one of a many attractive (in the literal sense of word, ie attracts one to the object) photos that you’ll find there. Speaking of being attracted, I’m very much looking forward to my first visit next year.

A piece of the cover page of our new 2013 Japanese Bonsai Caleandar.

 

As you may know, Europe is very fertile ground when it comes to bonsai. Here’s your link.

 

This excellent bonsai illustration was sent to us by our friend Pongsatorn Kanthaboon.

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Not Crazy, Dug from the Garden, Abette Rosso, Vampire Suiseki & Small Bonsai Lovers

Fluidity, power and so well groomed. If you’re in that “I don’t like that highly styled look” group, then you’re probably not crazy about this tree. For me, beauty isn’t restricted to a style or concept, so no problem (though you’d never see a tree in nature that looks like this). It’s was posted on facebook by Minoru Akiyama, one of Japan’s many outstanding bonsai artists. Now for the guessing part: Shimpaku juniper (too easy).

 

This is what can happen when good stock ends up in talented hands. Mario Komsta has an excellent series of photos on facebook that shows how he got to this beauty from a very rough looking Juniper that was dug from the garden. The grafted on foliage looks like Shimpaku. The original plant had very rough foliage that look liked San Jose juniper or maybe Prostrata. Here’s Mario’s caption “pot is ready as well but needs to wait till spring and this left skinny jin is bothering me a lot, cut it?”


In a post titled Lavori in Corso, Michele Andolfo calls this tree a Abete rosso. This translates as Red spruce (Picea rubens), which is one of three spruce varieties that grow in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada. I don’t remember having ever seen a Red spruce bonsai (this could come back at me), and am pretty sure that I’ve never seen one this magnificent. The illustrations below show how this design was arrived at.

We don’t feature suiseki very often here, but just couldn’t pass on this one. It’s called Vampire and was posted by Hirotoshi Ito on facebook.

If you’re a small bonsai lover (a little ambiguity for you), here’s something you might want to put on you calendar.

 

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A Simple & Elegant Solution

Museum worthy. A bevy of sweet succulents has found the perfect nest in this colorful ceramic art by Horst Heinzlreiter.

It’s Horst (of course)
Choosing the right pot for the right tree (or non-tree plantings in this case) is critical if you want first-rate art, bonsai or otherwise. All the pots and plantings in this post are by Horst Heinzlreiter. We’ve featured Horst’s pots before and, will no doubt feature them again. They are simply too unique and too beautiful to pass up.

The simple solution
If you own a striking bonsai pot and your bonsai talent or enthusiasm is a little low, maybe the plantings in these photos will provide some inspiration to help solve your problem. Or, if your bonsai talent and enthusiasm are not so low, there’s nothing like a good pot to work with.

There’s more where these came from
If you’d like to see more of Horst’s pots (and there are plenty to see) you can check him out on facebook, or you can visit his website.

 

Outrageous (in the positive sense) comes to mind we I see this strong display of color, shape and texture.

 

This sweet little planting is called a Kusamono. It can stand alone as an art in itself or as a companion to a bonsai.

 

Another great sample from Horst’s vast collection of artfully crafted pots. Though you don’t usually think of displaying an empty bonsai pot, this one, like most of Hort’s pots, can stand as art just as it is.

More of Hort’s pots can be found here.

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Random Shots

I believe this photo came from Certre, though I don’t know who the artist is. In any case, it’s a powerful full cascade with a strong trunk, good movement and great pot.

I’m traveling again and pressed for time, so I’ll make it brief. I pulled the photos for this post from a couple old folders of random shots. Unfortunately, some are poorly labeled and I’ve forgotten where they came from. Maybe someone out there can help with identification.

 

This delightfully showy maverick is labeled Empirreken (nothing turned up on google). Lot’s of time and no small amount of expertise went into styling and growing this azalea; it’s no mean feat to get so much action toward the tip of a long cascade.

 

I suspect this informal upright with its long left arm is from Taiwan, but can’t say for sure. What I can say is; it’s a very sweet bonsai. I’m going to guess that it’s a Sageretia. But then, my guesses are often wrong.

 

Mr. Gede Merta strikes again. We know where this one is from. I’ll guess it’s a Pemphis acidula. I don’t have to guess about what my eyes are telling me… another great bonsai from an artist who we been featuring a lot lately.

 

It’s hard to not like wisteria flowers and this one provides a pretty good testimonial on their behalf. I believe that’s Boon’s house and I’m guessing he took the photo. In any case, I’m just a little jealous… we can’t even grow wisterias here in norther Vermont (but then, our hills are lovely this time of year and we can grow larches).

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Keeping It Clean

A night photo of a Shimpaku from Peter Tea’s latest post. Apologies for the missing half of the pot. Peter’s original photo that shows the whole pot is below.

We been featuring excerpts from Peter Tea’s Journey of a Bonsai Apprentice at Aichi-en Bonsai Nursery, Japan, for a while now. Peter is in his second year now, and the quality of his work, the range of topics he explores and his informative, easy-to-read writing style make for one of the very best bonsai blogs on the planet.

I think Peter’s latest post is particularly good. Not only is the tree quite distinctive, with it’s fractured-at-the-base shari and easy to look at, with its graceful, fluid movement, but the detail and clarity of the information presented on cleaning up and styling Shimpaku is some of the best you’ll find. Best of all, you can easily apply what you glean from Peter to any Shimpaku, and really, to almost any  juniper (especially junipers with scale-type foliage).

 

One of many simple and instructive photos (supported by equally simple and instructive text) that Peter provides. In his own words “Here we removed some of the green branches. Now that some of the competition is gone, these kept branches will start to extend faster than if we left all the green.”

 

Another example. “Lets say that the branch is too long and I want to develop a new terminal end. Now is a time I can cut the terminal end off and pick a new leader. By doing this, we also help develop taper in the branches. So now it’s not just about length and having lots of branches, we need to have taper as well.  Cutting back is how we achieve that in Bonsai.”


This is what the old Shimpaku looked like before Peter takes it on.

 

The uncropped after photo. You can see more excellent photos and informative text on Peter’s blog.

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