Revisiting a Famous Old Pine

This photo of a very famous old Japanese white pine is from Michael Bonsai. It was taken at the U.S. National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

There are at least two things that stand out about this remarkable old tree. First, is its sheer magnitude. It’s hard to tell from photos, but the size of this tree is overwhelming (don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself). Second is the tree’s story…

Hiroshima Survivor
Thursday, March 8, 2001 was anything but a typical day at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. That morning two Japanese brothers landed at Dulles International Airport and, after checking into their hotel, headed straight to the Museum. Shigeru Yamaki, 21 years old, and his brother, Akira, 20, are the grandsons of the late bonsai master Masaru Yamaki, who in 1976 donated one of his most prized bonsai as part of Japan’s Bicentennial gift to the American people.

When the brothers arrived at the Museum, they approached one of the volunteers on duty that day, Yoshiko Tucker, asking her in Japanese for directions to where their grandfather’s bonsai might be found. Yoshiko and another volunteer, Michiko Hansen, quickly alerted Curator Warren Hill that important visitors had arrived. Warren then greeted the brothers and guided them to the magnificent Yamaki bonsai.

This Japanese white pine (Pinus parvifolia) is approximately 375 years old, and is the oldest specimen in the Japanese Bonsai Collection. Masaru Yamaki had made the gift of this bonsai before the brothers were born and so they had never seen it, although they were very familiar with it through photographs and family stories. As they stood respectfully in front of their grandfather’s ancient bonsai, Warren could not imagine the bonsai’s hidden past that was about to be revealed to him… you can enjoy the rest of the story and some remarkale old photos here.

Without anything to contrast to, it’s difficult to appreciate the magnitude of this tree. Photo courtesy of Michael Bonsai.

Ditto.

An earlier photo from the Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s website. You might notice that the crown is more open here than in the recent photos by Michael Bonsai. Though the fuller and seemingly larger crown in the more recent photos is magnificent and I’m not sure I’d change anything about it, still, this more open, lighter crown creates a nice sense of balance and proportion and tends to emphasize the massive trunk. We featured this photo and the other older photos above in two posts in early 2009 (here and here).

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Tony Tickle’s ‘The Calligrapher’

The Calligrapher. You don’t need anything but your eyes and a little imagination to appreciate the the story of this remarkable little Yew’s (Taxus baccata) time spent on a remote rocky outcropping somewhere in England. But then there’s the story of the time it spent in Tony Tickle’s bonsai collection, where, instead of rough weather and poor soil, it experience a human-caused series of dramatic changes. The result is a refreshing break with convention that evokes a sense of delight and a big question mark (part of the answer is here). BTW: I don’t usually say too much about people in this blog, but I can’t resist: I met Tony Tickle in Spain a few years back and, in addition to being a first rate bonsai artist, he is in possession of a first rate sense of humor.

Tony and his Yew back in the days when he thought it was a full cascade. It’s what’s underground that caused his change of mind. A very good change indeed.

Viva Mexico! I’m not sure this has too much to do with Tony Tickle, except that I seem to remember that Tony taught in Mexico and that it’s all about bonsai.

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A Boon to Bonsai

From chuhin to shohin. I have a soft spot for stubby little trees. Especially ones with reams of character like this European olive that was originally a stump dug from Boon Manakitivipart’s garden.

Bonsai Boon
Boon Manakitivipart is without doubt one of North America’s most influential bonsai artists and teachers. Several of his students have become important artists and teachers in their own right, and countless trees of Boon’s and his students’ have appeared on this blog, in magazines and books and elsewhere on the web.

All of the photos in this posts (except the very last one) are from a recent workshop that Boon hosted. It’s my impression that all of these trees were worked on by Boon’s students.

Another short, sweet and muscular little tree. This one is a Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia).

At the risk of being a little too esoteric (or just getting carried away), this Satsuki azalea’s trunk reminds me of some of Antoni Gaudi’s sculptural architecture that graces the great city of Barcelona.

Is this a Shimpaku grafted onto a California juniper? Whatever it is, there’s an abundance of power and movement and a counter-balancing feeling of graceful simplicity that I like a lot (it’s a good thing most of you just look at the pictures). There’s another photo (also from Boon’s workshop) of Janet Roth working on this tree that says, Janet is working on her show tree for Jan 2014 show. Yes 2014. ‘Born in the USA’

Yes, this is the same Sierra juniper that appeared on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 108 (our famous last issue). The first branch has been shortened, and there’s more foliage peeking out to the left of the trunk, but otherwise, it hasn’t changed very much.

The photo that was used for the cover of Bonsai Today issue 108.

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World’s Largest Bonsai? At Least for a Moment.

An old oak in transit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the perfect photo from a bonsai point-of-view. But then, viewing this tree as a bonsai is just an excuse for sharing a great story about saving a venerable tree.

World’s largest bonsai?
If you can call a large wooden box a pot (the shape and proportions are pretty good), then you could call this massive old tree a bonsai. For a while at least. Now it’s safely back in the ground (field growing, as we like to say).

This now somewhat famous tree is called the Ghirardi Compton Oak. It has resided in League City, Texas for 100 plus years, and still resides there, albeit, 1500 feet from it’s old home. Rather than saying much more here, I’ll just show you a few photos, thank Michael Markoff for the hot tip and encourage you to check out this excellent video. If these photos and the video aren’t enough, try this article, and if you’re still curious after that, you can explore this page full of leads.

Nice nebari, trunk and lower branches. This photo and the last two (below) are the only shots that I didn’t lift straight from the video (thus the clarity).

Anther good nebari shot.

Don’t forget to water! Beyond the obvious, like watering, the amount of care that went into moving and reestablishing this tree is truly remarkable.

A close up of the pot.

Thriving in its new home. As you can see, and as expected, it dropped a lot of leaves in response to the stress. The good news is that a new crop of leaves have taken their place.

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What a Difference a Day Makes

Large juniper that was styled by Michael Hagedorn in 2007. Though it looks like a Juniperus chinensis, the variety is unidentified. This photo and the before photo (below) are from Michael’s Crataegus Bonsai.

What a difference five hours makes
Michael Hagedorn restyled this monster juniper in five hours, and though I guess that doesn’t really qualify as a whole day, still, we’ll stick with ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’ (ask your grandparents). The operation took place at Miami Tropical Bonsai in 2007 and was captured on a video that you can watch on youtube.

Artisans Cup
I found the links to Michael’s post on this tree and the video on the Artisans Cup blog. If you don’t know about the Artisans Cup yet, it’s time to become educated. It’s going to be at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum, October 4-6 (you can mark it on your new Stone Lantern 2013 Bonsai Calendar).

Before. Right after it was delivered on a forklift.

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2013 Bonsai Calendars

Close-up of a section of the February page.

Just arrived
Our beautiful 2013 bonsai calendars have arrived from Japan. Now you can enjoy 26 world class specimen bonsai trees while you keep track of the date. 30″ x 14″ – 13 pages. We ran out last year, so don’t wait to order yours.

Cover page

Close-up of a section of the April page.

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The Finest of the Fine

This luminous Tensho Satsuki Azalea belongs to Joseph Noga of Winterville, NC. You can find it and the other photos in this post, in Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature.

The finest of the fine
It’s not that these are the finest bonsai in the world and it’s not that they aren’t either. It’s more the combination of top quality bonsai and top quality photography has resulted in some of the finest bonsai photos you’ll see anywhere. In this vein, it’s important to bear in mind that these digital images, though very good, are inadequate. For the full effect and for your complete enjoyment of this magical combination of subject and image, you need to see the book.

You don’t see too many twin-trunked trees with a sabamiki (hollowed trunk) where the two trunks join. It’s a Chinese hackberry (Celtis sinensis) that originally belonged to Ben Oki and now resides at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, Federal Way, WA.

This delightfully unusual Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) lives at the Kato family’s Mansei-en Bonsai Garden, Omiya Bonsai Village, Japan. Saburo Kato, the founder of Mansei-en was one of Japan’s most revered bonsai masters.

It’s not very often you see a bonsai photographed with a corner of the pot facing you. It looks like there’s a dowel holding up the jin at the top. I wonder if it broke in a storm or perhaps in an accident. The tree is a Sargent’s juniper (Juniperus chinensis, var Sargentii). It’s from The Magician’s (aka Masahiko Kimura) collection.

The cover of a truly remarkable work of art. Available at Stone Lantern.

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High & Wide: Min’s New Blog

After, but still in process. Collected Squamata juniper by Min Hsuan Lo.

Deep & wide
I was going to call this post Deep & Wide, due to the depth and breadth of Min Hsuan Lo’s work as reflected in his new blog. But Min’s spectacular photos of Jade Mountain prevailed in the end. Either way, I encourage you to take a look if you’d like to enjoy great photos and follow an excellent step-by-step journey through a restyling of a powerful old Sqaumata juniper.

Before. Vigorously growing stock with character provides a good starting point.

In process. A radical change. This is one of a series of step-by-step photos that Mr. Min provides in his new blog.

High and wide. Towering Jade Mountain, Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Min Hsuan Lo.

Another of Min Hsuan Lo’s trees. It’s from our Bonsai Bark archives.

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Floating Clouds, Around the Bonsai World, Before & After, Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

Floating clouds. Here’s an unusual tree for your enjoyment. Or, for your criticism if you feel the profusion of foliage pads is unnatural (given conventions these days, you might also say the pot is a little heavy, but I don’t think so). For me, it’s sheer delight. The tree belongs to Hsiu Yang, one of Taiwan’s many great bonsai artists.

Viva Mexico! Found this here. Was intrigued, but didn’t find any other links (Confederacion Mexicana de Artre Bonsai wasn’t current).

Here’s the Spanish: Expocisión Anual de Arte Bonsai en Coyoacan. 4 al 7 de Octubre de 2012. Ven con nosotros al Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares en Coyoacan Av. Hidalgo # 289, Colonia Del Carmen Coyoacan, Ciudad de México.

And here’s a stab at English: Annual Expostion of Bonsai Art in Coyoacan. October 4-7, 2012. Join us at the National Museum of Popular Cultures in Coyoacan Av. Noble # 289, Cologne Of The Carmen Coyoacan, Mexico City

Another Benavente Before and After (from facebook). Here’s David’s website.

Normally, it might not occur to you to visit Belgium in January…

… but how about Madrid in October?

Or, maybe India in November?

A little closer to home, the Artisans Cup is on Facebook (your guess is as good as mine)

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Pine Boom

The more I look at this tree, the more I like it. It’s a Japanese white pine by Susumo Sudo. Its rugged, naturally aged look (enhanced by the pot and ground cover) stands in perfect contrast to its simple, graceful lines. From our Masters’ Series Pine book.

Pine Boom?
As far as I know, there is no Pine Boom. I was trying to type Pine Book as a filler until a more suitable name for this post came to me. Then, viola, there it was; Pine Boom.

Anyway, I’m trying to pull myself to together to catch a plane, so, quickly, here are some pine bonsai for your enjoyment.

This gnarly old Mugo pine looks familiar, but can’t quite place it. I found it on a commercial website, whose name I won’t mention due to their failure to attribute this tree and the famous Walter Pall Scot’s pine below. Though it seems tacky to use photos of other people’s superior bonsai to help sell inferior trees, especially when the photos of the superior bonsai are unattributed and no permission was granted, these types of photos do turn up on stock photo sites, so I guess it’s open season.

Before and after Scot’s pine by David Benavente. You might notice the rebar in the after photo. If you’re familiar with David’s bonsai, you know that he has a penchant for using rebar to shape tough old wood.

Apologies for featuring Walter Pall’s famous Scot’s pine once again, but just in case you’re one of the three people who hasn’t seen it. This particular iteration of this oft photographed tree, appear on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 104.

I’ll leave you with this one to contemplate. I found it in Peter Ebensperger’s facebook photo.

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