Bonsai Bazaar!

Photo by Peter Tea. From Sam & KJ’s Suiseki blog. Apologies to Peter for a little cropping at the bottom.

The Green Club market
There’s more to Kokufu (Japan’s most famous bonsai show) than just the best bonsai exhibition in the world. There’s also the Green Club market; which has to be the best bonsai market in the world (if you know of a better one, please correct me). These photos offer a small taste. For the full meal, you’ll have to visit Japan.

Wanna buy a bonsai with a little potential? Photo from the Ineternet Bonsai Club, by William Feldman.

Bonsai abundance and they’re for sale, including this humble little tree. Photo by Uli Ernst (from facebook).

Not exactly a little starter plant. Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t make out the price. Photo by Uli Ernst (from facebook).

A lot of pots and suiseki are also featured. Photo by Peter Tea. From Sam & KJ’s Suiseki blog.

The tip of the iceberg (but you get the drift). The six photos shown here represent but a tiny fraction of the Green Club market. Photo from the Ineternet Bonsai Club, by William Feldman.

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Becoming a Bonsai

A good reason to visit the National Bonsai and Penjing Musem? Maybe. But whatever your reason, it’s always a trip worth making.

Don’t read this post
What follows is way more polemic (and wordy) than any of my hundreds of previous posts (a rough night’s sleep is my excuse) and besides, I love the people at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum and am loath to offend them. Still, the anti-diplomat in my nature insists on speaking his mind (always a dangerous thing).

An American tradition: bonsai from ordinary nursery stock
Mr. Aarin Packard, Assistant Curator of Collections at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, has created an interesting display titled ‘Becoming a Bonsai.’ Though I am big fan of the Museum and the folks at the National Bonsai Foundation who work with love and devotion to create and preserve a world class museum, and the display is professional, attractive, well laid out, easy to follow and altogether well done, still there are issues that a display of this type brings up.

Is it really how they do that?
I don’t think this is intentional, but even though the poster above purports to answer the question ‘How do they do that?’ the bonsai-from-nursery-stock approach has very little to do with how the bonsai at the museum (or pretty much any quality bonsai) comes into being (this may be an overstatement, as some of the techniques mentioned do apply to most bonsai, but I’ll stick to my guns).

Continue reading Becoming a Bonsai

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Quiet Dignity

This Cryptomeria japonica is reminisent of the unimaginably vast and towering Giant sequoias in California’s Sierra Nevadas. This effect could be enhanced by photographing it from a little lower (see the photo below), but you still get the drift.

Far and few between
What a great tree. It’s from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. You seldom see a real good formal upright bonsai (you don’t see very many formal uprights at all) and you don’t see many good Cryptomeria bonsai either. Especially in the West; they are more common in Japan (their common name in English is Japanese cedar, even though they’re not really cedars; they are from Japan however).

In Michael’s own words
“This cryptomeria was one of the standout trees in Boon’s backyard when I studied with him ten years ago. He’s been maintaining it for years. It was originally styled by Mitsuya during one of his visits to the states in the early ’90?s, and is the most significant cryptomeria I’ve seen in the United States. It’s about a meter tall, and has been developing as a bonsai for about twenty years….” For the whole story, visit Crataegus Bonsai.

Another dignified formal upright. The one is a legendary Japanese white pine (perhaps the most famous formal upright bonsai in the world). If was restyled by Masahiko Kimura (The Magician) just before this photo was taken in 1997. It appears in our book: Pines, Growing and Styling Japanese Black and White Pines, which is recently back in print and is available at Stone Lantern.

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Still the Best Bonsai Show

Not a prize winner, but still a mind stopper. Here’s what Bill Valavanis has to say about this remarkable quince: “An unusual cultivar of Japanese flowering quince. This is NOT the Toyo Nishiki cultivar, but rather ‘Takane Nishiki’. Beautiful flowers, unusual container, but I personally do not like the design of the bonsai, so enjoyed the blossoms.”

Bill does Kokufu
I don’t know why we didn’t feature this earlier; it’s one of the most interesting pieces of bonsai news I’ve seen for a while. It’s by Bill Valavanis, from his visit earlier this year to the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition in Tokyo, still the best bonsai show in the world (these days with the quality of bonsai throughout the world going up every year, that’s saying something). You can find Bill’s whole story (with comments) on the Internet Bonsai Club site. Meanwhile, here’s a little teaser.

An American in Tokyo. Sargents juniper displayed by Doug Paul of Pennsylvania (The Kennett Collection). You don’t see many American exhibitors at Kokufu; this is the second that I know of and both are Doug. The other, a hemlock, was purchased in Japan from Isao Omachi (BTW: Isao lost his entire bonsai collection and his house in the tsunami). I imagine this one was also purchased in Japan, and like the hemlock may have stayed there until the show.

FYI: The Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition is sponsored by Nippon Bonsai Association, the publisher of Classic Bonsai of Japan (retail 85.00, Stone Lantern’s price 63.75).

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Bonsai Hot Bed & Bonsai Winners

First place 2011 Certre International Online Bonsai Awards. Taxus Bacata by Stefano Frisoni of Italy. This photo was taken at the Bonsai in the Bluegrass Symposium in Louisville KY.

Italian sweep
Is it surprising that the last three year’s winners of the Certre International Online Bonsai Awards have been from Italy and that Certre is an Italian company? Maybe, but these are great trees nevertheless and Italy is a hot bed of top tier bonsai. And BTW, the previous two years winners (2008 and 2007) weren’t Italian.

First place 2010 Certre International Online Bonsai Awards. Juniperus Phoenicea by Enrico Savini of Italy.

First place 2009 Certre International Online Bonsai Awards. Juniperus Chinensis “Itoi-Gawa” also by Enrico Savini of Italy.

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Our Pine Book Is Here – Finally!

One of dozens of world class trees featured in our pine book. Which, by-the-way has just arrived. Better late than never.

A little gift for those of you who have been waiting
It ain’t much, but we’d like to offer each of you who pre-ordered our Pine book (before July 1st) a $5.00 discount on your next order. Just put in the comments that you pre-ordered our Pine book. Your discount won’t show up when you check out, but we’ll adjust it on this end. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience and understanding. It’s been a long strange journey (see below).

If you haven’t ordered yours yet…
… now’s the time. We’ve decided to extend the discounted price (retail 29.95, discounted price 24.95). It’s worth every penny many time over.

Candle pinching. An essential needle reduction and energy balancing technique for almost any type of pine.

Elegance. Bunjin Japanese white pine.

Wanna grow some black pines from seed? Here’s a few steps from the only source you’ll ever need.

It’s our story and I’m sticking to it
First it was scheduled for April. Then May. Then June. Then July. Then Tuesday this week. Then Thursday. Finally, Friday at 4pm. 5,000 pounds of books come wheeling in with one tired old driver and a lift gate that’s too small for the oversized pallets (sometimes it’s like that). On this end, it’s just me (I couldn’t go home; I live here). After machinating for about an hour we decide to off-load by hand. Just two old dudes and 5,000 pounds of pine books. The final insult (I hope!) in a long, strange and sometimes frustrating process. Turns out, it was almost fun.

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Robert Steven Critique: From Very Good to Even Better

After. Robert Steven’s simulation of Pemphis that was submitted by Soni. The before photo is below.

Before you read any further…
…take a look at the two photos and see if you can spot what’s different.

Soni’s original. Not too much to improve, though I think it would look better if the residue on the pot was removed.

In Robert’s own words

All the features of this tree look perfect, but overall it does not look very natural due to the neatly shaped round canopy.

There are two main factors that make a bonsai look natural: the ramification (branch structure) and the canopy shape. The better the ramification structure you can show on a bonsai, the more natural it will look. If you shape the canopy in more irregular form with sufficient spaces here and there, the bonsai will also look more natural.

That’s why when you look at a bonsai with a canopy that is too refined, without some open spaces, it will look artificial; too decorative rather than portraying a big tree in nature. The reason is, if you look at a tree in nature, no matter how dense the foliage is, there is always contour on the foliage surface with spaces here and there. Only a tree seen from a very long distance does not show the detailed contour, but shows only the silhouette instead. So, if you combine an illusion of long distance when it comes to the foliage, with other physical features which show close up details (the trunk with the bark for example), it doesn’t match and our sub-conscious rejects it. It simply isn’t perceived as a natural tree.

But, this doesn’t mean that you should exactly copy the way a tree looks like in nature with messy, sloppy and unrefined foliage to suggest a natural look. This has no value for bonsai as an art form. Instead, what you need is to refine is the foliage edges and ramification structure, and to create sufficient contour and spaces, avoiding foliage that is too neat and without contour.

The simulated picture (at the top) shows how changing the foliage by adding spaces give a much more natural look.

General comments
There is more than one way to design any bonsai and my critiques and recommended solutions might not always fit your taste and personal preferences, but I always try to give my opinion based on artistic and horticultural principles.

To understand my concepts better, please read my books Vision of My Soul and Mission of Transformation which are available at Stone Lantern.

You can also visit my bonsai blog.

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Tropical Bonsai & Summer Sales Galore

Sweet tree, great pot. From Pedro J. Morales’s Wall Photos on facebook (for non-facebookers, here’s Pedro’s website). Pedro says that it’s a shohin size bonsai from his cousin Carlos C. Morales. The pot is Japanese. Glen Lord suggests that the tree is a type of Ixora.

You don’t have to live in the tropics…
… to grow tropical bonsai (but it helps). At this moment, we might as well be in the tropics here in northern Vermont. Last night it rained so hard that torrentially is an understatement, and today it’s nasty hot and muggy. Still, it’s nothing like the tropics, where tropical bonsai really grow, rather than just survive eight months indoors.

Summer Sales
Bonsai Today magazines: 60% off the price that shows on our website
Stainless Japanese bonsai shears and other stainless cutting tools have all been deeply discounted
Embroidered Bonsai T-shirts: an additional 10% off the price that shows on our website
Netsuke Japanese figurines: new astoundingly low prices
Kenzans (flower frogs): 25% off the price that shows on our website
100 gram Bonsai Aesthetics wire now 1.90 per roll
Hundreds of other items, almost all discounted

Also from Pedro’s facebook photos. All it says is: Display Ganador (winning display) VIVA PUERTO RICO!!!!!

This cascade is from Pedro’s website. My apologies for cutting off the base of the stand (it’s a long story).

Tropical style tokonoma. Also from Pedro’s wall photos. Tokonoma is a Japanese word that means ‘display alcove.’

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Is All Forgiven? Well… Not Quite

Is all forgiven when a bonsai flowers? In this case, after the brilliant white dazzle (with soft touches of pink and yellow), there’s the strong trunk with a nice flaring base. But still, my eye keeps going back to the scar and the messy little stuff underneath it, and the somewhat clunky pot. Is it just me? From Jose Pañeda’s Photos – mis bonsáis.

Those magical few days…
I remember the first time I saw a what I thought was a so-so bonsai displaying gorgeous flowers. It was in Bonsai Today (long before I became the publisher) and the photo was from Japan. After some puzzling, it became apparent that the tree had been styled to display the flowers. Everything else was secondary. So secondary, that I imagine the tree would find a home out of sight on a back bench somewhere for most of its life. Except for those few days or weeks of magic each year, when the flowers appeared.

Gorgeous flowers, okay tree. This Camelia appears on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 66. Without the flowers, you’d probably never see it in the pages of a quality magazine, let alone on the cover.

Gorgeous flowers, excellent tree; the best of all possible worlds. No need to hide this gnarly old Ume on a back bench when the flowers are gone. This photo which appeared in an earlier post on Bonsai Bark, is from the Bonsai Guest House in Osaka Japan.

Absolutely unforgiven. This mess is from a commercial site (not worthy of link). It can be yours for only $150. No shame.

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Strange & Wonderful Bonsai

A little perspective on a very tiny tree. I’m not crazy about most Chinese figurines (at least the commercial ones you usually see), but this contemplative man is pretty good. This and all the other photos in this post are borrowed from The Art of Bonsai Project.

The Bonsai of Lam Ngoc Vinh
Every once in a while you come across an artist who takes their work (play) in a genuinely fresh and new direction. To this old eye, it looks like Lam Ngoc Vinh is one of those rare artists. If you agree (or even if you don’t) and you’d like to see more, you can visit the The Art of Bonsai Project feature gallery.

This ficus is a little more conventional than the scene above. Or is it? No figurines for sure, but have you even seen five trunks that mirror each other quite like these do?

A couple questions. Have you ever seen shari (trunk deadwood) quite like this? And, where’s the soil? Not to mention (but to mention) the excellent overall shape of the tree.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all. This compelling strong man and his captured treasure are part of a larger scene (below).

There’s no perspective here, but you might surmise that these are some pretty small bonsai.

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