It’s About the Flowers

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Bonsai Mike’s shohin pyracantha (firethorn).

Ordinary bonsai conventions don’t necessarily apply
The Japanese (and others) tend to design flowering bonsai to show off the flowers. Other considerations, like taper and branch placement, often take a back seat. So much so that many flowering trees are displayed only when flowering (and fruiting). They pass the rest of their time tucked away in some corner of the nursery.

A lot to like
Even though it breaks one of the primary conventions of bonsai (the first two branches are next to each other) the bonsai above is so sweet that you could show it anytime, with or without flowers and berries. However, because of the way it has been designed to produce and show off a profusion of flowers, it will always be at its very best when flowering or fruiting (clusters of red or orange berries will replace the flowers).

Speaking of bonsai conventions (rules or guidelines)

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Some of the World’s Best Bonsai Are Right Here

nbf1Winter display, from the Chinese collection at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington DC. Trident maple by Quinquan Zhao.

A trip well worth taking
We’ve been encouraging people to visit our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum for a long time (way back to the days when we published Bonsai Today). We’ll keep doing it until you go visit (if you’ve already been, tell your friends). It’s worth the trip and you can drop by the Smithsonian while you’re at it. Or the Lincoln Memorial. Or…

A borrowed shot to whet your appetite
The photo above is from the Museum’s 2010 calendar. To see more, visit us on facebook.

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A Very Short Apprenticeship with Mr Fukano

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There are few flowers in the world as pure as the quince flower. This one is from Mr. Shigero Fukano’s bonsai nursery (Yorozu-en) in Kawaguchi Japan. This photo, and the next photo are by Michelle Dougherty.

Michelle’s most excellent week
I just stumbled upon a great post by Michelle at Bunjin Journal. It’s about her one week visit (not what you would call a full apprenticeship, but still…) with Shigero Fukano at his nursery in Japan in February, 2009 . Michelle’s story is both personal and highly informative, but rather than bore you with my take on her take, I’ll just show you a few photos and encourage you to visit Bunjin Journal for the full story.

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Every bonsai nursery I’ve ever visited has flats of pots laying around. In that sense I guess this photo isn’t unique to Yarozu-en. Still, I like it and wouldn’t mind having a few (all) of the pots in my collection.

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Hands on. That’s Michelle’s blond head, about which she says: “I think having a foreign, blond woman working in the shop may be good for business, and everyone is being extremely nice to me (probably because I will only be here a week and I’m not a real apprentice…)” Photo is by Mrs. Fukano.


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Million Dollar Bonsai

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If you believe everything you read online, then the price tag on this tree is 1.2 million dollars. Of course that price doesn’t necessarily mean that much, anyone can ask anything for any item. The actual selling price would be more interesting; then we’d know that the tree was worth a certain price to at least one person. The photo is from Bonsai Madness on facebook. The copy says that the tree (I’m guessing it’s a ficus) is more than 200 years old and was cultivated during the Nguyen Dynasty rulers of Vietnam.

Our million dollar contest
Speaking of millions of dollars, we have a new contest: the first person to buy one million dollars worth of the items we offer, wins our company. This includes inventory, house, office, warehouse, field grown stock and eight beautiful acres.

Speaking of contests…
…. we haven’t had one for a long time. Stay posted….

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Coming soon. We expect our shipment in the next couple weeks. Stay posted for info on pre-ordering.


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Now Back (It’s No Secret)

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Bonsai Secrets by Peter Chan is back in print, new cover, excellent contents, and all.

Perfect for beginning to intermediate enthusiasts
Bonsai Secrets covers pretty much all of the ground you would expect in a beginner’s book, as well as some more advanced ground (well, advanced from the beginner’s point of view), like: creating good taper, field-growing techniques, rock planting, displaying and exhibiting, creating jin & shari, air-layering, wabi sabi in bonsai design and more.

And the timing is perfect
Beginner’s books have been dropping like the oak leaves that cover my front yard. Simon & Schuster is gone, Pocket Bonsai is gone, Choosing and Growing Bonsai is gone, Grow Your Own Bonsai is gone, and… well, you get the drift.

C2011front2011 Japanese Bonsai Calendar. Okay, it’s a little expensive (the dollar isn’t all that strong, paper has gone up and so has freight from Japan), and your shipping costs are a little high (our system works for most items but lightweight items that are shipped alone are a little steep). However, if you order yours along with other items (almost all our items are on special), the shipping rates work better, and, if you order is over $50 you get another discount. Not bad after all.

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Another Trident: More Fall Color

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This monster Trident maple has it all; massive trunk, fluid natural looking nebari (some maple nebari seem overdone), good lines, perfect pot, healthy green moss, everything (you might question the placement in the pot). The artist is German Gomez.

They’re popping up everywhere
A few days ago we featured a very impressive but unattributed tree that we found on facebook. Turns out that it belongs to German Gomez, of Medi Bonsai in Valencia, Spain (thanks to Pedro Paes), as does the tree featured here. When I first visited German’s website I was amazed that I hadn’t heard of him. But that’s the way it is these days; accomplished bonsai artists are popping up everywhere.

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Same tree with fall color and fertilizer cakes. We featured a world class Trident in fall color not long ago. It was unattributed on facebook (this happens a lot), but turns out to be by Walter Pall. BTW: my apologies to Mister Pall for surmising (in print) that his tree was photoshopped. Al Polito suggested that the tree was shot during the ‘golden hours’ and thus the yellowish/gold hue that I was sure was the result of ‘shopping.’

Our 2011 Bonsai Calendars from Japan are in.

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Bonsai the Natural Way and the Hand of Man

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My best guess is that this powerful old tree is a needle juniper (Juniperus rigida), though I can’t be sure. Whatever it is, it seems to posses an extraordinary number of separate live veins and a massive amount of deadwood to boot. It’s from Gyozan Nakano, Sakai: A 35 Year Anthology (not available in English).

Nature and the hand of man
Though the tree above is quite powerful and leagues above most bonsai, still, you might fine the busyness around its base (and other places) a little distracting. I’m not sure I’d do anything about it, as attempts to improve on the work of natural forces that took hundreds of years shouldn’t be done lightly. But then, the hand of man is obvious in this tree (and most bonsai) and it’s almost certain that the deadwood has been refined.

Dan Robinson’s bonsai
Speaking of the hand of man, Dan Robinson’s bonsai (Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees) may be the best example around of trees that appear almost completely natural and uncontrived.

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This Mountain hemlock expresses Dan Robinson’s respect for how nature does it. Not that he doesn’t add his touch; he does, but it’s masterful and not at all obvious. Photo is from Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees, by Will Hiltz.

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Rules of Bonsai?

155536_1454180882904_1484765944_30923218_649638_nThough I don’t think this has much to do with ‘rules of bonsai,’ I like a well done bonsai drawing and this one qualifies. I found it here. The post is titled ‘?5º Workshop Bonsai Morro Velho.’

Rules or guidelines?
I agree with Brent Walston when he says rules is probably the worst word (below).  I would scrap it and just use guidelines.

Anyway whatever word you like, I thought you might find this useful, or interesting, maybe even interesting enough to provoke a comment and start a discussion. I found it on Bonsai Chat Room. It was posted by Irene Britton.

The ‘Rules’ of Bonsai

by Brent Walston

Introduction

As in all arts, bonsai usually conforms to a set of conventions, guidelines, or ‘rules’. Rules is probably the worst word of the three to describe what most artists do to create bonsai, but it is the word that most people use. These rules are not cast in stone and are frequently broken as the situation demands, but they are excellent guidelines for the creation of beautiful bonsai, and are invaluable to persons learning bonsai. They simplify what otherwise would be a bewildering set of decisions.

Continue reading Rules of Bonsai?

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The Attribution Question

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This is a wonderful tree and the presentation is quite good (though it is difficult to make out the companion plant and some of the details on the main tree). I think it might be a hornbeam. It’s from Bonsaimania on facebook. All it says is: La foto de este bonsái pertenece al álbum de Jordi Escaler (The photo belongs to Jordi Escaler’s album). Do you think this tree belongs to Jordi? When I tried to follow the link provided, ‘content unavailable’ came up. When I searched Jordi Escaler bonsai, I struck out.

Attribution would be good, no?
Facebook and other web destinations are full of unattributed photos of bonsai. Often, what appears to be attribution is just a mention of whose album the photo comes from. At a glance, you might think the owner of the album is the artist (see the comments on our last post), but alas, as often as not (more often than not?) the person who puts up a tree is not the artist or the photographer. They simply found the photo somewhere, liked it, and put it up.

It’s legal, but…
As far as I know, posting photos without attribution doesn’t violate any copyright laws, nor does it seem to bother facebook (and other sites where photos are posted). However, would you like to see one of your trees posted by John Doe with a discussion of how great John’s bonsai is? It happens.

It’s not just that
Seeing your bonsai attributed to someone else can’t make you too happy. But, even beyond that, wouldn’t it be helpful to simply know who the artist is when a bonsai is posted? Too me this seems like a very basic piece of information. You know, just helping to keep things straight. Beyond that, it might even be useful… you could look up the artist and see what else he/she is up too, or you might want to discuss the tree with the artist, or even see about purchasing one of their trees (certainly a plus for the artist).

Worst of all…
I think perhaps some people enjoy misleading others into think a work of art is theirs, when it’s not (okay, maybe I’m a little paranoid on this one, but still…).

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Inspired by the Master

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I found this striking forest-on-a-cliff on facebook. It was posted by Dario Ascoli. It caught my attention for two reasons: first it stands on its own as decent bonsai with good potential for further development, and second, it is reminiscent of a famous Hinoki forest by Kimura (see below). Though I can’t find any information on this (who’s the artist etc), I’d wager that the trees are also Hinokis.

Mature trees vs young trees
Though comparisons are often odious (and unfair, especially when it’s with Kimura), still, older trees make for much more interesting forests. In this case, Kimura’s hinokis (below) are not only mature, but also expertly styled; each one in accord with its size and position in the forest.

Deadwood
Another distinctive feature on the Kimura forest is the use of deadwood. It adds a touch of age and a sense of the struggle that you might expect trees to experience on a steep rocky mountain side.

Expert spacing and pruning help too
The spacing on the forest above is pretty good considering how many trees there are, but it is still a little crowded. Perhaps with time and a little jinning and pruning, it will open up a bit. You can see the advantage to a more open look on the Kimura forest. The maturity and power of the individual trees stands out, much the way you might expect in a inhospitable mountain environment.

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This famous masterpiece hinoki forest is by Masahiko Kimura and is one of his favorites. The photo is by Morten Albek (author of Shohin Bonsai). It appears in The Magician: The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2.

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