Branching tips from Bonsai Today issue 107. It’s about Pomegranates, but is applicable to any plant with opposite leaves (as opposed to alternate leaves – Wikipedia has a good description of leaf arrangement).
Waiting for News
While we are waiting for photos from the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, thought you might like to see the National Award Masterpiece from the 1st Exhibition. It’s a Sargent’s juniper by Jim Gremel. You can find it and a host of other world class bonsai in the 2008, 1st National Exhibition’s Album. It is also featured on International Bonsai’s website.
Patiently waiting
Though we’ve heard some rumors, as of now, we have no official word from the 2010 Exhibition. It will be a while until the album is out, but I expect some news and a few photos to find there way out before then.
Speaking of waiting, there are only seven more days for our biggest sale ever
Over 500 items are discounted. Plus sizable double discounts on volume orders.
Suiseki & Satsuki
This stone speaks of Death Valley or some remote spot on the edge of the North African desert. It”s from the California Suiseki Society’s 15th Annual Show, via Bonsai Tonight.
A great debate?
I don’t think we’ve ever featured suiseki (viewing stones) on this blog. We used to feature them regularly in Bonsai Today, with occasional objections by some readers. I’ve always felt that suiseki is a natural with bonsai, so mixing in a few makes sense to me. Perhaps this is a Japanese influenced view, as it seems that you see suiseki and bonsai together with much greater frequency in Japan than in the West. Maybe this post will start a great debate on the subject (though I won’t hold my breath).
This still-in-training Satsuki azalea is also from Bonsai Tonight. It’s from The Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai’s 16th annual exhibit
Judging from the Digital Bench
You could win…
…or maybe just enjoy yourself in the process.
So far eighteen people have put on their judges robes. Join them and and enjoy some great photos and maybe, just maybe, win a gift certificate to Stone Lantern.
17th century Spanish judge in full gowns, by Velázquez.
Near Perfect in Every Regard…
We get so used to looking at exception bonsai that sometimes we stop really looking. For me, this bunjin style Japanese while pine (seven tree clump) on a slab, is near perfect in every regard. If you just look for a while, free from ideas about what it is or should be, then it has the power to transport you to someplace natural and free. From the cover of Bonsai Today issue 25.
I doubt if these shears have the same power to transport you as the bonsai above, but they will help you style your own trees. Now on special at Stone Lantern for $14.95 (marked down from $29.00).
Bonsai No Satori
From the cover of Bonsai No Satori, Chase and Solita Rosade’s new newsletter.
Send us your news
We are happy to post bonsai news from around the world. We get around sixteen thousand visits a month from pretty much everywhere. Some of these just might be interested in what you are doing. Send your info to: wayne@stonelantern.com
Our news (mostly larches)
I’m still digging larches (Larix laricina) and a few Northern white cedars (Thuja occidentalis). A friend of mine has a swampy area on his land that is full of larches. Nothing too old (the swamp was cleared about fifteen years ago), but nevertheless some excellent stuff with great potential that I’ve been planting here and growing on. On an earlier post, I promised that I’d be selling some this year, but now I think I’ll wait another year or two. Some look pretty good, but they grow fast here and will look much better later. No good photos yet, but I’ll post some pretty soon just to whet your appetite.
Big discounts at Stone Lantern
Several people have asked how we can afford to give such large discounts. With books, we are both publishers and distributors, so our costs are pretty low. With tools, we import directly from Japan and China, so the same thing applies. Still, many of our items are discounted to just above our cost. This is good for you and helps to keep the ball rolling here.
Bonsai by the Thousands
Talk about maximizing space. This photo is from somewhere in Japan via BonsaiNet on facebook.
If it weren’t the guy on the right, you might think we’re somewhere in the 19th century. This one, also from BonsaiNet, has a caption: Kanuma & Abe bonsai nurseries.
Japanese Slab Forest & Other Issues
This illustrious forest is from Bonsai Today issue 23. Among other things, it shows how one very strong tree can add drama and power to a forest planting. Though the original doesn’t say, I’ll guess that it’s by Saburo Kato (Japan’s most revered bonsai artist) and that the trees are Ezo spruce.
Other treasures like this
Most of the content in Bonsai Today magazine is from the old Japanese masters, and even though there is much to be excited about in contemporary Western bonsai, you would be hard pressed to find a forest with this level of refined precision anywhere outside Japan. Even the ferns and other little plants that make up the forest floor seem to be in scale.
More where this came from
We just put up some more rare old out-of-print issues of Bonsai Today that we have been buying back from people over the years.
Rock Plantings
This Trident maple root-over-rock is from Bonsai Today issue 24 (a special issue devoted to rock planting).
Root-over vs root-on
Root-over-rock is where the roots grow over the rock and down into soil below. Root-on-rock is where the roots grow in a soil pocket (or soil pockets) in the rock (see below).
A Black pine in the root-on-rock style. The way the tree is growing to the right serves to balance the part of the rock that thrusts out to the left. From Bonsai Today issue 24 (all of the photos in this post are from issue 24). Issue 24, like almost all of the earlier issues, is long out-of-print. However, we have been buying back rare old out-of-print issues for sometime and are now offering them on Stone Lantern.
Old School? New School? Or Just Lazy?
I found this monster on facebook. It was posted by Miano Vito. Actually, the photo I found is below; this is my cropped version.
A few questions, but nothing personal
1. Cigarette pack? I think this method for revealing scale originated in Japan back in the neolithic era.
2. Why didn’t he take five minutes to clean the filthy pot? Just lazy, or am I missing something?
3. Is this a Phoenix graft or the real thing? If it’s the real thing, then it is a true monster (in the positive sense). If it’s a Phoenix, it’s a minor monster (in the positive sense).
4. Why didn’t he crop it (see below for his uncropped mess)? Lazy again?
Uncropped version. Just the way it appears on facebook. Is this an intentional glimpse into the real Miano Vito? Am I just hopelessly old school when I think that all the clutter only distracts from the tree? Most people who know me (and profess to love me) would agree that I’m old school and hopeless, but do we really need to know Miano’s license plate number?