Unique Bonsai Contest: Entry #1 – Honeysuckle

Unique#1This little Boxleaf honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida) belongs to Ferry Freriks of the Netherlands. Though it has room for improvement, still it’s a decent example of what you can do with a well chosen nursery plant, a few tools and a little time (four years in this case). The pot, in Ferry’s words, is “cheap Chinese.”

A better pot
This tree is on it’s way to becoming a worthy shohin bonsai. One of the surest ways to speed up that process is to put it in a better pot. Something just over half as deep would make the strong little trunk appear even stronger and something a whole lot nicer would dramatically improve the overall effect (a bonsai is a tree AND a pot).

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Enjoy Life! Enter Our $100 Unique Bonsai Contest

miniitalian

I found this little gem on the giardinipiscine website while I was looking for something else (that’s one of the wonders of the web). It looks like an azalea of some sort, but it’s the size (or lack of it), not its ID, that gives it juice.

A bonsai in hand…
… might be worth a $100 gift certificate from Stone Lantern.

It doesn’t have to be small…
… but, small enough to be held up by the fingers of one hand. The winner won’t necessarily be the smallest tree, but rather the tree that we feel is the most unique. Size could be a factor (like the one above) but doesn’t have to be.

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Green Workshop: Wiring a Young Tree

wirebeforeBefore: The wire has been applied and is ready to bend. The two illustrations in this post are from Bonsai Today issue 107, from an article entitled ‘Wiring a Young Tree.’

wireafterAfter.

A good place to start
Most beginning wiring instructions start with how to place wire and then move toward the actual uses of wiring. Our approach here is a little different: if you can see a simple result of the use of wire, you might be inspired to learn the basics (stay tuned).

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In Whose Eye? Eccentric Bonsai #2: Figurines

moose

Using figurines in tray plantings doesn’t necessarily qualify as eccentric; it’s common in Chinese (and other) penjing plantings. Perhaps it’s the type (you don’t see many moose in China) and especially the relative size of the figurine that makes this trident maple planting unusual. This photo is from an article by Randy Clark entitled ‘Bonsai & Figurines’ that originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 95. Randy Clark is the owner of the Bonsai Learning Center.

The Japanese seldom use them…
…. but the Chinese (and some others) often do. When it comes to figurines, basically its: penjing ‘yes’, Japanese bonsai ‘no,’ (the exception is very small figures used in some Japanese saikei) and Randy Clark’s ‘why not explore the issue?’ Most people I know are somewhere past ‘why not’ and leaning towards ‘just say no.’

Indiscriminate use
If you are like most serious Western bonsai enthusiasts, you usually avoid figurines. This is probably due to the fact that Japanese bonsai has enjoyed an earlier and stronger influence in the West than Chinese penjing. And the rampant and indiscriminate use of poorly made figurines in cheap (but overpriced) commercial bonsai hasn’t helped. Besides, when it comes to quality bonsai, ‘why gild the lily?’ might be a question worth asking.

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Be a Fearless Bonsai Warrior

Romanolarch

This American larch (Larix laricina) was sent to us by John Romano. It was selected as 1 of 100 in JAL World Bonsai Photo contest 2004.  It was purchased as raw collected stock from American larch hero Nick Lenz. John Romano has been devoted to teaching bonsai for the past ten years and has developed Kaikou School of Bonsai (a two year program at at New England Bonsai). Kaikou is a somewhat archaic Japanese term that means ‘unexpected encounter’ or ‘crossing paths’.

Your turn
Our Fearless Bonsai Warrior program is about you and your bonsai. In other words, I want you to send us photos. It’s easy, just attach them to an email to wayne@stonelantern.com. You don’t have to be a professional or a bonsai teacher (like John Romano), just someone with a bonsai and a camera.

Don’t worry about rejection
Don’t worry about rejection or ridicule. I like all attempts at bonsai, even the ones I don’t like. If we like yours enough, we’ll feature it here. If not, I’ll send you a kind and gentle letter explaining what I think you need to do to improve your tree. Not that what I think will necessarily be helpful, but there’s always a chance, however remote.

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Masters’ Gallery: Group Displays #2

mgalgrp4

The small Zelkova in the forest plantings on each side create the feeling distant panoramas. The center tree in the curved pot is a Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa). The artist is Saburo Kato‘s brother, Hideo. There are also two barely visible companion plants (five elements in all).

Masters’ Gallery
This is the second post in our masters’ gallery series. It and the first post in this series are from an article by Saburo Kato that appears in Bonsai Today issue 43.

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In Whose Eye? Eccentric Bonsai

Parthenocissus

This strange, jumbled profusion of colorful leaves in a bonsai pot is from Morten Albek’s Shohin-Bonsai Europe website. It’s a Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) by Jacques Graulus of Belgium. BTW: Morten Albek is the author of Majesty in Miniature: Shohin Bonsai (Stone Lantern Publishing).

No harm intended
This is our first post on eccentric bonsai. Our intention is to explore and expand our bonsai horizons. Hopefully our observations are not too aggressive or offensive. However, it’s my view that anyone who is daring enough to put a photo of their bonsai on the web, should be prepared for evaluation and even criticism.

Beyond convention
I like good traditional (often Japanese inspired) bonsai. At the same time, I keep an eye out for trees that clearly aren’t in that mold, but are nevertheless compelling, or at least interesting.  Like the jumbled profusion of colorful leaves in a bonsai pot that you see in the photo above. The contrivance of the trunk leaning on just-stuck-there-for-that-purpose rock, the unnaturally white deadwood that looks a bit like an alien growth clinging to the trunk, and the chaotic hippyesque mess of foliage, take this tree so far out of the traditional realm, that it’s hard for me to see it as a bonsai. Still, is there something audaciously daring about this tree, that’s worth our consideration? Or is it just a mess of colorful leaves and not much else? Continue reading In Whose Eye? Eccentric Bonsai

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Truly a Simple Air-Layering Technique

BT20layering2This photo shows step two (see below). From this angle you can see that the current base of the trunk is a mess. After layering we’ll have a new base, though it’s unclear from this photo why this spot (at the top of the layer) was chosen. My guess is the author picked this unattractive tree for instructional purposes rather than for aesthetic reasons. The photos are from Bonsai Today issue 20.

Your basic layering technique
This one is actually simpler than the previous ‘simple’ technique. It’s the most common way to air-layer. It is quite easy and when done properly, almost always produces the desired results. If you are interested, we just finished another layering technique with three installments (part one, part two and part three).

Japanese maples and other deciduous trees
The tree shown here is a Japanese maple, a very easy tree to layer as new roots form quickly. The same goes for most other deciduous trees.

When to layer
Late winter is the best time to layer, though the example shown here was done in August (in Japan) just to prove how easy it is to layer maples. Though it’s not late winter (unless you are in the southern hemisphere), introducing this technique now will give you time to plan ahead.

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Not for Sissies: Yamadori part 2

B1MOTcollect2

That’s Robert Steven dangling from the rope ladder. I don’t know who his friend is, but he better have a pretty good grip. This photo is from Robert’s new book, Mission of Transformation. The location is in Java, one of the islands of Indonesia. The object of this and some other perilous climbs is the wild Premna (P. microphylla and P. serratifolia).

Life and limb
As the supply of magnificent wild potential bonsai dwindled in Japan, collectors risked life and limb hanging from remote mountain cliffs (like on Mount Ishizuchi below) to get at that last old shimpaku or pine. Now, sadly, even those are gone (fortunately, many survive in pots). These days, with the spread of bonsai, cliff scaling  and other dangerous undertakings have moved to places like the Alps, Rockies, and in Robert Steven’s case, Indonesia.

Continue reading Not for Sissies: Yamadori part 2

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