The Sun Still Shines on Our Bonsai

Japanese yew with one thin live vein and lots of great deadwood. From Mauro Stemberger’s Italian Dream website. Still on vacation and trying to recover from a hangover and a bad dream. Rather than going to the time and trouble to compose a new post, we’ll resurrect this one from December, 2013. It was titled, “Sun is shining on my bonsai, but I stay in bed a little longer…” Mauro Stemberger is something of force in European and world bonsai. He usually starts with excellent stock and ends with even better bonsai. This is not not the first time we’ve … Continue reading The Sun Still Shines on Our Bonsai

California Bonsai Dreaming Again, but this Time in the Right Sequence

It would have been better (and correct) if I had used this as the lead (and final) photo in this morning’s post. Had I been paying attention, I could have figured out that I had the third and forth iterations backwards in this morning’s California juniper post (if you don’t like humiliation, be careful what you say and be doubly careful what you write. Especially on the internet). Michael Andrews just emailed me to gently help clear things up (and to mention that the tree is ‘huge’). Though the tree does belong to Mauro Stemberger, Michael recently worked on it … Continue reading California Bonsai Dreaming Again, but this Time in the Right Sequence

California Bonsai Dreaming

This rather impressive California juniper has come a long ways in about three years (based on the Mauro Stemberger’s caption – see below). It still needs to find a massively large pot, but otherwise it looks like it’s getting ready for showtime. The only caption Mauro Stemberger lists with the photos shown here is: CA juniper / 2016-2015-2014 (facebook). I was hoping to flesh out the story with a visit to Mauro’s website, Italian Bonsai Dream, but no such luck. Still, just the photos tell a pretty good bonsai story. Before. There’s lots of character in this old yamadori … Continue reading California Bonsai Dreaming

Bonsai Zen – Circles & Curves

Zen pine. In some types of art (calligraphy comes to mind) shapes are often suggested rather than completed. The mind of the viewer does the rest. In the case of this pine, it’s a circle (the way the raw power of the deadwood demands your attention cinches it). The tree and the photo belong to Mauro Stemberger. You can see more of Mauro’s bonsai here, here and here. Circles, semi circles and curves are today’s theme. Bonsai with long slow curves like this one tend to be out of favor, at least with some people, who might refer to this … Continue reading Bonsai Zen – Circles & Curves

Bonsai Is Both the Tree & the Pot (and we know that)

It’s not often you see bark like this. Its uniquely patterned texture and color adds considerable character and age to this old live oak. And then there’s the pot; the way it complements the tree (an how small it is relative to the tree). No mention of who made it, but whoever did deserves some love. The photo is from the ‘My Trees’ section of Mauro Stemberger’s website. The following is in response to a comment on Facebook… We would never chop off part of the pot in a bonsai photo unless that’s the way we found it, or we’re … Continue reading Bonsai Is Both the Tree & the Pot (and we know that)

May You Enjoy a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year

Just couldn’t resist posting yet another yew (there have been several lately). This time it’s an English yew (Taxus Baccata) by Stefano Frisoni. It’s almost 2016 and there are countless loose ends to tie up, so we’ll dig up part of a December 2012 post with some trees that I particularly like. Meanwhile, may you and yours enjoy a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And thank you for helping to make 2015 a happy bonsai year. Nice tree. Fantastic pot! Eleven years from stump by Mario Komsta (a regular here on Bark). I originally guessed that it was an Ilex and of course, I … Continue reading May You Enjoy a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year

Suburban Yamadori

This old Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) belongs to Mauro Stemberger. The color coordinated pot is by Petra Hahn (even the moss has reddish spots). I found the photo on The Art of Bonsai Project. We’ve been featuring Yews and carved deadwood a lot lately. An auspicious match, as you can readily see in the photos shown here. One of the great things about Yews is they grow almost everywhere. Half the landscapes here in the Eastern U.S. sport a yew or two. For some of us, it’s possible to find good ones for bonsai in our own front yards (suburban … Continue reading Suburban Yamadori

Still Opulent, Outrageous & Outstanding

This Itoigawa Shimpaku (Juniperus chinensis ‘itoigawa’) by Dougie Smith qualifies as opulent for sure. Outrageous? Well there is that huge rock jutting up from the skinny little (but very handsome) pot. As for outstanding; that goes without saying. Note: I don’t know what the smaller trees down low are. Maybe azaleas? Myrtle? This photo and the others in this post are by Philippe Massard, though I cropped them all to bring the trees closer. A quick two day vacation and another dip into our archives. This one is from February 2014. I picked it to show a second time, primarily … Continue reading Still Opulent, Outrageous & Outstanding

Pointing the Way

Three years ago when we originally showed this tree we didn’t have any idea who the artist was. We were none the wiser until someone offered this in the comments (from the second posting last year ): “The first sabina juniper you mention is from Patrick Cremers..” Once we had a name it was easy to find this newer and better photo (the original is below). This post is worth a third time. It’s rich in bonsai beauty and information. First time was titled The Trend Only Gets More Outrageous (be sure to read the comments). The second was There Are … Continue reading Pointing the Way

There Are No Rules (but What About Guidelines?)

Same tree, better photo. The original caption from a post two years ago started with: “Snakes. From Estação Bonsai on Facebook. I couldn’t find any mention of the artist….” We were none the wiser until someone offered this in the comments: “The first sabina juniper you mention is from Patrick Cremers..” Once we had a name it was easy to find the new photo (the original is below). However, I can’t tell if Patrick is the artist, the photographer, or just someone who posted this photo (confused yet?). Here’s a link if you’d like to explore further. We’re a little … Continue reading There Are No Rules (but What About Guidelines?)