Muscular Bonsai – Muscular Tools

Old European olives are often full of character as well as muscle, and this one is no exception. I believe the tree belongs to Luis Vallejo, though I couldn’t find evidence on his website. Taking some time to work outside today, so we’ll resurrect an old favorite from our archives. While we’re at, we’ll give a nod to our powerful Green T Turntables. There’s something compelling about bonsai with powerful trunks. Assuming that I’m not the only one so compelled, below are three more very sturdy bonsai and one very sturdy turntable for your enjoyment. Wire Special Ends Sunday at … Continue reading Muscular Bonsai – Muscular Tools

A Study in Deadwood

A great tree for a study in deadwood. It’s a Juniper procumben from Luis Vallejo’s website. I cropped the photo a bit, but you can see the full size original just below. Very busy right now with little time to put together a new post. Yesterday it was the remarkably talented Luis Vallejo’s bonsai, so today we’ll stay on the same track. This post originally appeared in June, 2015. I just spent the last digital hour or so wandering around Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Studio (Estudio de Bonsai) and his Bonsai Museum (Museo del Bonsai). Given just how prolific Luis is, … Continue reading A Study in Deadwood

The Difference High Quality Professional Photos Can Make – Especially with Such High Quality Bonsai

This and the other trees in this post are from Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Collection. The caption for these (and some others not shown here) is “Some of the Bonsai trees that will be displayed at the Bonsai San Show. Saulieu . October 2017 – Luis Vallejo Bonsai Collection – Photos By Miguel Krause” Luis Vallejo didn’t list the varieties when he posted these remarkable photos, and because I’m still licking my wounds from the fiasco of Sunday’s post, I’m going to dispense with any guessing today. But don’t worry (not that you were), I’ll recover soon enough and resume guessing … Continue reading The Difference High Quality Professional Photos Can Make – Especially with Such High Quality Bonsai

Impressive Nebari, Wild Deadwood, and a Colossal Wire Sale Ends Tonight

I cropped the original (below) to get a closeup of this rather impressive deadwood. Even though there is no variety listed, the fresh buds look a lot like a Yew in full spring glory. All the trees shown here were posted by Luis Vallejo. Because Luis is a highly accomplish and prolific bonsai artist, we can assume they are all his (unfortunately, and due primarily to laziness, facebook and other online sites are rife with unattributed bonsai). Conitnued below… Our great sale on 500 gram rolls of Bonsai Aesthetics Wire ends tonight 30% off 2+ rolls of 500 gram Bonsai … Continue reading Impressive Nebari, Wild Deadwood, and a Colossal Wire Sale Ends Tonight

Trophy Time and the Year of the Yew

Noelanders Trophy award; Best of Show. A Taxus cuspidata (Japanese yew) by Bonsai Museum Alcobendas. Can we assume that the artist is Luis Vallejo? It’s not really kosher to cut off part of pot, but who’s to complain? Bonsai Empire once again wins the award for fastest bonsai news scoop, and we’ll take what we can get. Gratefully. Up late last night* and now I’m trying to get out of town for a brief Montreal mid-winter epicurean extravaganza… so we’ll make this short. We have a Noelanders Trophy Best of Show Bonsai (actually there are two, but we’ll save the … Continue reading Trophy Time and the Year of the Yew

Snake Skin Bonsai

The contrast of black background and red leaves works to a tee. The tree is a Arakawa (Snake skin) Japanese maple that belows to Luis Vallejo. All three photos shown here are by Miguel Krause. Just a quickie today while I continue to try to catch up from vacation (no good vacation goes unpunished). I found the photos on Luis Vallejo’s facebook feed. This is not the first time we’ve shown Luis’ bonsai and I don’t think it will be the last. In addition to showing you the striking color contrast, I want to remind you that 4 excellent sales … Continue reading Snake Skin Bonsai

Four Sturdy Bonsai & One Very Sturdy Turntable

Old European olives are often full of character as well as muscle, and this one is no exception. I believe the tree belongs to Luis Vallejo, though I couldn’t find evidence on his website. Taking some time off today, so we’ll resurrect an old favorite from our archives. While we’re at, we’ll give a nod to our powerful Green T Turntable. There’s something compelling about bonsai with powerful trunks. Assuming that I’m not the only one so compelled, below are three more very sturdy bonsai and one very sturdy turntable for your enjoyment. Myrtus communis by Rui Ferrreira. I’ve never … Continue reading Four Sturdy Bonsai & One Very Sturdy Turntable

Muscular Bonsai, Muscular Turntable

Old European olives are often full of character as well as muscle, and this one is no exception. I found it on flickr and then, as one thing led to another, I came to the conclusion that this tree belongs to Luis Vallejo (though I couldn’t find evidence on his website). Taking off on a long trip today, so we’ll fall back on our archives again. Actually, this will be the third time for this one, but after yesterday’s post it seems like a good idea to show you one of my favorite olives. There’s something compelling about bonsai with … Continue reading Muscular Bonsai, Muscular Turntable

Fall Color in February?

Japanese maple in full fall color. Though you can only see part of the base of the trunk, still, you can get a pretty good idea just how powerful this tree is; with or without leaves. This photo and all the photos in this post are from Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Studio (Bonsai Estudio), at the Bonsai Museum Alcobendas. It’s sunny and about five Fahrenheit (-15 celsius) this morning. A little early to get our hopes up, but we can dream. Meanwhile here’s some color to fuel those dreams (fall color, but who’s choosy?). All the photos in this post are … Continue reading Fall Color in February?

Powerful Bonsai with Brilliant Deadwood

A great tree for a study in deadwood. It’s a Juniper procumben from Luis Vallejo’s website. I cropped the photo a bit, but you can see the full size original just below. I just spent the last digital hour or so wandering around Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Studio (Estudio de Bonsai) and his Bonsai Museum (Museo del Bonsai). Sometimes it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Without raving too much about what Luis has been up to, we’ll just encourage you to pay him a visit (his website and his fb photos). Given just how prolific Luis … Continue reading Powerful Bonsai with Brilliant Deadwood