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

Bonsai Wiring Lesson

Front view of a freshly trimmed and wired Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris) by Luis Vallejo. This photo and the others shown here are from Luis’ facebook feed. It’s not often we find good bonsai technique photos on facebook, so I got a little excited when I stumbled across a whole bunch of great photos of a freshly wire Scot’s pine by Luis Vallejo and thought you might like to see them too. I won’t attempt to show all of Luis’ photos in the series. You can make the short journey to his facebook feed if you’d like to see them. … Continue reading Bonsai Wiring Lesson

Finally, An Undisputed Winner

Contest or no contest, this powerful European olive by Luis Vallejo is an exceptional tree. Okay. That whole prove us wrong thing from last week was a bust. Absolutely no dissenting views. Looking on the bright side, I guess that means we got it right. Best of all, we finally have an undisputed winner for our Bonsai Detective contest. Congratulations to Dorothy Schmitz. She wasn’t one of the first entries, but she kept plugging away until she got it right (if you happen to be Dorothy, your $100 gift certificate will be emailed to you on Monday). Thanks to all … Continue reading Finally, An Undisputed Winner

Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

This is the one that caused the most trouble (see D below). Our Bonsai Detective contest (from three weeks ago) turned out to be the most difficult one to judge yet. Remind me next time to be sure we have an ironclad grip on all the answers before we start. Not only were there lots of entries, but most were very good with only one or two misses. But what really made it difficult is conflicting, vague and otherwise unreliable information on the internet (surprise!). Especially on facebook (another surprise no doubt). The upshot is that after spending hours pouring … Continue reading Prove Us Wrong & Win a $50 Gift Certificate

Comparisons Are Odious, But Still…

European black pine (Pinus nigra) by Mauro Stemberger. I took the liberty to crop this photo (the uncropped version is below) and to brighten it up a bit (the other photos in this post too). All of the photos here are from The Bonsai Blog of Sandor Papp. The bonsai shown here all appeared at the 2014 Noelanders Trophy in Belgium. The photos were taken from The Bonsai Blog of Sandor Papp. They represent a small sampling of Sandor’s Noelander’s photos. Whenever I see photos of the some of the best European bonsai I can’t help but compare them with … Continue reading Comparisons Are Odious, But Still…

Invisible (& Visible) Bonsai

Aside from the fact that this is a remarkable bonsai, there’s the play of light and shadow on the wall. Though I didn’t set out to chose photos with shadows, because there are so many great trees to chose from, it seems like a good way to narrow it down a bit. The photo is from Segundo Congreso y Concurso de Bonsai via Bonsai Fachforum. The remarkable bonsai you see here turned up on Bonsai Fachforum, a German language site that is overflowing with photos of great trees. The Spanish language poster (see below) says Segundo Congreso y Concurso de … Continue reading Invisible (& Visible) Bonsai