Sumo Olive – Which Bonsai Pot Would You Choose?

Boon’s caption for this reads… “Selecting pot for sumo Olive — with Adair Martin” I like the tree and the pots, though there’s one pot that jumps out at me. But I’m not saying, at least until we hear from you. Boon Manakitivipart (Bonsai Boon) is at it again. This time you have a choice of six pots for a tree that he call a Sumo Olive (I don’t think Sumo is an official varietal name, more like a well chosen description that some bonsai enthusiasts like). If you’d like to play, please put your choice (or choices), along with your thoughts if you’d like, in the … Continue reading Sumo Olive – Which Bonsai Pot Would You Choose?

Which Pot Would You Choose?

Because this is such an exceptional tree, it would look good in almost any pot. And the pots you see here are no exception. But does it look even better in one of them? This post stands squarely in our venerable tradition of borrowing Which Pot? posts from Boon Manakitivipart. The tree is a Shore pine (Pinus contorta) that Boon is getting ready for Bay Island Bonsai’s 19th Annual Exhibit. If you’d like, you can chime in and offer your choice in the comments on our facebook timeline. Or you can visit Boon’s. Bonsai Aesthetics Wire Is Back in every weight & … Continue reading Which Pot Would You Choose?

American Bonsai Silhouettes

This snowy American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) forest by Gary Clark won the American Bonsai Society Award for Native Species at this year’s Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Our thanks to Bill Valavanis for this and the other photos shown here. It’s a busy time around here, so with the exception of a few words of my own, this post about the recent Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo is borrowed from Bill Valavanis (though what you see here is only a small piece of what Bill presented). I strongly urge you to visit Bill’s blog to enjoy his captivating first hand stories and insights … Continue reading American Bonsai Silhouettes

Choosing the Right Bonsai Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

Which pot would you choose for this Western juniper?* There’s a direct path from Michael Hagedorn (see our last two posts) to his teacher Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). This post originally appeared here in June, 2015. Sooner or later every serious North American bonsai artist is influenced by Boon Manakitivipart. For some, this influence is face to face (if you’re lucky). Or indirectly through one of his students that now teach bonsai (Michael Hagedorn is one of many). And then there are his regular posts on facebook (including our our source for this post) that are full of generous pointers and bonsai inspiration. Three … Continue reading Choosing the Right Bonsai Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

More Great Bonsai Shots from the WBC

Cork bark pine with lightning bolt. I cropped this photo to eliminate background noise while emphasizing the tree and scroll. The original photo (below) and the rest of the photos in this post were taken by Boon Manakitivipartat at the just completed World Bonsai Convention. The last few days we’ve been featuring shots from the World Bonsai Convention, which ended yesterday. There’s no good reason not to continue… after all some of the very best bonsai in the world were there. All the photos in this post were taken by Boon Manakitivipart, an influential American bonsai artist and teacher who … Continue reading More Great Bonsai Shots from the WBC

One Tree, Seven Pots – Which One Would You Choose?

Seven pots for one Chinese cork bark elm (the seventh pot is below – it didn’t fit that well in the photo). Which one would you choose? Most of this post was borrowed from our archives (January, 2014). At that time the choices you see were presented as a contest. Now we’ll dispense with the contest and just show the photos and let you choose if you please. If you would like to post your comments, visit Bonsai Bark on facebook. All the photos shown here belong to Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon), our source for almost all of our … Continue reading One Tree, Seven Pots – Which One Would You Choose?

Drifting…

What a great photo. The tree is a Japanese black pine from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. Busy day today, so it’s a good time to dig back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2013. It was titled ‘Drifting a Little Farther Afield.’ There’s really not much theme with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it at that… except to say that we’re drifting a little farther afield than we usually do. Continued below… Yoshiaki Japanese … Continue reading Drifting…

Which Pot Would You Choose?

Which pot would you choose for this Itoigawa shimpaku juniper? Here’s a favorite topic by our old friend, American bonsai artist and teacher, Boon Manakitivipart (Bonsai Boon). If you would like to state your choice (and reasons, if you’re up for it), you can visit Bonsai Bark on facebook (we don’t accept comments directly on our blog because of near infinite spam) or you can visit Boon on facebook. Or even better, you can visit us both. Continued below… 8.50 for 500 gram Rolls of Bonsai Wire Is Too Good to Pass up 13.50 less 30% = 9.45 per roll … Continue reading Which Pot Would You Choose?

Site Wide Sale Ends Tonight! – More Kingsville Bonsai

You can tell this is a genuine Dwarf Kingsville boxwood by the tight tiny leaves. This planting by Boon Manakitivipart was the winner of the Certre Award at the 2010 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. We’ve got two more Dwarf Kingsville boxwoods today. Sweet trees, but they grow microscopically, so don’t expect fat trunks any time soon. Continued below… Site Wide Sale Ends Tonight 20% to 25% off Everything* Don’t get caught napping! Sale ends tonight, Wednesday, Dec 14th at 11:59pm EST A great pot and the finishing touches that the moss and soil present, don’t hurt this sweet little … Continue reading Site Wide Sale Ends Tonight! – More Kingsville Bonsai

An Eight Year Bonsai Journey

Boon Manakitivipart’s transformed Sierra juniper. If you go to Styling on Bonsai Boon you can see how Boon took this tree through an eight year bonsai journey. Yesterday’s post was about a magnificent old California juniper, so we’ll just stay right there in the Golden State and take a look at another native, a Sierra juniper, a very close cousin to the California juniper. I borrowed the photos and some of the text from way back in the first year of Bonsai Bark. We’ve featured Boon Manakitivipart on this blog before, and for good reason. He’s a highly accomplished bonsai … Continue reading An Eight Year Bonsai Journey