Happy Bonsai Holidays! Merry Bonsai Christmas!

sat3

Though it's usually considered bad form to lop off part of the pot, in this case it's all about the color (and the wildly expressive trunk). The variety is listed as Issho-no-haru. This and the rest of the photos in this post are from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! No matter what you celebrate (or don’t celebrate), may you and your loved ones enjoy the Season and have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. This post is borrowed from our 2014 archives, so I’m cheating just a bit. But I like it so much and believe that you will too, so no harm.

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sat9

This variety is labeled Osakazuki. You might notice the massive, though largely shaded trunk. Many varieties of Satsuki trunk up very well.

sat2

No name is listed for this delicate beauty.

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sat4

A triple trunk Megumi. Normally you don't find trunks so evenly spaced in Japanese bonsai, but when it comes to flowers all bets are off.

sat7

This one is a Date-murasaki. Like some of the others photos the trunk is deep in the shadows. It's more about the art of the photograph and beauty of the flowers.

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sat

No visible trunk at all on this Chiyo-nishiki. More than a fair share of luscious multi-toned flowers however.

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Principles of Bonsai Design with a Personal Touch

DDMAIN

This berry-laden Cotoneaster belongs to David DeGroot, long time bonsai artist, teacher, museum curator and author (Principles of Bonsai Design). Here's Dave's caption... "In honor of the approaching holidays I posed a cotoneaster that is decorated with its own red berries before a celebratory gold screen. The bonsai was originally developed by the late Ann Spencer of Portland, OR. The pot is by Sarah Rayner." 
I took the liberty to crop this photo. The original is below

I’ve long respected David DeGroot for his bonsai skills and for his contribution the American and world bonsai communities; as teacher, author and as the previous curator at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Because we just ran a series of three posts on the Museum the time seemed right to revisit* David and take look at a piece of his personal bonsai collection.
*This isn’t the first time we’ve featured David, and won’t be the last

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David again... "Grabbed a quick pic of one of my Korean hornbeams showing off today."

DAVID DEGROOT’S
PRINCIPLES OF BONSAI DESIGN
the very best how-to bonsai books we’ve seen in a long, long time
B1PRIN1

list price 31.95
special 28.75

This remarkable book is one of the handful of items
that we cannot discount 30% or more.
But it’s still a great deal at any price

DDJABGood windswept bonsai are few and far between. Again in David's own words... "I put my Jaboticaba in the Pacific Northwest Bonsai Clubs convention show in October. I just got official word that it won both the "Best Non-Conifer" and "people's Choice " awards. I lost all the show photos I had on my phone, but this is a picture of it the day before the convention, after leaf stripping and wiring."

 

DDMAPLEGreat color. And David agrees... "October in the Pacific Northwest was too mild and way too wet for good fall color, but at least this maple came through."

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DDHINJust a tad out of the bonsai mainstream. And again, in David's own words... "My Hinoki (I call it "Walk like an Egyptian") got a new pot yesterday. The first two right-angle bends were in the tree (but hidden) when I got it from the nursery. When I discovered them I knew I couldn't fix them, so I decided to go with the flow."

 

DDSNOW

Backyard bonsai with just a little dusting

 

DDMAINorig

The original photo with gold screen and companion fern

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we cannot discount Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees
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Mammoth Masterpiece

beech

This monster Japanese beech is so massive and so masterful, that once you see it, you'll never forget it.

Continuing with our Japanese beech theme from a few days ago, I couldn’t resist this one. It’s from a post we did back in March, 2016. There was no attribution with our source and we still don’t know who it belongs to.

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beechw

The original photo gives a pretty good idea of just how massive this tree is

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beechcu-1

Close of the lower trunk, nebari, mossy soil surface and pot

BTbanner32-500x221Bonsai Today back issue now only 5.00 each

 

beechtop

A closer look at the fine branching. It takes a long time and plenty of diligence to achieve such a filigreed look

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and by the way, we’ve got two models now
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Pacific Bonsai Museum’s Strikingly Beautiful Mix of Bonsai & Paintings – Part 2

4The tree is a Sierra juniper and the painting is Yosemite Valley (Half Dome gives it away). From the Pacific Bonsai Museum's video tour (as are all the photos in this post)
 Continuing where we left off yesterday with the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s ecstatically beautiful video bonsai tour. And by the way, whoever place the painting and trees together is a brilliant artist…
Continued below…

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 –
10mhI like this shot so much that I thought a closeup would be a good idea (see yesterday). It's a piece of a Mountain hemlock planting by Michael Hagedorn's with a painting of Mt Rainer.
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2cu
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30% OR MORE OFF INCLUDES
ALMOST ALL BONSAI BOOKS* & OTHER BOOKS
Bonsai Books August 2016

we cannot discount Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees
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dozens more are 30% to 70% off

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1
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 birdseyeBird's eye (drone's eye) view...
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A Stunningly Beautiful Mix of Bonsai, Paintings, Natural Backdrop…

8main

This shot was lifted from the Pacific Bonsai Museum's video tour.

Continuing with our Pacific Bonsai Museum theme… I finally took the time to stop and view (again and again) their video tour. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you take a couple minutes and treat yourself. It’s stunningly beautiful with it’s  mix of bonsai, paintings, natural backdrop and ecstatic music that captures the soaring feeling of the surroundings. Hats off to Curator Aarin Packard, Executive director Kathy McCabe and the rest of excellent staff for helping to create and maintain such a brilliant bonsai treasure .

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9mh

I'd know this planting anywhere and my guess is so would many of you. For the rest of you, it's Michael Hagedorn's famous potless Mountain hemlock clump. As you can see (if your wearing your glasses) the painting is Mt Rainer.

 

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Another beautiful shot...

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Ho-Yoku

3

And another...

 

6sign

 

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8cu

Close up from the feature shot above

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Watering Cans…Watering Cans and other Watering Implements

 

an additional 5% off all orders 150.00 or more
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Arts of the Earth & The Principles of Bonsai Design

beechwithBeech with vase. The tree is a Japanese beech 'Fuji' by Kazuhiro Ohashi. The photo is from Weyerhaeuser's Pacific Rim Arts of the Earth Exhibit. This exhibit took place in 2006. In 2013 the Weyerhaeuser corporation gifted its entire bonsai collection to what is now know as the Pacific Bonsai Museum. You can read the whole story here.

Continuing with our Japanese beech theme (see the tree above), we’re going to journey back to the early days of this century and revisit a unique bonsai and ceramic art exhibition from 2006. I think you’ll like the photos and the commentary by David DeGroot, who was the curator at the WeyerhaeuserPacific Rim Bonsai Collection (now Pacific Bonsai Museum) at the time, and who is the author of one of the best bonsai books in the English language (see below).
Continued below…

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We've seen this oft photographed tree before, but never quite like this. It's one of Nick Lenz' famous larches.

In David De Groot’s own words…
“When I first conceived the idea for Traditions and Transitions — Arts of the Earth, I had three objectives in mind:
The first was to explore the traditional interrelationship between ceramics and bonsai — one kind of artwork being formed of the earth and the other springing from it.
The second was to explore the ways in which old concepts and methods ebb and flow as arts evolve.
The third was whether the traditional Japanese method of combining works to illustrate an idea or theme can work in a setting less structured and formal than a tokonoma (traditional art display alcove)…. ” There’s more here.

Dave DeGroot’s
Principles of Bonsai Design
B1PRIN1

list price 31.95
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This remarkable book is one of the handful of items
that we cannot discount 30% or more.
But it’s still a great deal at any price

This gnarled old Korean yew is by Su Hyung Yoo.

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Bare-Boned Beech

Beech770This tipsy planting in its curvy slab has to be one of the most distinctive deciduous forest bonsai anywhere. Like all the trees in this post it's a Japanese beech (Fagus crenata), a species prized for its brilliant white bark. 

Japanese beech, with their striking white bark and strong trunks (often with excellent nebari) are a favorite of bonsai artists, especially in Japan. Unfortunately, they aren’t that easy to find here in North America and our native beech (Fagus grandifolia) is too rangy and large-leafed to make for very good bonsai (the European beech,  Fagus sylvatica, which you can find here, is a much better bet). All the trees in this post are Japanese beech and all the photos are from back issues of Bonsai Today magazine *

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beech2

Copper colored fall leaves are another reason to like Japanese beech. A strong, well-tapered trunk doesn't hurt either. When this photo was taken this tree belonged to Sinichi Watanabe.

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Beech (and other deciduous trees) are appreciated for their bare-boned winter look, when you can see the whole trunk and all the branches all the way out to the finest twigs.

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A strange tree with its lumpy base and willy-nilly trunks/branches (and very unusual background color) is the kind of tree you might consign to the 'later' pile, or even the 'never' pile. Fortunately, some sharp-eyed person saw something worth saving.

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Bonsai Books August 2016

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there are 3 other books that are discounted less than 30%
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Good ramification is essential if you want quality deciduous bonsai. Beeches have somewhat heavy-tipped branches, so you don't see the amazingly detailed fine branching you see on some other deciduous trees. Still, this one is pretty impressive. 

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orgreendream5

And then there are the lovely leaves.

*Kindai Bonsai owns the original rights to all the Japanese photos in Bonsai Today. Bonsai Focus now owns the rights for reprinting in the West

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California Bonsai Beast

jun

The beast. Here's Mauro Stemberger's caption... "California Juniper called 'the Beast' after one more step - this time we worked to make it more compact; bending down 15 inches the top and removing the lower branch. Pictures show the evolution in the last 3 years. Collection: Hank Fawcett"

We’ll just show a few photos of this magnificent old California juniper and encourage you to visit Mauro Stemberger and Hank Fawcett for more on the evolution of this aptly named Beast.

Speaking of Beasts
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before

Before. Three years ago

 

junwDuring. You might notice how the branches and foliage have been allowed to grow unconstrained in order to build strength before any serious work. BTW, and just in case you're wondering, that mysterious thing that seems out of place is Hank Fawcett's right hand

hank

Further along. Hank Fawcett and his Beast.

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junOne more time

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Chose from our large selection of quality Bonsai Books

Japanese Garden & related Books too
*Due to contract, Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees is not discounted

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The Ultimate Gift for Any Bonsai Lover

GTTRIDENTcropped

A brilliant Trident maple bonsai
 resting regally on its Green T Hydraulic Lift Turntable
this photo is cropped to fit on social media
the original showing the full Green T is just below

Order your amazing Green T Turntable now
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TTGREEN-2T
and by the way, we’ve got two models now
the Green T Basic model and the New Green T Plus
both are now discounted

see below

GTTRIDENT

The original photo
 Perfection. A brilliant Trident maple bonsai
 on a brilliant Green T Plus Hydraulic Lift Turntable

GREEN T BASIC YOU PAY ONLY 347.00

list price 385.00 – Special 365.00
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GREEN T PLUS YOU PAY ONLY 447.00

list price 495.00 – Special Only 470.00
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A Green T Turntable
will change the way you work on you bonsai,
and enhance the results…
… and you’ll enjoy the journey

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*Due to contract, Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees is not discounted

 an additional 5% off all orders 150.00 or more
Specials apply only to orders placed on our website
FREE Shipping on Continental U.S. orders 75.00+
(only if you chose free shipping when you check out)

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Celebrating Our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

1241

This brilliant Japanese Maple was donated to our National Bonsai and Penjing Museum by Ryutaro Azuma. It has been in training since 1906. The photo is from Capital Bonsai.

It’s time to celebrate our National Bonsai and Penjing Museum once again. If you are anywhere near our nation’s capital, or plan on being anywhere near, don’t miss this phenomenal display. Even if you have no plans on being near Washington DC, you can always make new plans. You won’t be disappointed.

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SatNBF1The sky blue pot is the perfect compliment to the light pink flowers on this powerful Satsuki Azalea that resides at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC.. There are a multitude of Satsuki azaleas cultivars. This one is a ‘Nikko.’ It was donated to the museum by Masayuki Nakamura.

 

135

This photo was lifted from a Capital Bonsai post on winter silhouettes. Here's their caption: "Three point display with Trident Maple. In training since 1895. Donated by Prince Takamatsu. Mt. Fuji scroll and Japanese Blood Grass."

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232

This closeup highlights the shadow play.

 

550

A truly distinctive tree showing off its fall colors and much more. Here’s Capital Bonsai’s caption… “Trident Maple, Donated by Stanley Chin, Age Unknown.”

Bonsai Book Sale

ALL DISCOUNTED*, SOME UP TO 60% OFF

Chose from our large selection of quality Bonsai Books

Japanese Garden & related Books too
*Due to contract, Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees is not discounted

 

autarts

115 years in training! This dignified old Zelkova serrata lives at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. It was donated by Yoshibumi Itoigawa and has been in training since 1895.

 

goshin

Goshin by John Yoshio Naka, North America's most famous bonsai. Photos will never do it justice. It is huge, about 1 meter tall (just over 3 feet) and is so dramatic in person that it seems to vibrate with power. This photo, by Peter Bloomer is originally from Timeless Trees by Peter and Mary Bloomer. It also appears on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 93, an issue that features a tribute to the life and works of John Naka.

OUR SITE WIDE SALE INCLUDES
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entry

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