Bonsai from Scratch – Before & After

I think this qualifies as ‘from scratch.’No small amounts of skill and imagination were required to get from what you see on the left to what you see on the right. You’ve got the good makings of a trunk and a lot of potential leaders and branches to choose from, but beyond that it’s pretty rough. The artist is Paolo Salemi. Here’s his caption… “Thuja, before and after 5 years. I start working on this tree in the 2012, work in progress…” Time to pick up our recurrent before and after series. Several things struck me about this one… first, it’s a ‘true’ … Continue reading Bonsai from Scratch – Before & After

A Small Man Contemplates a White Pine from Below

I borrowed this delicious little gem from Michael Bonsai. Michael doesn’t say who it belongs to or what it is, but given his fondness for Japanese black pines, and given that it looks like a Japanese black pine, well you get the drift. We could even go a little further and speculate that Michael took this photo in Japan; he’s been know to do such things and the tree does have a Japanese feel Continuing from yesterday with Michael Bonsai photos and another plug for this weekend’s Mid-America Bonsai Society Show & Sale… KILO ROLLS ONLY 15.95 Only 14.35 per roll … Continue reading A Small Man Contemplates a White Pine from Below

Before, During & After – Another Radical Bonsai Transformation

Before and after. This unusual Japanese white pine, with three trunks merging to give the appearance of one thicker trunk is by Juan Andrade. Continuing with our Before and After series, here’s one of my favorites, dug up from our archives (October, 2013). It’s a Japanese white pine transformation that is so unusual, with results so striking and unique, that… well, you can see for yourself. The artist, Juan Andrade is one of a whole host of young Western apprentices (Costa Rica in Juan’s case) who are studying or have studied in Japan. The before, during and after (antes, durante … Continue reading Before, During & After – Another Radical Bonsai Transformation

Pine Bonsai – A Less Common Cousin

This handsome cork bark (see corrections below*) Japanese red pine, with its deeply grooved bark tells a story of age and beauty. The artist is Enrico Savini. If someone asked you to name two Japanese pines, you’d probably answer, Japanese black pine and Japanese white pine. This would make sense as most of the Japanese pine bonsai you see are Black or White. However, there is another important Japanese pine. It’s the Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora). One reason you might not think of the Red pine is that it is less common than the Black or White pine and, … Continue reading Pine Bonsai – A Less Common Cousin

Encore for a Famous Million Dollar Bonsai

This photo is from Bill Valavanis Bonsai Blog, as are the photos in our last post which featured bonsai by a Mr Funayama (no first name given) at the recent 8th World Bonsai Convention. The display of Mr Funayama’s trees was designed by Seiji Morimae. Here’s what Bill Valavanis wrote about the bonsai above (and below)… “Seiji Morimae and his assistants also maintain the Funayama Collection. A few years ago he (Seiji Morimae) took me to visit Mr. Funayama. During lunch Mr. Funayama showed me an old photograph of one of his prized Japanese five-needle pine bonsai from an exhibition … Continue reading Encore for a Famous Million Dollar Bonsai

Bonsai by Tickle

As you can see by the copyright, this muscular Myrtle belongs to Tony Tickle. So do the rest of the trees in this post (provided Tony hasn’t sold them) It’s been a while since we visited Tony Tickle, a man with a distinctive name and some very distinctive bonsai. All the photos shown here are from Tony’s Bonsai & Yamadori blog. If you want more, here’s your link to some earlier Bark posts that feature Tony’s bonsai The Growing Season Has Begun time to feed your bonsai 25% off All of our Bonsai Fertilizers sale ends Sunday at 11:59pm … Continue reading Bonsai by Tickle

Two Powerful Bonsai & A Point of Distinction

This gnarly old Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) (completely asleep at the wheel… but thanks to our friend Ryan Bell, we now know that the tree is 2 needle pine rather than a 5 needle… thus a Japanese red or Japanese black pine)is from a Japanese gallery that originally appeared in Bonsai Today* issue 85. It looks a bit like something you might find on Point Lobos (more about that below). Artist unknown. This post originally appeared in January 2010. It was inspired by a visit to Point Lobos on California’s Monterrey Peninsula. Hyperbole aside, it’s one of the most … Continue reading Two Powerful Bonsai & A Point of Distinction

Spring Bonsai in Full Bloom – NEW Bonsai Soil

You don’t see cascading Azalea bonsai all that often. This flowing full flowering favorite (sorry about that) is by Teunis Jan Klein. Speaking of Azaleas, we just put up our new Kanuma azalea bonsai soil I’m in the process of putting up some new bonsai soil that just arrived. So far the Akadama is up with more to follow. Anyway, it’s spring, our busiest season, in much of the U.S. now. So we’re swamped and need to keep moving. Still. I try to post every day and here’s my quick and easy one for today. All the photos shown here are from a post by Bonsai … Continue reading Spring Bonsai in Full Bloom – NEW Bonsai Soil

Powerful Shari, Brilliant Pot & Upside Down Maple

This old Taxus Baccata (English yew) is dominated by its powerful shari (trunk deadwood) The artist is Stefano Frisoni of Italy. On the road again today, so we’ll take the easy way out. The photos shown here are from a post we did in December, 2015. Continued below… NEW SALE 25% off our large selection of Bonsai Fertilizer well fed bonsai are healthy bonsai plus 10% off orders 100.00 or more and FREE Shipping on U.S. orders 50.00 or more Nice tree. Brilliant pot! Eleven years from stump by Mario Komsta (a regular here on Bark). It’s a Silverberry … Continue reading Powerful Shari, Brilliant Pot & Upside Down Maple

Calligraphy & the Origins of Bonsai

Calligraphy anyone? I don’t know if calligraphy was on Mario Komsta’s mind when he styled this remarkable tree. I do know that there was a time when bonsai that looked like calligraphy was popular and that many scholars agree that bonsai was, in part at least, inspired by the calligraphy of the old Chinese masters. This is especially true of literati style bonsai (bunjin in Japanese). Headed out of town this morning, so we’ll make this quick and easy. This post originally appeared here on Bark in 2013. I started out to continue our Hornbeam series, but got distracted by … Continue reading Calligraphy & the Origins of Bonsai