Bonsai Before & After – Three Year Progression

A three year progression on a Himalayan juniper (Juniperus squamata) by Josef Burschi We’ve got new Before & After for you. This time with an intermediate stage between the before and after. There is a small caveat however. The tree is a Tanuki* (Phoenix graft). I think most Japanese bonsai artists frown on Tanuki, or at least they don’t value them as much as other bonsai. But the tree looks good, so I don’t think it’s a big deal. You can see this tree and some other good ones on Josef Burschi’s fb timeling NEW SITE WIDE SALE 20% OFF … Continue reading Bonsai Before & After – Three Year Progression

Flowering Cherry Bonsai – Few and Far Between

This is perhaps the strongest Flowering cherry we’ve featured in our ten years of posting. Its muscular trunk, aged bark and profusion of lovely flowers make for an impressive showing Good Flowering cherry bonsai seem to be few and far between. In our ten years of posting (about 3.500 posts), we’ve only featured three flowering cherries and I’m not sure about one (here’s one, here’s another and here’s the one I’m not sure about). We found this one on Michael Bonsai fb timeline, a steady source for quality bonsai photos NEW 25% OFF TURNTABLE DISCOUNTS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE GREEN T … Continue reading Flowering Cherry Bonsai – Few and Far Between

Green T & Bonsai Wire Specials Ends Tonight

The famous Masahiko Kimura with his demo planting sitting on a Green T Plus at the World Bonsai Convention. 20% OFF GREEN T TURNTABLES ENDS TONIGHT STONE LANTERN SPECIALS 20% OFF TURNTABLES 25% OFF OKATSUNE TOOLS 100 GRAM AESTHETICS WIRE SPECIAL 40% OFF 10 – 24 ROLLS 50% OFF 25 OR MORE Green T & Wire Specials end Tues, Feb 5th at 11:59pm EST DISCOUNTS ARE APPLIED AT CHECKOUT STONELANTERN.COM That’s famous bonsai artist, Kunio Kobayashi on the right, getting ready to tackle his monster demo tree at last year’s World Bonsai Convention. And yes, that’s a Green T not even straining … Continue reading Green T & Bonsai Wire Specials Ends Tonight

What Do FREE Bonsai Fertilizer & Football Have in Common?

This might pass as artistic, but it’s really just a miserably failed photoshop effort. The bonsai drawing is by Rueben Roig I was going to do a post on the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s powerful new website, but WordPress decided to upgrade last night, and now I need to relearn how to put up a new post. Meanwhile, we’re digging deep into our archives for this one (Feb 2015). I know you’re probably sick of hearing about football by now, but there’s always our FREE Green Dream Fertilizer Special to peak your interest (details below) FREE green dream Bonsai FERTILIZER Superbowl … Continue reading What Do FREE Bonsai Fertilizer & Football Have in Common?

A Bonsai in an Unusual Setting (& Others)

It’s a little surprising that there are so few good shots of bonsai in creative settings. This one was borrowed from Peter Warren’s Surayama, as were all the photos in this post. Still catching up form vacation, so for expediency’s sake we’ll plunder our archives. This one is from June 2015. It was titled ‘Surayama – Shimpaku, Spruce & Several Others.‘ NEW SPECIAL 20% OFF BONSAI TURNTABLES INCLUDES GREEN T HYDRAULIC LIFT TURNTABLES – – This photo is from a series Peter calls Noelanders trees. (Noelanders refers to the Noelanders Trophy Exhibit). He doesn’t say what it is, but I’ll guess that … Continue reading A Bonsai in an Unusual Setting (& Others)

A Muscular Monster, Before and After

I found this Picea abies (Norway spruce, aka European spruce) before and after at Mandala Bonsai Ilona. Though it would be great to know just how large this tree is, nothing more than just the type tree and before and after is offered on the timeline This magnificent, muscular monster (sorry!) is from Mandala Bonsai Ilona’s timeline. In this case, the before and after process mostly involves bringing an already well established bonsai back into shape. With one new design element added; the first branch is now a jin (the bark was stripped and the resulting dead branch is left on the tree as an intentional feature). Otherwise, … Continue reading A Muscular Monster, Before and After

Magnificent Old Larch Bonsai, Before & After

The Guardian of Laments is Giacomo Pappalardo’s name for this magnificent old European larch (Larix decidua) Another before and after and it’s a good one. I have a soft spot for larches, though ours are Tamaracks (Larix laricina) and this one is a European larch (Larix decidua). Not the same tree, but similar, though the similarity ends when you compare a tree like this with the much younger ones I’ve been growing here for the last fifteen years or so (this one was no doubt collected from the wild and shows all the signs of great age). Here’s your link … Continue reading Magnificent Old Larch Bonsai, Before & After

Sheer Bonsai Power – Before & After

We usually start Before and After posts with an appropriate B & A photo (see below). But I couldn’t resist this one. I think it captures the essence of the tree. Or at least its size and sheer power I found this impressive before and after pine on Luis Vallejo’s timeline. The only caption provided is… “Hiroaki Suzuki , Pinus sylvestris, Luis Vallejo Bonsái Garden.” We know Luis from numerous posts here on Bark and we also know a bit about Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine). I’m not familiar with Hiroaki Suzuki, but if you’d like to do a little research, here’s a link for you … Continue reading Sheer Bonsai Power – Before & After

Omiya’s Pines, Bonsai Beauty & Heart

Combining two arts and two artists, here’s a small piece of the translation with this striking photo… “Daiki Abe: Bonsai Artist. Takashi Eguchi: Photographer. Name: the two exhibition of bonsai and photography ‘Pine Beauty heart'” There is no species given with this pine, but it looks like a Japanese white (Pinus parviflora). The photo is from Omiya Bonsai Museum’s timeline, along with more information on the display. The rest of the photos in this post are Japanese white pines, also from Omiya’s timeline, but not from this display We could go on indefinitely with photos from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. However, … Continue reading Omiya’s Pines, Bonsai Beauty & Heart

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, this time with new photos

Japanese apricot (often referred to as Ume) at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Saitama, Japan. You can see the whole tree below We’re going to continue with the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum today, but this time with newly posted photos from their facebook timeline. Ones we’ve never shown before 20% OFF EVERYTHING SITE WIDE SALE ENDS TONIGHT PLUS AN EXTRA 10% TO 20% OFF ROSHI TOOLS AN EXTRA 10% OFF BONSAI POTS THESE SPECIALS END WEDNESDAY, JAN 23RD AT 11:59PM EST – Star jasmine fully cascading with all the foliage below the pot Another Japanese apricot (Ume). This time … Continue reading Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, this time with new photos