A Pencil and Paper, and a Desire to Improve Your Eye for Bonsai Design

Rococo bonsai. If you decide to try your hand at drawing bonsai, my guess is that the results won’t look a lot like this. We’ve featured this illustration by Ruben Roig at least twice (here and here), but it’s been a long time and Ruben’s skills are exceptional, so it’s worth another look. Consider this post an encouragement for you to try your hand at drawing bonsai (that’s three in row for those of you who love the English language). Or lacking that, you can simply enjoy these illustrations by people who excel at the art of drawing bonsai. There … Continue reading A Pencil and Paper, and a Desire to Improve Your Eye for Bonsai Design

A Fascinating Mix of Insight & Opinion

Unfinished, but wild and wonderful. I wonder what this Scot’s pine bunjin beauty looked like before it was collected somewhere in the wilds of Sweden. It belongs to Muaro Stemberger. It’s from his facebook page. Mauro also has a website. It’s called Italian Bonsai Dream. Traveling once again, so we’ll resume our archival explorations. This one, originally titled Bunjin Bonsai Bliss is from October, 2011 (with some current editing and elaboration), though any Bark discussion of Bunjin warrants a mention of Moving Out of the Bonsai Mainstream with a Deft and Delicate Touch (from December 2012), whose comments are the longest … Continue reading A Fascinating Mix of Insight & Opinion

Random Pages & A Messy Desk

This unusual Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) is not representative of most of the trees that appear in Fine Bonsai, which tend to be powerful mind-stopppers. Still, there’s something about it, beyond just the fact that it’s so different… Packing and leaving for the West Coast today, so it’s archive time. This will be the third time for this post, which you might view as excessive and I’d have to agree. Except that these photos from Fine Bonsai are great. And, there’s a motive for resorting to a post about a book. We just put up a 25% off book … Continue reading Random Pages & A Messy Desk

Bonsai Book Sale 25% – 30% off

Our Big Book Sale even includes our already discounted sets like this recently back in print SET OF 3 HASKILL CREEK BONSAI BOOKS BOOK SALE 25% TO 30% OFF ALL BOOKS & DVDs 1-2 Books 25% off – 3 or more 30% off (off of our already discounted prices) sets count as 1 book final discounts will show up when you check out sale ends March 2nd, 2014 Visit Stone Lantern and choose from our vast selection of already discounted Bonsai Books, Japanese Gardening books and other related books. We also offer a large selection of Bonsai Tools and … Continue reading Bonsai Book Sale 25% – 30% off

10% to 20% off Our Already Discounted Prices

Our Roshi Stainless and High Carbon Steel Bonsai Tools are already the most reasonably price tools you’ll find. Now they just got even more reasonable. 10% to 20% off everything at Stone Lantern Here how it works: 10% off all orders up to 49.99 15% off all orders from 50.00 to 199.99 20% off all orders of 200.00 or more This includes a whole range of items that are already deeply discounted. You may already know about our great wire prices. Now they are even greater. Ditto our large selection of Bonsai and related books. And … Continue reading 10% to 20% off Our Already Discounted Prices

Real Fine Bonsai

This sublime shot of a radiant Golden Full Moon maple by Bill Valavanis is one of 281 brilliant full-page photos that appear Fine Bonsai. I tried but failed. I wanted to put up a fresh post this morning, but, after two hours of stops and starts and general and specific indecision, once again I’m taking the easy way out. Let’s just say it’s still summer and the soft siren song of the great outdoors still beckons… This one (with some changes) originally appeared almost exactly one year ago. I picked it because it features a remarkable book (and because our … Continue reading Real Fine Bonsai

NEW Bonsai Books

Finally. Volume 2 of Bonsai Aesthetics is here and it turns out that it is well worth the wait. Volume 1 covers the main rules of bonsai design while volume 2 digs into what makes the difference between an ordinary bonsai and those selected for Japan’s famous Kokufu-ten exhibiton. What is it about these bonsai trees that cause such intense feelings when we see them? The author, Francois Jeker is an accomplished bonsai artist, author, teacher and deadwood carving master. Big Summer Book Sale. Strike while the iron is hot. We are currently running a 20% to 25% off sale … Continue reading NEW Bonsai Books

The Art & Science of Watering

This drawing is from our Masters’ Series book; Junipers, Growing & Styling Juniper Bonsai. Continuing with our mid-summer archival borrowing program, here’s a post that originally appeared way back in 2009. A perfect complement to this post is a post about summer misting (hamisu) by Michael Hagedorn. The more you know about watering, the better. Without timely, intelligent watering, any plant in a container is at risk. The more you know about watering, the better. But first, a quick word from our sponsor: Check out our big Summer Book Sale at Stone Lantern. 20% to 25% off of our already … Continue reading The Art & Science of Watering

Summer Book & DVD Sale

Our Summer Book Sale even includes our already discounted sets like this recently back in print SET OF 3 HASKILL CREEK BONSAI BOOKS SUMMER BOOKS SALE 20% TO 25% OFF ALL BOOKS & DVDs (off of our already discounted prices) sets count as 1 book final discounts will show up when you check out Sale includes all of our books including our most popular book MASTERS’ SERIES JUNIPER BOOK list price 29.95, our regular discounted price only 19.95 with our 20% discount YOU PAY ONLY 15.96 only 14.96 if you buy 6 books (sets count as 1 book) … Continue reading Summer Book & DVD Sale

Year End Loose Ends & Shameless Promotion

Just couldn’t resist posting yet another yew (there have been several lately). But, as you can see, it’s not just any yew. I found it here with this caption. Taxus Baccata (English yew) by Stefano Frisoni from Italy. Newsflash! I’ve been having a strange feeling that I’ve seen this tree somewhere before. Turns out it was right here on Bark 17 months ago. Oh well, this photo is much better. Shameless promotion There are three reasons why I spend so much time on Bonsai Bark. To spare you the boredom, I’ll skip the first two… the third is to promote … Continue reading Year End Loose Ends & Shameless Promotion