Walter’s Massive Forest & Other Hornbeam Bonsai

This massive Hornbeam forest belongs to Walter Pall. Walter doesn’t mention the variety in his gallery section (you might be able to hunt it down on his blog), but given that Walter lives in Germany, You might guess that it’s a European hornbeam (Carpinus betula), but I wouldn’t take it to the bank. The other day someone asked if we would do something on Hornbeams, so here it is, the beginning of a series on the Hornbeam genus (Carpinus). And in case the person who asked is actually reading this (or anyone else is interested), our archives contain several Hornbeam … Continue reading Walter’s Massive Forest & Other Hornbeam Bonsai

The Smoke of the Volcano

The Smoke of the Volcano. This famous old collected Shimpaku juniper is called Noble Satake’s Shimpaku. When it was collected it was given the name The Smoke of the Volcano because of its unusual twisting trunk. The fuzzy photo is what happens when you blow an image up from 300 to 770 pixels (see below for the original). I just discovered an excellent article on Morten Albek’s Shohin Bonsai blog (thanks to Bonsai Mary). It’s a history of a particular collected Shimpaku juniper and collecting Shimpaku juniper in general. This article was written by Kazuki Yamanaka and published in Japanese … Continue reading The Smoke of the Volcano

Mystical Dragon and other American Tropical Jewels

Rugged dynamic deadwood. It’s a Buttonwood by Robert Kempinski from his Mahogany Row Studio. Today is our last full day of an all too short Florida Keys’ vacation. Tomorrow it’s back to the freezing North. Before we pull on our long pants and head out, this seems like a good time to take a look at some Florida Buttonwoods, our American tropical jewel. The photos shown here and some of the text appeared almost exactly one year ago today. One of many Bark posts that feature Buttonwoods. This one belongs to Mary Madison. John Naka called her the Buttonwood Queen. … Continue reading Mystical Dragon and other American Tropical Jewels

Tanuki Bonsai – Is It Cheating?

This colorful full bloom Bougainvillea bonsai has nothing to do with Tanuki (that’s below). It belongs to Rick Jeffery and the photo was taken at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. It came to us via Bonsai Mary’s newsletter. Just two seemingly unrelated bonsai photos today. The common thread is Bonsai Mary (Mary Miller). Mary lives in Florida and writes mostly (but not exclusively) about tropical bonsai on her excellent blog. Mary also offers an equally excellent newsletter which you can sign up for on her blog. This photo of Randy Clark’s Juniper is from an article on Bonsai … Continue reading Tanuki Bonsai – Is It Cheating?

Mystical Dragon

I like both the character (the deadwood) and the simplicity (the rest) of this tree. It’s a Buttonwood by Robert Kempinski. I found it here. It’s time to revisit Buttonwoods, our American (but not just American) tropical jewel . There’s lots of information on the web about buttonwoods and particularly their care. Two good places to start are: Of Bonsai Magazine and Bonsai Mary’s. And then there are our numerous posts that feature Buttonwoods. The first two photos are new to us. The others are from a Bark post titled American Tropical Jewell. This one belongs to Mary Madison. John Naka called … Continue reading Mystical Dragon

Dwarf Kingsville & Other Boxwood 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. Let’s touch back in with boxwoods for a moment (see our post from two days ago). This one originally appeared in September of last year. This post was inspired by an article on boxwoods in Bonsai Mary that sheds some light on the rampant confusion about dwarf boxwoods and particularly, what is and what isn’t a Dwarf Kingsville. Here’s one of the photos from Bonsai … Continue reading Dwarf Kingsville & Other Boxwood Bonsai

Bonsai Banter, Buttonwoods & Summer Dormancy

This dynamic Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) is one of four trees from Florida that were selected for the upcoming Artisan’s Cup in Portland, Oregon (go! it’s going to be great). It belongs to Paul Pikel. Image courtesy of Mary Miller (Bonsai Mary of Bonsai Banter). Florida is more than a refuge for snowbirds and hormone bedeviled college kids; it’s also home to most of the best tropical and semi-tropical bonsai in North America, and of all the great bonsai varieties you’ll find in Florida, Buttonwood is king. Something else you’ll find in Florida (and some other north American hot spots) are … Continue reading Bonsai Banter, Buttonwoods & Summer Dormancy

Dwarf Kingsvilles & Other Worthy Boxwood 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. This post was inspired by an article on boxwoods in Bonsai Mary. I’ve been thinking of featuring some of Mary’s timely articles for a long time, but the photos are small for this format and don’t enlarge very well. Finally a solution dawned; include some full sized photos from previous Bark posts and mix in some of Mary’s smaller photos. BTW: Mary’s article sheds some light … Continue reading Dwarf Kingsvilles & Other Worthy Boxwood Bonsai

Omiya & Tiny Assassins

Goyomatsu. Japanese white pine from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum’s gallery. The photos shown here are from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, with the exception of one unrelated photo (can you guess which one?). I took the easy path today and borrowed the content shown here from a post we did back in May 2012. Elegance. I’ve never been to the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, but if the elegance of the display shown here is any indication, maybe I should start saving my yen. Assassins. Bonsai Mary (aka Mary Miller) has a good article on beneficial insects. There’s one … Continue reading Omiya & Tiny Assassins

Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?

Pemphis acidula by Gedemerta Bonsaibali. For a while now, facebook has been inundated with bonsai by Gedemerta. Turns out, that’s a good thing if you like exciting tropical bonsai. If you’re not friends on facebook, you can see more of Gede Merta’s trees on Beial blog (on facebook it’s Gedemerta; on Beial it’s Gede Merta). Bonsai from Scratch prizes Are there any winners out there who haven’t collected their prizes yet? If so, please contact me at wayne@stonelantern.com. Do you have an upcoming bonsai event that you want to promote? Let us know and we’ll publish it for you. wayne@stonelantern.com. … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Nifty Nebari, Bonsai Cloud & What Happened to Fresno?