Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Something new under the sun! Sumi artist Sonia Stella’s caption reads… “Bonsai by Sandro Segneri and modern ink by me” I’m always a little stoked when we discover a new bonsai artist (quoted from our July 14th post). Now we can double down on that with today’s discovery of Sonia Stella’s Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – Sakura Studio. Or maybe triple down, with the added excitement of discovering a perfect intersection of two arts performed at such a high level. MID SUMMER SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT 25% TO 75% OFF LIST PRICE ON HUNDREDS OF BONSAI ITEMS SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT, MONDAY AT 11:59PM EDT – … Continue reading Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Cross Country Bonsai Wagon

One of several bonsai recently posted by Bonsai Mirai. No varieties were given for any of the trees shown here (on social media*), but we do know that they belong to Ryan Neil. If you’d like to know more about these trees and you have time, you can sort through the Mirai website. Even if you don’t find all the ones shown here, you’ll see many of the very best American yamadori (collected from the wild) trees. *Bonsai Mirai’s fb timeline Just in case you forgot, this post can serve as another reminder about the rapidly approaching 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It’s the one bonsai event … Continue reading Cross Country Bonsai Wagon

Bonsai Pioneer Mas Ishii & Michael Bonsai

Here’s Michael’s (Michael Bonsai) caption for this tree… “I was “craving” to style my 80 year old Masaru-Ishii grafted juniper. I’ve never been really happy how it was prior styled. – This is the first time I really like the outcome, because I styled it myself and was motived after a long stretch of engineering and work and not being able to do “hands on” bonsai.” I cropped Michael’s photo (see below) for a closer look I’ve long appreciated the quality of Michael Bonsai’s photos. And his trees. This one originated with Mr Masaru Ishii (now deceased), grafting master (especially … Continue reading Bonsai Pioneer Mas Ishii & Michael Bonsai

Bonsai Folk Art

Bonsai folk art. There’s so much that’s unusual and delicious about this one, that I won’t bother to say much, except that the tree looks like an Olive (talk about asleep at the wheel, and thanks to a couple astute readers, we’re going have to revise this to Rosemary), I love it and Juan Antonio’s caption says… “Otro listo. Romero Palaui.” I don’t know who Romero Palaui is, but his name comes up on Pinterest a lot. The World Cup Finals start in about 80 minutes, so we’ll save researching him for another time Continuing with our newly discovered Juan Antonio Pérez (see … Continue reading Bonsai Folk Art

Grape Bonsai, in a League of Its Own

We don’t see grape bonsai that often and of the ones we have seen, this one is in a league of its own. Even if it weren’t a grape, the well-tapered trunk with its powerful base, beautifully carved deadwood, undulating live vein* and long cascading branch present an impressive picture. And then there are the grapes! The artist is Juan Antonio Pérez. He doesn’t list the varietal I’m always a little stoked when we discover a new bonsai artist (new to me and Bonsai Bark, that is). His name is Juan Antonio Pérez and he lives in El Puerto de Santa María, Spain. The discovery started … Continue reading Grape Bonsai, in a League of Its Own

Revisiting the Great Bonsai Debate

A naturalistic Norway spruce (Picea abies) by Walter Pall (from Bonsai Today issue 106) A blast from the past. This post originally appeared here in July, 2009, our 6th month Barking (this means we’ve been doing this for almost ten years). I don’t know if the topic is still relevant to any of you, but there was a time when it created a bit of a buzz and I think many of us can learn something by reading what Walter Pall has to say about the topic (below). As always with reruns, I’ve made a few changes. In the expanding galaxy of … Continue reading Revisiting the Great Bonsai Debate

Feed Your Bonsai (They Don’t Survive on Water, Light and Love Alone)

Your bonsai may never look like this, but they can be this healthy if you tend to basic care, including ample fertilizing. It’s a Japanese maple that belongs to Walter Pall. Walter lists its height as 75cm (30″) and its age as around thirty years. It was imported from a Korean nursery in 2016. The pot is a Tokoname from Japan. This is not the first time we’ve encouraged you to tend to your bonsai’s nutrient needs, and it won’t be the last. The tree above appeared here on Bark a few months ago. Most of the rest of what you see here … Continue reading Feed Your Bonsai (They Don’t Survive on Water, Light and Love Alone)

Selling Bonsai & Buying Time – Bill’s Fire Sale

This awesome Full moon maple with its fiery foliage belongs to Bill Valavanis. Here’s Bill’s caption. “The Full moon maple was well developed, one of my favorite developed bonsai. Usually a colorful ribbon was tied to the lower branch to caution people not to damage the lovely branch. As many of my bonsai are, this Full moon maple is often changed in the garden according to season. It is always tied down with one or two pieces of sissy wire.” We can’t go too long without featuring Bill Valavanis. Especially getting this close to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (in … Continue reading Selling Bonsai & Buying Time – Bill’s Fire Sale

Cage Free Bonsai & Other Wonders

I couldn’t resist. The photo and Cage Free title belong to Rodney Clemons, a well know bonsai humorist and respected artist (Tony Tickle’s American counterpart?). A little whimsy to start the day. You can find the photos above and just below, and much more on Rodney Clemon’s timeline. 30% off Bonsai Pot Sale Ends Wednesday (Tomorrow) at 11:59pm EDT – Rodney Clemon’s famous Kingsville Boxwood. We’ve feature it before and if I had to guess, we’ll probably feature it again someday. The ancient olive below has little to do with bonsai, though it would be easy to imagine it scaled down to bonsai size “The at least 2,000 year old olive … Continue reading Cage Free Bonsai & Other Wonders

More Sweet Little Trees & Bonsai Books Galore

At a glance, this is a sweet little freshly trimmed Shimpaku bonsai. But if you let your glance linger, you might see just how much age and character this tiny tree expresses. There’s that relatively massive little trunk and its rugged twists and scars. There’s also the impressive branch development for such a small tree. Altogether a masterful little bonsai. The photo and tree belong to Haruyosi, as do the other photos shown here. Continuing with Tiny Trees, we’ve got Haruyosi today, one of the true Mame Masters with some freshly trimmed tiny Shimpaku junipers. *Mame is bean in Japanese and is … Continue reading More Sweet Little Trees & Bonsai Books Galore