To Deadwood or Not to Deadwood (for My Friend Sal)

There’s deadwood and then there’s deadwood. It’s a safe guess that this crazy tree is a juniper, just like the other two trees shown here (it may also be a safe guess that it’s a tanuki*). There’s no mention of the artist/owner. Ditto for the other two. Every few days we get a comment from someone objecting to all the deadwood you see on bonsai these days. I get it, things get overdone. Including deadwood. But if we’re going to consider bonsai an art, then we might want to leave room for experimentation. And if we do that, there’s always … Continue reading To Deadwood or Not to Deadwood (for My Friend Sal)

24 Hours and Counting

To my eye, this is not only a very sweet bonsai in the ordinary sense – dynamic, well balanced, robustly alive, with beautifully carved and not overdone deadwood, etc – but it is also fascinatingly unusual. All that knobby stuff piled up on the surface and crawling up the trunk like some sort of alien growth. I’m going to assume that it’s living tissue that belongs to the tree – there’s no sign of a living vein anywhere, so it must be. Our source – like so many sources – doesn’t offer a type tree or an artist/owner. There was a … Continue reading 24 Hours and Counting

Roots, Rocks & Summer Vacation

I love this tree. The texture and movement as it flows over the rock is perfect, and the fine ramification (branching) is excellent. Nice pot too. The photo is from the 2017 Kokufu Exhibition. No variety is given (the majority of great Japanese root-over-rock bonsai are Trident maples, but the ramification seems too delicate for a Trident, so your guess is as good as mine) Stone Lantern will be closed from July 28th to August 14th but you will be able to order during that time Orders received after the 3:00pm EDT, July 27th will be sent on a first come, … Continue reading Roots, Rocks & Summer Vacation

Deadwood & Flowers

This rather spectacular Prunus mume (Japanese apricot) is from the 2017 Kokufu Exhibition. As you can see, there’s deadwood galore – almost as if the whole tree is simply deadwood and flowers – but unlike some deadwood, it looks natural and to my eyes at least, not a bit overdone. Part of this is the naturally aged looking grey color and the way it blends with the bark and even the flowers. BTW, Prunus mume is one of the few deciduous trees that holds deadwood for a long time. Much like many conifers* Keeping it simple today with just two trees. … Continue reading Deadwood & Flowers

Full Cascade Before & After – Stone Lantern Summer Vacation

Here’s another routine maintenance before and after. As you can see, it’s a monster cascading Juniper. Just how ‘monster’ we don’t know, as there’s no size given. Nor is there a variety (looks a lot like a Shimpaku juniper) or an artist/owner Like yesterday’s post, this one is from BonsaiBaison. It’s part of a their series on before and after bonsai with high quality mature trees Stone Lantern will be closed from July 28th to August 14th (see below for details). Orders received after the 3:00pm EDT, July 27th, will be sent on a first come, first served basis, beginning on the … Continue reading Full Cascade Before & After – Stone Lantern Summer Vacation

Before & After – a Remarkably Unusual & Beautiful Bonsai

After. I’m going to guess that this distinctive tree is a Shimpaku juniper. No variety or artist/owner is mentioned by our source (below). I picked it because it is so remarkably unusual and beautiful. My only question is… is it unbalanced with the mass of the tree floating in space way off to the right? Another way of saying this might be… is the visual weight of the pot enough to counterbalance the strong bias of the tree to right? I found this unusual tree at Thanun BonsaiBaison. It’s another piece of our current before and after series. Nothing much was done to the basic structure … Continue reading Before & After – a Remarkably Unusual & Beautiful Bonsai

Monster Demo Bonsai on a Monster Hydraulic Turntable

That’s famous bonsai master, Kunio Kobayashi on the right, getting ready to tackle his monster demo tree. And yes, that’s a Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Bonsai Turntable gamely holding the behemoth up. The after shot is below It’s Saturday, a good day to catch up mowing, weeding and trimming outside. Not bonsai (who mows bonsai?) but just our landscape gardens. Anyway, to save time, we’ll resurrect this post from a couple months ago. It’s a bit of an infomercial for our popular Green T Professional Hydraulic Lift Turntables, but the photos are still very good. Time to pay another visit to the recent … Continue reading Monster Demo Bonsai on a Monster Hydraulic Turntable

Rising to the Challenge – Another Before & After Bonsai

This radical before and after Sargent’s Juniper (Juniperus sargenti, aka Shimpaku) required technical and artistic skills you don’t see everyday. The artist is Salatore Liporace Staying with our before & after theme. This one is from our archives (August, 2014). It was titled Technical Skills, Great Vision & An Unsolved Mystery. The artist is Salvatore Liporace. My assumption at the time about the type tree was mistaken, so to avoid confusion, I’ve eliminated much of the text from the original post. This is an excellent example of a before and after bonsai. The before is full of challenges and promise (good stock is half the battle) … Continue reading Rising to the Challenge – Another Before & After Bonsai

Before & After – Same Artist, Another Bonsai

The striking results you see here involve the eye of an artist and the skill of a professional. In this case, Manuel Germade is both the artist and the professional. There’s no mention of the type tree and I won’t guess. The caption reads “Manuel Germade Bonsai Maintenance – Rocco Cicciarello (Italy)” I cropped the before photo to eliminate distracting background clutter (see below) Picking up where we left off with another before and after by Manuel Germade. Like yesterday’s post, Manuel takes on an already well established bonsai that has become overgrown. Also like yesterday, the process involves both ordinary maintenance and an upgrading of the … Continue reading Before & After – Same Artist, Another Bonsai

Before & After – Maintaining & Upgrading Quality Bonsai

This high quality bonsai provides an excellent example of a before and after, when the before is already a well established tree. The tree belongs to Yannik Kiggen (coincidentally, we just did a first time post on Yannick last month). The artist is Manuel Germade, another first timer here on Bark. Though the variety isn’t mentioned, it looks like a lot like a Yew (Taxus) Back to before and after. This time the tree is an already a well established bonsai, while the artist Manuel Germade, though perhaps also already well established, is new to us. Though there are many different types of before and … Continue reading Before & After – Maintaining & Upgrading Quality Bonsai