“Nobody thought at that time that the Westerners would ever be able to develop bonsai themselves”

The Japanese maple that Walter Pall uses to illustrate his ‘hedge-cutting method.’ This photo was taken four years after Walter started working with this tree. The before photo is below. Time to revisit Walter Pall’s hedge-cutting method. We’ve shown this post several times over the years, but it’s a good one. So just in case you missed it… I first learned about hedge shearing bonsai from Jim Smith (sadly now deceased*), a highly respected American Bonsai Artist and grower who worked primarily with tropical and sub-tropical bonsai. Because Jim lived in Florida, I figured that hedge shearing was only used in the … Continue reading “Nobody thought at that time that the Westerners would ever be able to develop bonsai themselves”

Winter Bonsai Silhouettes – Coming Sooner than You Think

In addition to the massive nebari and the lush soft green foliage contrasted with the soft creme pot, you might appreciate the near perfect photograph. It was taken by the omnipresent Joe Noga (all the photos in this post are his as are numerous other bonsai photos featured on this blog and elsewhere). As you can see, the tree is a Willow leaf ficus. No mention is made of the artist. The photo is from the 2016 Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo gallery. I can’t say with certainty that this year’s Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo will be the best yet, but there’s a good … Continue reading Winter Bonsai Silhouettes – Coming Sooner than You Think

Celebrating Forty Years of Bonsai

This sweet Japanese black pine with its thinned and reduced needles and its gnarled old trunk jumps right off the page. The luminous pot and the way it accentuates the color of the tree’s bark doesn’t hurt either. Together they provide a study in simplicity and attention to detail. It belongs to Michael (of Michael Bonsai). Here’s his caption… “Ready for the 40th Midwest Bonsai Show. My kengai kuromatsu. Japanese Black Pine. – Come visit the show next weekend August 18th – 20th at the Chicago Botanic Garden.” I’ve been a fan of Michael Bonsai for a long time, and he’s been a … Continue reading Celebrating Forty Years of Bonsai

Meandering Myrtles

Here’s the copy from our source (a Bark post last November titled Meandering Lines)… “This Myrtle (Myrtus communis) belongs to Andrea Albergo. The pot is by Greg Ceramics and the photo is by Harry Harrington. I chose it for the lead tree for several reasons; I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Myrtle with such a massive trunk (turns out I had), deadwood on most non-conifers isn’t all that common (though becoming more common) and I like the loose abstract meandering lines of the deadwood and living veins.” Yesterday we feature a very muscular Myrtle (Myrtus communis) for your viewing … Continue reading Meandering Myrtles

Botanical Misnomers & an Old Tree from Left Field

You like unconventional? Crazy? How about daring? Notice how the color and design of the pot plays with the wild deadwood and the small touch of moss on the left mirrors the foliage. Just another bonsai from left field by crafty old Nick Lenz, master left fielder, author and preeminent collector-from-the-wild of cedars, larches and other North American gems. This photo is from North American Bonsai (out of print). Still on vacation (we’ll be back and Stone Lantern will be open on the 14th). The photo above originally appeared on Bark in a post titled Eccentric Bonsai #8, Nick’s Crafty Cedar, from … Continue reading Botanical Misnomers & an Old Tree from Left Field

Monster Bonsai, True Confession & the Meaning of Life

It’s hard to tell just how large this monster is from this photo (cropped from the photo just below), but it does provide some notion of how massive the trunk is and a pretty good look at the details on the pot… In the past I’ve always managed to post in spite of being on vacation… which might beg a question about the meaning of vacation (maybe even the meaning of life). Anyway, this is my first post in almost a week, and – true confession – much of it is borrowed from a 2011 post that was titled Vacation Gallery. The original … Continue reading Monster Bonsai, True Confession & the Meaning of Life

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)

Encore for a Famous Million Dollar Bonsai

This photo is from Bill Valavanis Bonsai Blog, as are the photos in our last post which featured bonsai by a Mr Funayama (no first name given) at the recent 8th World Bonsai Convention. The display of Mr Funayama’s trees was designed by Seiji Morimae. Here’s what Bill Valavanis wrote about the bonsai above (and below)… “Seiji Morimae and his assistants also maintain the Funayama Collection. A few years ago he (Seiji Morimae) took me to visit Mr. Funayama. During lunch Mr. Funayama showed me an old photograph of one of his prized Japanese five-needle pine bonsai from an exhibition … Continue reading Encore for a Famous Million Dollar Bonsai

Little Bonsai Beans

The sweet little Japanese maple belongs to Hiroshi Kunii. Hiroshi calls the pot Maru (circle in Japanese). The tiniest bonsai are called Mame in Japanese (bean in English) and the little trees shown here certainly qualify. They (including the pots) are by Hiroshi Kunii, who is new to us. A noble addition to our list of Japanese bonsai artists and potters. NEW Bonsai Wire Special 500 gram rolls Only 9.50 each 20% to 30% off Selected Bonsai Tools see below Here’s part of Hiroshi’s caption (computer translated from Japanese)… Lesser Spindle (Euonymus Alatus), Shooting date: May 18, 2017, Height: … Continue reading Little Bonsai Beans

Still Searching for the Perfect Nebari

This Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis) presents a number of striking features, not the least of which is its powerful nebari (surface roots). The photo originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 35. Yesterday we featured a post on nebari, part of a long history of posts on the topic. Today we’ll go all the way back to April 2009 (our infancy) for our third ever nebari post. It was titled In Search of the Perfect Nebari – part two (Part one was comprised of An Ingenious Technique and An Ingenious Technique part 2 taken together). Continued below… Special Kilo Bonsai Wire now … Continue reading Still Searching for the Perfect Nebari