Before & After – Yearly Work on any Juniper

Before and after on cleanup day. It’s a Tam juniper (Juniperus sabina ‘Tamariscifolia) that belongs to Michael Hagedorn. Here’s copy about the tree shown above that I lifted from Michael Horndorn’s Crataegus Bonsai: “The day these photos were taken was a basic ‘clean up day’ for the juniper—no wire was applied, removing only old and dangling foliage and shortening shoots that were overlong, and also sanding the bark, cleaning deadwood, and applying lime sulfur. This is yearly work on any juniper.” It’s a little hard to fathom that the tree above is the exact same variety as this low … Continue reading Before & After – Yearly Work on any Juniper

An Independence Day History of Bonsai in the U.S.

This wildly expressive Wisteria reminds me of exploding 4th of July fireworks. The photo is from Bill Valavanis‘ Classical Bonsai Art (out of print). The tree belongs to Robert Blankfield, who originally styled it at a workshop with Bill. This post is resurrected from Independence Day, 2013, with a few additions and subtractions. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the USA. To help you celebrate, why not enjoy a sampling of home grown bonsai? But first, because many of our readers are not U.S. citizens and because some U.S. folks don’t know much about history anyway, a quick American history … Continue reading An Independence Day History of Bonsai in the U.S.

Solid Gold Money Tree & Two Big Bonsai Events

A little tacky for sure. But how often do you see a ‘solid gold’ money tree? It’s from Bill Valavanis’ bonsai blog. He discovered at a Chinese restaurant while in the Philippines in March. Bill Valavanis has two exciting bonsai events coming up. First and foremost is his 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in September. Second is his tour of the 2017 8th WBFF Bonsai Convention in Saitama (Omiya) Japan. Details and links for both are below. In addition to Bill’s big bonsai events, you might like to know that we have 4 New Sales at Stone Lantern, including 25% … Continue reading Solid Gold Money Tree & Two Big Bonsai Events

Old Bonsai Beauty – Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow

This old beauty is one of hundreds of quality bonsai that was featured at the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It’s a Nikko Satsuki Azalea that belongs to The Kennett Collection. It originally belonged to Kunio Kobayashi who started it by planting small Nikko’s next to each other. The 5rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition will take place September 10th & 11th in Rochester NY. See you there! Running a little behind schedule, so we’ll dip back into our deep archival pool once again. The photos and some of the text in this post are from May 2012. You may notice … Continue reading Old Bonsai Beauty – Site Wide Sale Ends Tomorrow

Beating a Dead(wood) Horse

Flowing graceful lines with a minimum amount of foliage and a copious amount of masterfully carved deadwood. And though some people may take issue with this abstract, highly stylized type bonsai, to me this is sheer beauty. A delight to behold. One misconception about highly stylized bonsai with extensive carved deadwood is that they violate some basic principle of bonsai and nature. The famous John Naka line “The object is not to make the tree look like a bonsai, but to make the bonsai look like a tree” is sometimes used to reinforce this view. I think Mr Naka’s quote … Continue reading Beating a Dead(wood) Horse

Michelangelo & Bonsai at Its Best

I’m loving this tree. Even though we know it has been worked by human hands, the link to its natural state hasn’t been lost at all. If anything it has been enhanced. Bonsai at its best! No variety is given, though it looks like a collected juniper. Nacho Marin is someone who was already an artist when he discovered bonsai and who brought his vision, talent and experience to the art. And though people often say that we are all artists, still, most of us will never be Michelangelo,* no matter how hard we try… The images shown here are … Continue reading Michelangelo & Bonsai at Its Best

Old Masters Bonsai Displays

Hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) forest on a slab and Shimpaku juniper on a spectacular rock. This image captures only half of a display by Grand Master Saburo Kato. This post first appeared here in our earliest days (August, 2009). The displays themselves are from earlier (Bonsai Today issue 43, 1996). Our photo format is considerably larger now and I even cropped and enlarged a couple individual trees for closer views ( a little fuzzy, but might be helpful- see below). Otherwise, though bonsai keeps evolving, masterful bonsai is still masterful bonsai. Each group display in this post is by a single … Continue reading Old Masters Bonsai Displays

Bonsai Magic at Night

Black pine in the black of night. From the collection of Masahiko Kimura (The Magician). There’s a lot going on here and it’s just me today so we’ll plug back into our archives. This post is from September 2012. The photos were borrowed from El Tim Bonsai. It’s not often you see bonsai photographed in the dark. In this case the effects are rather magical (no pun intended). If you look at the El Tim KIMURA album, you’ll see a bunch of photos of phenomenal bonsai that were shot during the day, followed by a few photos of phenomenal bonsai … Continue reading Bonsai Magic at Night

Dancing on the Edge of Balance

Juan Andrade’s precariously balanced Japanese white pine stone planting. If I understand the translation from Spanish, the stone is not bolted, glued or tied down in any way. Though when someone asked if it is stable in the wind, Juan replied “Yes, the stone is very heavy. But still it is tied down for safety.” This photo was cropped. The uncropped original is below.* Here is what the artist Juan Andrade said about the rock planting above: “Sometimes as artists we struggle to find our own voice… Bonsai that dance in the edge of balance satisfy me the most. I … Continue reading Dancing on the Edge of Balance

An Old Ponderosa Engulfed by 31 Little Mugos

There’s a very cool old Ponderosa pine hidden in there somewhere. The handiwork is by Colin Lewis. Here’s his caption: “Thirty-one approach grafts of mugo onto ponderosa. Got fed up with long needles that get longer as the season progresses. Wish I’d done this years ago.” I discovered the photo above at about 6am this morning while perusing facebook (the NY Times of bonsai news). Just looking at it and reading Colin’s caption (also above) begged more questions than I was prepared to answer. My solution was to bother Colin with 7:00am phone call. As always, Colin was gracious and … Continue reading An Old Ponderosa Engulfed by 31 Little Mugos