It Takes a Village of Bonsai Artists & Patrons

This Itoigawa shimpaku juniper won the Finest Medium Size Bonsai prize at the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (September 2014). Though it looks larger, its height is only 12″ (30.5 cm). It belongs to Troy Schmidt of Asheville North Carolina. Though I don’t know this tree’s whole story, I do know that both Boon Manakitivipart and Bjorn Bjorholm have worked on it (it takes a village of bonsai artists and patrons). The photo above is from Boon Manakitivipart’s facebook feed. The other photos in this post (except the very last one) are from a 2012 workshop that Boon hosted. It’s … Continue reading It Takes a Village of Bonsai Artists & Patrons

Boon Again

This stupendously powerful little Japanese black pine had just been refined at a Bay Island Bonsai workshop by Peter Tea when Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight) took this photo. The tree belongs to Boon. Yesterday we featured five of Boon Manakitivipart’s bonsai, so let’s stay on theme and stick with Boon for the moment. This time the emphasis is on Boon as a bonsai teacher as well as an accomplished bonsai artist. The photos shown here and some of the text as well, are borrowed from three earlier Bark posts (here, here and here). Michael Hagedorn working at one of Boon’s … Continue reading Boon Again

Boon’s Juniper Bonsai & Our Juniper Book

This Sierra juniper by Boon Manakitivipart is one of three trees by Boon that appears in the gallery section of our newly reprinted Juniper Masters’ Series book. Boon Manakitivipart (Bonsai Boon) is very well-known and highly respected bonsai artist and teacher (a teacher’s teacher). He also has the distinction of having three of his trees in our newly reprinted Juniper book. All three and a couple others appear here. Including one that is on the cover of our final Bonsai Today issue from way back in 2007. At least four of the trees (maybe all five) shown here are yamadori … Continue reading Boon’s Juniper Bonsai & Our Juniper Book

The Dark Horse

What a great photo. It helps to have such an excellent subject for sure (Japanese black pine). It’s from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. Getting ready for a few days out of the office (my other job) so it’s a good time to dig back into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2013. It was titled ‘Drifting a Little Farther Afield.’ There’s really not much of theme going on with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it … Continue reading The Dark Horse

Choosing a New Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

Which pot would you choose for this Western juniper (please reply in the comments – Im trying to keep my email traffic down to 7,000 a day)? This and the other photos shown here are from a 2013 Boon Manakitivipart post. Sooner or later every serious North American bonsai artist is influenced by Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). For some this influence is face to face (if you’re lucky). Or indirectly though one of his students that now teach bonsai (Michael Hagedorn comes straight to mind, though there are others). And then there are his regular posts on facebook that … Continue reading Choosing a New Pot – Oval or Rectangle?

One Larch, Four Bonsai Pots (plus one)

One American larch, four pots (plus the original pot below). All this images in this post were borrowed from Boon Manakitivipart’s facebook feed (the image above is a composite that we put together). Boon is at it again. This time it’s our prized local larch (Larix laricina). Around here we call it Tamarack (the Algonquian name that means “wood used for snowshoes”). No matter what you call it, it is in my opinion, by far the best local wild species for bonsai. Bar none. Which pot do you prefer? If you are ambitious, you might tell us why. (NOTE: So … Continue reading One Larch, Four Bonsai Pots (plus one)

One Scots Pine, Four Bonsai Pots

One Scots pine, four pots. Do you have a favorite? We found these images on the National Bonsai Foundations facebook feed. They originated with Boon Manakitivipart (Bonsai Boon). Over the years Boon has put up several ‘which pot do you prefer’ posts, some of which have appeared here on Bark along with numerous other posts featuring Boon’s Bonsai. So, without further ado, which pot do you prefer? If you’re ambitious you might tell us why. Pot number 1 Pot number 2 Pot number 3 Pot number 4

Coming Soon to Your Back Yard

As long as we’re on the topic of choosing, I chose this one as the lead photo because it’s the only one with clean pot. A distinct advantage. All the photos in this post are from Boon Manakitivipart’s facebook postings. I took the liberty of cropping all the photos in this post and combining some separate photos into single images. Still on vacation, so still digging into our archives. This one is fairly recent (December last year) but seems particularly appropriate as the fall potting season is closing in fast. For those of us in inhospitable northern climes it starts … Continue reading Coming Soon to Your Back Yard

Japanese Black Pine – Rushing the Future

A Japanese black pine after some serious trimming and cleaning up. If you look at the photo just below, you might notice that there has been some serious needle reduction too. The tree and the photos in this post belong to Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon). The first two photos shown here provide a simple one day (or thereabouts) before and after on a Japanese black pine. As you can see it’s a remarkable tree. I was especially taken with the perfectly striated bark and the way it seamlessly flows into the nebari. Another thing that struck me about this … Continue reading Japanese Black Pine – Rushing the Future

Japanese Cedar, Few and Far Between

This Cryptomeria japonica is reminiscent of the unimaginably vast and towering Giant sequoias in California’s Sierra Nevada. This effect could be enhanced by photographing it from a little lower (see the photo below), but you still get the drift. Still on a vacation of sorts, so we’ll continue our archival adventures. This one was originally titled Quiet Dignity (July, 2011). Far and few between What a great tree. It’s from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. You seldom see a real good formal upright bonsai (you don’t see very many formal uprights at all) and you don’t see many good Cryptomeria bonsai … Continue reading Japanese Cedar, Few and Far Between