Never Finished & Not Exactly Faint Praise

This Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) with its delightful deadwood and fluid movement was collected by Tony Cardoza and styled by Michael Hagedorn. Here’s Michael’s caption: “Finished tree. Or as my friends remind me, ‘No, not finished, that’s a dead tree!’ It’s quite alive. The tree is 24″ high, 31″ wide. The left lower branch is the key branch so it will need to grow out a bit. Left flow. In fact all the branches need length, as it looks like a small tree on top of a large base. I hope I’ve set things approximately right so there will … Continue reading Never Finished & Not Exactly Faint Praise

An Embarrassment of Riches

I believe that this is our first tree from Matt Reel’s blog (though we featured a photo of Matt, with a tree that we lifted from Crataegus Bonsai almost two years ago). Matt is an American bonsai apprentice in Japan. We’ll have to more to say about him and his blog another time, but meanwhile, here’s what he has to say about this tree: “This Red Pine has such a broad apex it makes me giggle to myself at times, however, one might feel a little tipsy with all that leaning movement if there was a little dainty apex instead. … Continue reading An Embarrassment of Riches

Revisting An Irreverant Bonsai Monk

A piece of the cover of Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk by Michael Hagedorn. Over four years later and still the best bonsai read What follows is a review of Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk that I wrote for Bonsai Bark in February 2009 (we still offer Post-Dated and a whole range of other excellent bonsai books at Stone Lantern). I first read Post-Dated at 30,000 feet; Boston to SFO. By coincidence, the man sitting next to me was reading Thoreau’s Walden, a book usually confined to students and scholars. He was well past … Continue reading Revisting An Irreverant Bonsai Monk

What a Difference a Day Makes

Large juniper that was styled by Michael Hagedorn in 2007. Though it looks like a Juniperus chinensis, the variety is unidentified. This photo and the before photo (below) are from Michael’s Crataegus Bonsai. What a difference five hours makes Michael Hagedorn restyled this monster juniper in five hours, and though I guess that doesn’t really qualify as a whole day, still, we’ll stick with ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’ (ask your grandparents). The operation took place at Miami Tropical Bonsai in 2007 and was captured on a video that you can watch on youtube. Artisans Cup I found the … Continue reading What a Difference a Day Makes

Pinch! Don’t Pinch!

Was this tree pinched? Shimpaku juniper by Kunio Kobayashi from Bonsai Today issue 28. Never pinch junipers! I’ve been ripping off valuable tidbits from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai for a long time (always attributed and linked of course). Micheal is a noted American bonsai artist, teacher and author and a voice for a common sense approach to bonsai. Michael’s latest post is titled ‘Never Pinch Junipers.’ In his own words… Basically, we don’t pinch junipers. We cut new long extensions with scissors…and I know that will raise some eyebrows. I think the idea of pinching junipers with fingers started long … Continue reading Pinch! Don’t Pinch!

Time for Some Serious Bonsai Training

Tamarisk (Tamarix) from Ryan Neil’s International Bonsai Mirai gallery. Aside from the fact that this is an exceptional bonsai, there is much that can be said and learned about Tamarix; as an invasive foreigner and a worthy subject for bonsai. The excellent description on Bonsai Mirai is well worth a look, as is what Wikipedia has to say about this intriguing plant. Go west middle aged man (woman) and anyone else While we’re on the subject, check out Ryan’s Defining Concept Courses. If you’re the ambitious type and you can create the time, you could head out to Portland and … Continue reading Time for Some Serious Bonsai Training

Only 15 Months til the Artisans Cup

Next year’s big event What better time to talk about next year’s biggest North American bonsai event than when we’re still feeling the buzz from this year’s biggest bonsai event? It’s the Artisans Cup in Portland Oregon, and you’ve got fifteen months to plan, pack your bags and show up. Your links are here for the website and here for the blog. The images in this post are from the Artisans Cup website.

Weekly Wire, Bonsai Comic, Shohin Maffia & A Colorful Bonsai Celebration

Look familiar? You may have seen this most excellent Mario Komsta pine before. In fact, it’s possible that we’ve already featured it right here, though I can’t find when or where. Anyway, if we did already show it; it was good then and it’s still good now. Do you recognize this tree? If so, It’s not too late to enter our Bonsai Detectives $250 Mystery Contest. Shohin Maffia? I guess you know what shohin means and you probably have a pretty good grasp of maffia too (even with the double f). Now you can see what happens when … Continue reading Weekly Wire, Bonsai Comic, Shohin Maffia & A Colorful Bonsai Celebration

A Levitated Bonsai Platform

After. A twin trunk Mountain hemlock that was collected, styled and placed on a very thin piece of plastic by Michael Hagedorn and friends. It’s been a while… …since we featured Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai). This is partly because lately we’ve been focusing more on international bonsai than North American bonsai; and partly because if we do too much Michael, you might suspect there are kickbacks involved (Michael is way too clean for that; as for me…). Mountain hemlock on levitated nylon board I won’t say too much about the nylon board or the steps that were necessary to cause … Continue reading A Levitated Bonsai Platform

Weekly Wire: Ancient Bones & the Wheel of Bonsai Wisdom

Ancient bones. I like the way the fresh foliage seems to hang from the tree’s ancient bones (though I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a stand so in need of refinishing). This strikingly unique bonsai is one of many excellent trees at Taiwan Bonsai World. Free Advertising! What if you could advertise your bonsai event for free on a Bonsai Blog with over 30,00 visitors a month? Turns out, you can! Right here on Bonsai Bark. Just put your event (with links please) in the comments below and I’ll take from there. Have you seen this issue? Neither have … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Ancient Bones & the Wheel of Bonsai Wisdom