Bonsai Beautyberry & Other Little Gems

This brilliant little Japanese beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica) is well named indeed (it’s nice when the name of a plant says something about how the plant looks; an onamonapia of sight). I found this photo on Bonsai Empire They attribute it to AR&B*, but I think AR&B picked it up somewhere else and failed to attribute. Looking at the tree, I’m almost certain that it’s a Japanese bonsai. The rest of the photos in this post are from an old Bark post called Luminous Fruit. The artist is Katsumi Komiya. If you’ve ever tried to grow fruiting bonsai, you know that … Continue reading Bonsai Beautyberry & Other Little Gems

More Bonsai Color & a Snake About to Strike

This is one of those azaleas that would look good even without the flowers. Speaking of the flowers, I suspect the photo has been shopped a bit as the color is a little too bright. You can find this and the other four photos shown here (along with a couple dozen others) at the Akademia Bonsai web gallery. We’ve been featuring a lot of color lately, especially Satsuki azaleas in bloom and the response has been very positive, so here are a couple more azaleas for your enjoyment and some fall color as well (apologies for those of you who … Continue reading More Bonsai Color & a Snake About to Strike

Tea, Poetry & Flowering Bonsai

Ume (Prunus mume) flowers. Once again we find ourselves borrowing from Peter Tea. This photo and the next three photos shown here are from a post of Peter’s that provides a sweet moment’s glimpse into a small private bonsai show. Something you don’t see everyday. Can’t go too long without borrowing from our archives (and indulging our passion for flowers). This one is from March 2013. At that time Galway Kinnell was still alive and writing and reading his poetry. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a poetry reading couple years ago through a good friend who was … Continue reading Tea, Poetry & Flowering Bonsai

Sheer Beauty – More Flowering Bonsai

The black background provides a perfect contrast to the sheer beauty of the white flowers. This spectacular Hawthorn bonsai belongs to Hans Van Meer. He doesn’t say what the the variety is but the flower looks like a Common hawthorn* (Crataegus monogyna). The pot is by Brian Albright. We’ve been featuring flowering bonsai lately so thought we’d keep going in that direction. It’s the right time of year and our facebook likes tend to explode whenever we put flowers up (facebook likes and click-through-rate are related). Of course the trick is to find worthy bonsai that happen to be in … Continue reading Sheer Beauty – More Flowering Bonsai

More Satsuki Flowers & Other Spring Surprises

The new growth on some Spruce is often a brilliant yellow. Almost like yellow flowers. In this case the spruce is an Ezo (Picea jezoensis). This one resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (Saitama, Japan) as do the other trees in this post. We’ve got a few themes running here; spring Satsuki flowers (last post), new spring growth and one of our favorites, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. For a lot of people, Satsuki azaleas are all about the flowers, so it doesn’t matter so much that you can’t really see the trunk in this photo. You can … Continue reading More Satsuki Flowers & Other Spring Surprises

Wild Horses, Tiny Trees

This sweet little quince with its brilliant tiny flowers belongs to Haruyosi. It’s a safe bet that he also made the pot. It has been a couple years since I first stumbled upon Haruyosi and his delightful tiny trees and pots and though I’m usually loath to use the term bonsai master (once you introduce the term, pretty soon you see even moderately accomplish bonsai artists called bonsai master and that just ain’t right), if I were to use it, Haruyosi would be a good place to start. Or, more precisely, Shohin Bonsai Master. While were throwing the term around, … Continue reading Wild Horses, Tiny Trees

Spring Flowers, Fleeting Bliss

Satsuki azalea displaying a perfect blend of white with a touch of pink and the soft green of the new leaves. The flowers dominate right now, but it’s no accident that the color of the pot enhances the not-so-shabby trunk and nebari. An earlier shot of the same tree appears below. On the road again so we’ll resort to our old tricks and plunder our endless archives (from May, 2011). Today it’s the Guggenheim (NYC) and then home to Vermont. Mis Arboles by Andres Alvarez Iglesias The first three photos in this post are part of a photo album by … Continue reading Spring Flowers, Fleeting Bliss

It’s About the Flowers (& More than Just the Flowers)

Haruyosi is at it again. This time it’s a flowering Crab apple (Malus prunifolia) with a perfect little yellow pot. All the images in this post were borrowed from Haruyosi’s facebook photos. We can’t go too long without coming back to Haruyosi’s exquisite little trees. Once again it’s the delicate flowers that caught the eye. Crab apple and quince this time. Two of the very best when it comes to flowering trees and shrubs. However, when we’re talking about accomplished bonsai artists, it’s always about more than just the flowers. There’s the simple beauty of the little trees themselves (with … Continue reading It’s About the Flowers (& More than Just the Flowers)

Red on Red & Delicate Spring Beauty

There are few things more delicate and beautiful than fresh spring Maple leaves (Trident maple in this case). This exquisite tree and exquisite pot are perfect expressions of the artistry of Haruyoshi. Up at 2:00am yesterday and slept fitfully on the plane. I’ll use the ensuing exhaustion as a excuse to dig into our archives once again. This one is from last April. It’s all Haruyosi, which ties in to some of our recent posts. The only hard part with a post like this, is figuring out which photo to show first (the one that shows up on facebook and … Continue reading Red on Red & Delicate Spring Beauty

Flowering Bonsai – Some of Us Can Dream

Sabamiki and uro from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. Aside from this magnificent old Ume’s overall power and beauty, there are a several things that might catch your eye: the flowers and buds, the aged bark (Ume bark develops an aged look fairly fast) and the hollowed out trunk (sabamiki). If you look closely you can also see several uro (small hollows that are left on deciduous trees where branches have rotted and fallen off, though bonsai uro may well be man made). This winter to end all winters seems like a good (if a little perverse) time to look … Continue reading Flowering Bonsai – Some of Us Can Dream