Revisiting a Great Shohin Display & More

This Shohin display is from Suthin Sukosolvisit’s Bonsai Gallery. Every National Bonsai Exhibition has featured at least one these by Suthin. This year I challenged myself to pick out Suthin’s display as I walked into the Shohin section of the Exhibition. It was easy. Taking nothing away from some other wonderful displays, still, Suthin’s caught my attention from across the room. Leaving for short vacation today and pressed for time so we’ll dip back into our archives. This one originally appeared just over a year ago, right after the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Before any winners were announced. Though … Continue reading Revisiting a Great Shohin Display & More

A Strong Statement in Favor of the Wild Look

A strong statement in favor of the wild unmanicured look. It’s a Cork bark Japanese black pine that lives at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. This photo and all the other photos shown here, were taken by Kurt Simonson. Here’s its plaque: Last month, while at the Artisans Cup, I and a large group of fellow bonsai lovers took a Cup sponsored tour to the Pacific Bonsai Museum. While there, I had the good fortune to meet Kurt Simonson who came ready and willing to shoot every tree at the museum, which he did (with the exception of the trees in … Continue reading A Strong Statement in Favor of the Wild Look

The King of Bonsai

Full cascade Japanese black pine (Pinus thumbergii). Japanese for Black pine is Kuromatsu (kuro is black and matsu is pine). Japanese black pines are sometimes referred to a the king of bonsai. This may be in part due to their natural strength; they tend to have powerful trunks and thick lush foliage. Rugged bark doesn’t hurt either. King or not, the best of the black pines are undeniably among the most powerful bonsai in the world. All the photos shown here are from the 89th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition that took place February 2015 in Tokyo. We found them at Michael … Continue reading The King of Bonsai

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

Fall Transplanting: Timing and a Light Touch

A freshly transplanted Black pine. From our Masters’ Series Pine book. When it comes to transplanting, timing depends on your climate. This post is based on conditions here in northern Vermont where seasons can change rapidly and winters are very cold. If you live in a warmer climate, there is more margin for error. One advantage to transplanting in the early fall is that when the spring season starts, little or no growing time is lost. Roots experience strong growth in the fall while the soil is still warm and after the top has shut down. By the time the … Continue reading Fall Transplanting: Timing and a Light Touch

Bonsai on a Half Shell

This Tsukomo cypress-on-a-half-shell* is being offered for sale by Suthin Sukosolvisit. Before I read the variety I thought for sure it was a Hinoki cypress (same genus, Chamaecyparis, but different species), but I’ll defer to Suthin’s keen eye. Our old friend Suthin (Suthin Bonsai Studio) has been putting up new trees for sale on a regular basis for the last few months. These aren’t just bonsai from your everyday bonsai company either. Each one is from Suthin’s personal collection, and when an artist offers something from their personal collection, it’s usually among their very best. Speaking of his best, Suthin’s … Continue reading Bonsai on a Half Shell

Robert Steven Critiques a Black Pine and Offers Some Insights into the Five Schools of Penjing

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Japanese black pine that was submitted by Mike Liu (Mike’s original is below). I’m on a vacation of sorts, so we’ll dip back into our archives. This one is from 2010. I picked it for a couple reasons: first, Robert Steven is one of those bonsai artists that bothers to explain how he gets from point A to point B and why he takes the path he does. The second reason I chose to re-post this one has to do with Penjing and its place in the world of bonsai. Much of what we do … Continue reading Robert Steven Critiques a Black Pine and Offers Some Insights into the Five Schools of Penjing

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

Judging Bonsai & a Propensity for Understatement

This powerful kuromatsu (Japanese black pine) won the Culture Minister’s Prize at the 20th Green Festa Kokubunji bonsai fair. It is 19″ (48cm) high and about 55 years old. It is owned by Toyoyuki Hamabata from Takamatsu’s Mure town in Shikoku. It appears at Bonsai World, a Japanese English language website. Out of town acting as nanny (remember Suthin?) for my grand kids, so we’ll sneak back into our archives. This time we’re borrowing from two posts: one from way back in 2009 and one from last year. Both feature Japanese black pines with very stout trunks. Here’s what the … Continue reading Judging Bonsai & a Propensity for Understatement

Your Chance to Own Top Tier Tree from the Private Collection of a Famous Bonsai Artist

One of North America’s favorite bonsai artists is adding more bonsai to the public offering of some favorites from his private collection, including this prize winning Japanese maple. In his own words: “I have decided to let go of one of my favorite Japanese Maples. Some of you may recognize it from 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition 2012* I have enjoyed it for over 20+ years. It’s now time to move into a new home. If you are seriously interested, please call me.” *Ever modest, Suthin doesn’t mention that it won the Finest Deciduous Bonsai award at the Exhibition. This … Continue reading Your Chance to Own Top Tier Tree from the Private Collection of a Famous Bonsai Artist