Professional Nanny & Famous Bonsai Artist Suthin Is Downsizing His Personal Bonsai Collection

This powerful Japanese maple is one of many bonsai from Suthin Sukosolvisit’s private collection that are now offered for sale. You can find this tree and the others in this post on Suthin’s facebook feed and more on his website. This is your chance. Friend to all and gifted Bonsai Artist Suthin Sukosolvisit is downsizing his bonsai collection. These are not the ordinarily excellent trees that he regularly sells at shows and at his studio/nursery, these are some of his favorites from his personal collection. In Suthin’s own words: “Due to my hectic schedule, old age, and slowly becoming a … Continue reading Professional Nanny & Famous Bonsai Artist Suthin Is Downsizing His Personal Bonsai Collection

The Golden State of Bonsai

Whoa! I am floored. Have you ever seen a bonsai feature more dynamic and powerful than this tree’s massive deadwood swirl? If so, please send a photo. The tree is one of many large bonsai from the private collection of Frank Bardella that were delivered to the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. The image is from Golden Statement Magazine’s facebook photos. If you love bonsai but don’t know Golden Statements Magazine, it’s time to get acquainted. I won’t say much more, except that Golden Statements has been around for a long time (it must have been one … Continue reading The Golden State of Bonsai

A Fabulous Fake

Whatever it is, it’s wonderful. We just featured this ‘bonsai’ in our last post. Turns out it’s a fabulous fake. Or, maybe fake isn’t the right word. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s a wonderful clay representation of a bonsai. The artist is Paul Finch, according to Nik Rozman. Running behind today so we’ve dipped into our archives and come up with this hodgepodge post from January 2012. Some dated events were removed for obvious reasons. Some unnecessarily wordy copy was also removed. Before and after. It helps to start with great stock. Still, it takes … Continue reading A Fabulous Fake

One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Great tree. Great pot. Great photo too (the uncropped original is below). I’m guessing the tree is a Taiwanese juniper. Here’s the translation: This and the other photos in this post are from 2014, with Chinese-style bonsai Exhibition prize categories: bronze medal for species: Cypress bonsai collection: Lin Minghui All the photos in this post are from one person’s facebook feed. I can’t say who the person is (can’t read Chinese), but I know he’s Taiwanese and his photo does look familiar. Fortunately the trees have captions with translations that include the artist’s names. Feel free to do your own … Continue reading One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Taiken-ten – Some Pines First, More Later

The top photo, with its rich deep colors, appears just the way we found it. I lightened up the bottom photo a bit to better show the details, especially the bark. All the photos in this post are from the 34th Taikan-ten Bonsai Exhibition. Taikan-ten takes place once a year in Kyoto and is considered by most people to be the second most important bonsai exhibition in Japan if not in the world (Kokufu is the king of bonsai exhibitions). I found them on Michael Bonsai’s facebook feed. There are more, but I decided to feature some of the … Continue reading Taiken-ten – Some Pines First, More Later

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, an English language website from Shikoku Japan. It’s the long Thanksgiving holiday here in the States so we’ll take the easy way out today and dig into our archives. The tree above is from a 2009 post titled Japanese Bonsai, Small is Powerful. The one below is from a January 2014 post titled Old … Continue reading A Propensity for Understatement

Semi Cascade Not Windswept

After by Kimura (aka the Magician). This photo is from a chapter in our Masters’ Series Pine Book titled Masahiko Kimura Transforms A Semi-Cascade. The tree is a Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora). I’m at the tail end of a short vacation of sorts, so we’ll indulge in one more rerun before it’s back to work full time. This one originally appeared in August 2012. It was titled The Other Cascade: Before & After. The other cascade Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seem to me that, with the exception of Junipers (especially the ever present Procumbens nana) you … Continue reading Semi Cascade Not Windswept

Staying on Theme – New NABF Website

Japanese black pine by Dan Robinson. Dan is known for his dramatically wild collected trees from the American northwest (and Canadian far west). Obviously this Black pine doesn’t fall into that category, though a bit of that wild look is still there. It received a WBFF Certificate of Merit. We’ve been featuring new websites a lot lately so we might as well stay on theme. All the photos in this post are from the new North American Bonsai Federation (NABF) website. NABF is affiliated with the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF).. One of the things the WBFF is known for … Continue reading Staying on Theme – New NABF Website

Once More, This Time with Better Photos

Joe Noga sent me this official photo of his Ho Yoku Award Japanese Maple (see our last post for the unofficial photo). I didn’t mention this before, but, in addition to appreciating the strikingly unusual effect of the upside-down tree, you might linger for a moment on the exquisitely rendered wooden stand In our last post we showed three winners from the 2012 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Problem was, the photos were not the best ones available. The best photos are the official photos, the ones in the Exhibition Album. Now, thanks to Joseph Noga taking the trouble to send … Continue reading Once More, This Time with Better Photos

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