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

Walter’s Powerful Rough Bark Japanese Maple

This powerful Rough Bark Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Arakawa’) is approximately eighty years old and stands 70cm (almost 28″) high. Walter Pall imported it from Japan this year as semi raw material. Walter has an excellent series of photos on the tree’s transition since he received it. We could devote all of Bonsai Bark to Walter Pall’s trees and seemingly never run out of material. But then, Walter is already doing that with his blog, his website and on facebook, so all we have to do to enjoy his bonsai wizardry, is occasionally touch in. In case you don’t know … Continue reading Walter’s Powerful Rough Bark Japanese Maple

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

Just for Fun – A Short & Sweet Bonsai Gallery

Bill Valavanis just put this remarkably brilliant Seigen Japanese maple up on facebook (with a value added short story). Just got back from two day trip with some catching up to do, so we’ll make this one a short and sweet three tree gallery (by three of our favorite bonsai artists). Suthin just put this Shimpaku and friends up with “Just for fun” as a tag line. BTW Though most people know him as just Suthin, his whole name is Suthin Sukosolvisit. Robert Steven put this distinctively thin tree up a few days ago. You don’t see slant … Continue reading Just for Fun – A Short & Sweet Bonsai Gallery

Defoliation & Energy Balancing for Strong Bonsai

This photo is the inspiration for starting a new series on defoliation. It’s a Ficus and as you can see it’s half defoliated. If you live in the tropics you can defoliate a tree like this any time of year. If you want to defoliate a Ficus or other tropical bonsai here in the north country, you need to wait until it’s pretty warm (let’s say until night temps are over 50F, 10C). If you defoliate too soon, cold nights could hamper recovery. Conversely you don’t want to wait too long into the summer as you want full recovery before … Continue reading Defoliation & Energy Balancing for Strong Bonsai

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

Easy to Move and a Delight to Behold…

I think this one qualifies as Mame (‘bean’ in Japanese). Bonsai-wise, mame is a common word for the very smallest bonsai. When we originally posted this, I didn’t know who this lovely little bonsai belonged to. I’ve since been told that it is a Haruyosi tree. Strange how once you know something it’s obvious. And btw, the sweet little pot was no doubt made by Haruyosi as well. Oh, and I’m pretty sure the tree is a Pyracantha. On the road again (and out of the bone chilling cold for a precious minute) so we’ll go archiving once again. This … Continue reading Easy to Move and a Delight to Behold…

Masters of the Art of Refinement

We don’t usually feature photos with so much background noise. But this bonsai (Trident maple) is phenomenal and the photo has an artistic quality and gives you a sense of place (the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum). The thing that most separates Japanese bonsai from much of the bonsai in the West* is refinement. With deciduous trees this is most obvious when you look at ramification (branch structure and particularly fine branch structure). There are certainly other feature that express refinement, for example taper and nebari, but nothing expresses it more than the development of fine branching. All the bonsai shown here … Continue reading Masters of the Art of Refinement

A Beautiful New Bonsai Book

Ginkgo. A close up of the cover tree from the new Crespi Bonsai Museum gallery book. We only occasionally devote a whole post to advertising and then only when we think what we are selling is newsworthy or warrants some special attention. It has been a long time since we’ve seen such an exceptional new bonsai book. Quality photography, materials and production combine with fifty blue chip bonsai that have been shot over time and from different perspectives in a way that makes for a thoroughly enjoyable bonsai experience. This excellent new book allows you a taste of the world … Continue reading A Beautiful New Bonsai Book

Time to Celebrate…

The sky blue pot is the perfect compliment to the light pink flowers on this powerful Satsuki Azalea that resides at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC. There are a multitude of cultivars in the Satsuki group of azaleas. This one is a ‘Nikko.’ It was donated to the museum by Masayuki Nakamura. It’s time to celebrate our National Bonsai and Penjing Museum once again. If you are anywhere near our nation’s capital, or plan on being anywhere near, don’t miss this phenomenal display. Even if you have no plans on being near Washington DC, you can … Continue reading Time to Celebrate…