Japanese white pine bonsai

World Famous Masterpiece Bonsai

I like this tree. It has great movement and wild, wonderful deadwood that runs all the way up the trunk, plays peekaboo in the crown and then finishes with a flourish at the top. If you removed the hanging branch that reaches down almost to the base of the trunk, it would still be an interesting tree (even though the remaining crown would be an inverted bowl)… but with that branch and the aforementioned deadwood, the tree is elevated to bonsai masterpiece. If you don’t believe me, you can check out Takahashi Iura’s facebook page, where it says: “My important … Continue reading World Famous Masterpiece Bonsai

A Congenial Way to Start Your Day

Aside from the very distinctive shari and jin (two types of deadwood), there are a couple other things about this Japanese white pine that you may have already noticed. First it seems somewhat top-heavy, and second, this top-heavy quality is exaggerated by the pot, which is quite small relative to the size of the tree. Still, amazingly it works quite well. Even better than quite well. The bonsai shown here are all from a gallery in Bonsai Today issue 96. Reminds me of the older galleries from the very earliest Bonsai Todays. How important they were back in the dark … Continue reading A Congenial Way to Start Your Day

Extreme Beauty

This may be the the best Camellia bonsai you’ll ever see. Not that there are that many good camellia bonsai, at least not in my experience. No matter, the strong trunk, great display of flowers, the brilliant emerald foliage and excellent pot, make for an exceptional tree. A truly remarkable and unique new book arrived yesterday. All the photos in this post are from Extreme Beauty, A Life Devoted to Bonsai. As far as I know, there are only 25 copies of Extreme Beauty available in the U.S (before you bust me, please be aware that ‘as far as I … Continue reading Extreme Beauty

Bonsai Events, Dirty Pick Ups and a Few Loose Ends

This pine (looks like a Japanese white; Pinus parviflora) is from the 2011 Taikan-ten bonsai exhibition in Japan. The photo was borrowed from Empire Bonsai. You don’t see that many great multiple-trunk bonsai (here’s another one we posted recently) and I think this one qualifies. It’s hard to tell from this angle if all the trunks are sharing a single root-system. It could be a twin-trunk tree and a triple-trunk clump combined. Upcoming events. It’s time to catch up on some upcoming bonsai events and some other loose ends. Which reminds me, if you’d like to promote an event, just … Continue reading Bonsai Events, Dirty Pick Ups and a Few Loose Ends

An Inexplicable Oversight

I’m going to guess that this peerless pine, with its strong sinuous trunk is a Japanese black pine, rather than a Japanese red. However, there’s no need to guess about the quality of the tree or where we found it (world-class quality and Bjorn Bjorholm’s website). I don’t know exactly how this inexplicable oversight happened, but suffice it to say that I’m amazed and a little befuddled that we haven’t yet featured the truly remarkable bonsai on Bjorn Bjorholm’s website (Bjorvala Bonsai Studio) or the story of Bjorn’s apprenticeship in Japan. Especially given that Bjorn is practically from our own … Continue reading An Inexplicable Oversight

Japanese Whites

A seedling? Great base, strong taper and nice balanced open branching. An altogether excellent Japanese white pine and it’s from a seedling no less! As you may know, most quality Japanese white pine bonsai have been grafted onto Black pine stock (see below). But not this one. It was grown from seed and is, as you can see, quite impressive. It was just wired (in this photo) by Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai.) It belongs to a client of Micheal’s. More than just another bonsai in our species specific series. The Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) is one of the world’s … Continue reading Japanese Whites

Small Is Still Beautiful

Kishu shimpaku juniper by John Brocklehurst. Mark Cooper took the photo at the 2012 Noelanders Trophy. I like the natural, fragile looking deadwood twigs and a whole lot more about this tree. Shohin again. We’ve been featuring shohin bonsai (small bonsai) a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with fact that we’re all aging and, as we age, smaller bonsai have larger appeal (easier to handle, take less space on our condo’s balconies and are a little less taxing on our social security budgets). Or maybe it’s just that we like them so much. All the photos in this … Continue reading Small Is Still Beautiful

Revisiting a Famous Old Pine

This photo of a very famous old Japanese white pine is from Michael Bonsai. It was taken at the U.S. National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. There are at least two things that stand out about this remarkable old tree. First, is its sheer magnitude. It’s hard to tell from photos, but the size of this tree is overwhelming (don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself). Second is the tree’s story…     Hiroshima Survivor Thursday, March 8, 2001 was anything but a typical day at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. That morning two Japanese brothers landed … Continue reading Revisiting a Famous Old Pine

Pine Boom

The more I look at this tree, the more I like it. It’s a Japanese white pine by Susumo Sudo. Its rugged, naturally aged look (enhanced by the pot and ground cover) stands in perfect contrast to its simple, graceful lines. From our Masters’ Series Pine book. Pine Boom? As far as I know, there is no Pine Boom. I was trying to type Pine Book as a filler until a more suitable name for this post came to me. Then, viola, there it was; Pine Boom. Anyway, I’m trying to pull myself to together to catch a plane, so, … Continue reading Pine Boom

The Other Cascade: Part 2

After. Semi-cascade Japanese white pine by Kiyoshi Yamagami. From Bonsai Today issue 52 (sorry, out of stock… however we still have about 50 other back issues in print; all 70% off). Near perfect To my eyes, this tree presents a near perfect combination of grace and power. Usually, when you think power in bonsai, you think trunk. In this case, though the trunk is certainly powerful enough (what you can see of it), there’s something about the rest of the tree that can send power induced chills up your spine (okay, maybe not, but I’ll bet if you saw the … Continue reading The Other Cascade: Part 2