Can there ever be too much Deadwood?

Mario Komsta (Mariusz Janusz Komsta) recently featured this tree with the following caption: “after refinement by Taiga Urushibata, june 2014.” We’ve featured Mario’s bonsai numerous times, but this is the first time for Taiga. To my eye the tree above is an outstanding bonsai. Powerful, with balance, flow and numerous points of interest (my only question is the chopped off looking jin at the top). Recently a friend mentioned that we’ve been featuring too much deadwood lately. Perhaps he’s correct. There does seem to be a renewed emphasis on creating and carving deadwood. You see massive carved trees everywhere and … Continue reading Can there ever be too much Deadwood?

Goyo Matsu, Japanese White Pine, Five Needle Pine, Peace Tree, Million Dollar Tree…

As you can see, this Japanese white pine has a strong, well-tapered trunk and nice balanced open branching. Most imported Japanese white pine bonsai have been grafted onto Black pine stock.* But this one was grown from seed. It was just wired (in this photo) by Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai.) It belongs to a client of Micheal’s. Still on vacation, so it’s archives again. This one is from January 2013 with some value added. The Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) is one of the world’s emblematic bonsai. In Japan, it and the Japanese black pine are the species most associated … Continue reading Goyo Matsu, Japanese White Pine, Five Needle Pine, Peace Tree, Million Dollar Tree…

Back Budding – Feed Your Bonsai!

This shohin Carpinus coreana (Korean hornbeam) by Mario Komsta has appeared here on Bark before. As a companion plant no less (see below). No problem though. Any tree this good deserves to be shown more than once. As a companion or by itself. You might wonder why we’re headlining a dormant tree in mid-summer. Well, it’s a great tree and it goes with this post which has appeared twice already here on Bark (with some value added each time). I have been trying to get a few of my trees to back bud lately. So far to no avail. But … Continue reading Back Budding – Feed Your Bonsai!

Don’t Starve Your Bonsai

Lush summer foliage and impressive deadwood on an old Shimpaku juniper.The lush foliage is the result of timely feeding. The photo is from our Masters Series Juniper book (due back in print in December). I know the tree is from Japan, but don’t know who the artist is. Many, if not most people underfeed their bonsai. There are many reasons why ample fertilizing is critical to developing healthy and beautiful bonsai. I’ll list a few (if I missed something important, please let us know in the comments). 1. It’s up to you. Most bonsai soils don’t contain nutrients. This means … Continue reading Don’t Starve Your Bonsai

An Astonishingly Eccentric Two Headed Monster

Calligraphy anyone? I think this is the third time we’ve shown this astonishingly eccentric two headed monster, but it’s been about four years, which means many of you haven’t seen it, and I think everyone should have at least one chance. I don’t know its full history, but I do know that it appeared on The Art of Bonsai Project in a post titled The Bonsai of Mario Komsta, as did all the photos shown in this post. Yixing pot. Once again it’s time for Mario Komsta (Super Mario), one of Europe’s and the world’s new wave of younger bonsai … Continue reading An Astonishingly Eccentric Two Headed Monster

Paying Another Visit to Super Mario, Plus One

Here’s a tree by Mario Komsta that we missed. With this exception and a reminder about Free Shipping and our current Book Sale, the rest of the post is the same as yesterday. Not so sure about the background color, but I really like the sparse simplicity and naturalness of this tree. This photo and the others shown here are from Mario Komsta’s facebook photos. It’s Monday morning, I overslept and now I’m running behind, so we’ll make this post almost purely visual (trusting that you can live without my comments just this once). All the photos shown here … Continue reading Paying Another Visit to Super Mario, Plus One

Paying Another Visit to Super Mario

Not so sure about the background color, but I really like the sparse simplicity and naturalness of this tree. This photo and the others shown here are from Mario Komsta’s facebook photos. It’s Monday morning, I overslept and now I’m running behind, so we’ll make this post almost purely visual (trusting that you can live without my comments just this once). All the photos shown here are from Mario Komsta’s facebook photos and as far as I know, all the trees belong to Mario. This is not the first time we’ve featured Mario’s trees (more like the tenth time) but … Continue reading Paying Another Visit to Super Mario

Bonsai Art: Running Out of Superlatives

The day has barely started and I’m already running out of superlatives. I guess ‘spectacular’ will do in this case. It’s a Korean hornbeam (Carpinus turczaninowii) by Ian Stewartson. The photo is from Bonsai Art’s website. Getting ready for another cross country hop (west to east this time), so to save time we’ll pull something out of our archival hat once again. This one originally appeared March 2013. Bonsai Art magazine is very well named. As bonsai magazines go, it is as well-done, beautiful and professional as they come (taking nothing away from International Bonsai Magazine and several other good … Continue reading Bonsai Art: Running Out of Superlatives

It’s All About Yew

The powerful tree with its heavy flowing deadwood (it reminds me of melting wax) and luscious reddish bark is truly wonderful, but then there’s that little companion too. Have you ever seen a piece of deadwood used as a bonsai companion? This Taxus (yew) and charming little piece of deadwood belong to Mauro Stemberger. The pot is a Tokoname. On the road again today, so we’ll go ahead and borrow from our archives once again. This one originally appeared in December 2012. Species specific series. I’ve been thinking about starting a species specific series (in this case it’s actually genus … Continue reading It’s All About Yew

Fertilizing for Back Budding

This shohin Carpinus coreana (Korean hornbeam) by Mario Komsta has appeared here on Bark before. As a companion plant no less (see below). No problem though. Any tree this good deserves to be shown more than once. Companion or by itself. Speaking of Mario Komsta, this instructive photo about back budding, a lesser known benefit of fertilizing, is something he cooked up. I don’t remember where I found it (facebook?). It and the text below (edited just a bit) originally appeared here on Bark in October, 2010. Fertilize! Skip ahead to the fourth point unless you are a beginner. Many, … Continue reading Fertilizing for Back Budding