Cut Paste Versus Natural Healing

One of Peter Tea’s freshly worked-on Trident maples. You’ll have to use your imagination to get a feel for what this tree will look like when it fills out. But if your imagination fails you, it still looks pretty good, just as it is. Borrowing from Peter… Once again, we are borrowing from Peter Tea’s excellent bonsai blog. This time it’s a story of two Trident maples. We’ll just whet your appetite here; for a whole series of instructive photos and insightful text, you can visit Peter’s blog. Cut paste versus the natural way Here is the West some people … Continue reading Cut Paste Versus Natural Healing

Weeky Wire: World Bonsai Day, Free Bonsai Wire, Kokufu, Boon’s Tips & Much More

Who could ask for more? It wasn’t too long ago we led off a Weekly Wire with a Gedemerta Bonsaibali tree. Now, we’ve gone and done it again. I’m guessing you can see why. Aside from the wildly expressive deadwood, the well-aged textured beauty of the bark, the trunk’s powerful base and perfect taper, the tree’s radiant health, the near perfect play between balance and movement; the photo is also very well done. Who could ask for more? FREE! FREE WIRE, SCISSORS, TOOL CLEANING BLOCKS & CUT PASTE WHEN YOU ORDER FROM STONE LANTERN… …but only if you enter … Continue reading Weeky Wire: World Bonsai Day, Free Bonsai Wire, Kokufu, Boon’s Tips & Much More

Weekly Wire: Iron Men of Naka, Bonsai with Rebar & Sleepless Nights

Sinuous and dynamic. Though this little gem doesn’t exactly look like most trees you find in nature, still its sinuous twists and turns make for a very dynamic little bonsai. It’s from a facebook album by Jordi Ugena. Our favorite bonsai apprentice Peter Tea is at it again. This time with rebar. Don’t miss it! The new U.S. Bonsai Stamps will be offered at the 3rd U.S. Bonsai Exhibition along with perhaps the best bonsai collection ever seen in North America. Don’t miss it. The dates are June 9-10. It’s in Rochester NY. We’ll be there offering rare … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Iron Men of Naka, Bonsai with Rebar & Sleepless Nights

Eighty Two and Still Going Strong

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bunjin style bonsai in such a deep pot. You almost always see them in shallow round or near-round pots. No problem though, this one works to perfection; a spectacular tree with a simply lustrous pot. I think the heavy foliage (unusual for a bunjin) helps balance the heavy pot. Thanks again to Mr. Tea The photos in this post are all courtesy of Peter Tea, our current favorite bonsai apprentice (nothing personal to the rest of our apprenti in Japan, it’s just that Peter keeps sending great stuff). Meifu-ten, a show for … Continue reading Eighty Two and Still Going Strong

Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Strange as this magnificent old tree is, it all works together to with a perfect blend of eccentricity and balance. But the nebari? That takes some getting use to. (This photo and the others in this post are from Peter Tea Bonsai.) A good place to start resurrecting Way back in 2009 and early 2010 we ran a series of posts that we called Eccentric Bonsai (here’s the last one). Maybe it’s time to resurrect the series. If so, this absolutely unique Trident maple seems like a good place to start. Borrowing from Peter… As you may have noticed, we’ve … Continue reading Eccentric Bonsai: Too Strange, or Just Strange Enough?

Rice for Five Years: The Life of a Bonsai Apprentice

Nice maple, even though the color in the photo is way too white. From Peter Tea’s post ‘Apprenticeship and a Japanese Maple.’ Loyalty, humility and inequality for 15,000 yen a month… Others have written about their bonsai apprenticeship in Japan (most notable is Michael Hagedorn’s most excellent and seriously funny: Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk) and now we have Peter Tea‘s genuine (and genuinely funny at times) new voice enriching the mix. I won’t say much more (Peter can speak quite well for himself), except to encourage you to pay a visit to Peter’s blog and especially … Continue reading Rice for Five Years: The Life of a Bonsai Apprentice

Show Time

This Japanese holly won a prize at the Taikan-ten. Photo is from Peter Tea’s blog. What happens when two American bonsai apprentices help prepare for a major Japanese bonsai show? A lot of work and energy go into a major bonsai show. What you see are the results; magnificent bonsai beautifully displayed. What you normally don’t see is everything else; the behind scenes efforts that make for a good show. Both Peter Tea (Journey of a Bonsai Apprentice at Aichi-en) and Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight) present a behind the scenes view of the Taikan-ten Bonsai Exhibition* in their latest posts. They … Continue reading Show Time