Blooming Bonsai Beauties & a Quick Tip on Ramification

I found this luscious beauty on Micheal Hagedorn’s Crateagus Bonsai. It’s a Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis).* Here’s Michael’s caption… “This tree has been a prolific bloomer for the past five years. When the blooms are done, leaves form at the base of the bloom spike, so we cut them back to those leaves, leaving a short spike. That becomes our ramification in a wisteria bonsai.” Just back from vacation and swamped, so we’ll make this one short and sweet. Thanks once again to our friend and teacher, Michael Hagedorn, a source of brilliant bonsai insights (and brilliant bonsai!) ROSHI TOOL … Continue reading Blooming Bonsai Beauties & a Quick Tip on Ramification

Dancing with Dragons

Peter Krebs calls this shot Azaleas-Virtual. I’m guessing this means he put the tree and the pot together on his computer and that in real time/space they exist separately. Beyond that… and how nicely they go together… that’s all we’ve got to go on. I’ve long admired Peter Krebs’ pots (here’s your proof) and it’s past due time to do some more admiring. These photos and Peter’s captions are from Peter’s facebook timeline. Peter also has a website where you can peruse and even buy his pots. NEW LOWER PRICES ON BONSAI TOOLS 10% to 30% Lower Roshi Bonsai Tools … Continue reading Dancing with Dragons

A Study in Deadwood

A great tree for a study in deadwood. It’s a Juniper procumben from Luis Vallejo’s website. I cropped the photo a bit, but you can see the full size original just below. Very busy right now with little time to put together a new post. Yesterday it was the remarkably talented Luis Vallejo’s bonsai, so today we’ll stay on the same track. This post originally appeared in June, 2015. I just spent the last digital hour or so wandering around Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Studio (Estudio de Bonsai) and his Bonsai Museum (Museo del Bonsai). Given just how prolific Luis is, … Continue reading A Study in Deadwood

The Difference High Quality Professional Photos Can Make – Especially with Such High Quality Bonsai

This and the other trees in this post are from Luis Vallejo’s Bonsai Collection. The caption for these (and some others not shown here) is “Some of the Bonsai trees that will be displayed at the Bonsai San Show. Saulieu . October 2017 – Luis Vallejo Bonsai Collection – Photos By Miguel Krause” Luis Vallejo didn’t list the varieties when he posted these remarkable photos, and because I’m still licking my wounds from the fiasco of Sunday’s post, I’m going to dispense with any guessing today. But don’t worry (not that you were), I’ll recover soon enough and resume guessing … Continue reading The Difference High Quality Professional Photos Can Make – Especially with Such High Quality Bonsai

Saburo Kato, Bonsai Master for the Ages

This very large forest was on display at last month’s World Bonsai Convention in Japan. It was originally created by Saburo Kato, who was one of the original old masters of Japanese bonsai. One of the things Mr Kato was known for Ezo spruce forests, so we’ll assume that this planting is an Ezo as well. The photo was borrowed from Mark Fields, one of our lucky friends who made the trip to Japan. It has been a while since we featured the bonsai of Saburo Kato, one of the most accomplished and most revered of the old Japanese bonsai … Continue reading Saburo Kato, Bonsai Master for the Ages

Nice Tree, Spectacular Pot & Other Small Bonsai Wonders

Nice tree. Spectacular pot. This shot is from the just completed World Bonsai Convention. I cropped the original (see below) to eliminate some background noise. Staying with the World Bonsai Convention theme, though this time it’s all Shohin (small trees). I can’t read the name of the person who took these photos, but here’s your link. SALE ENDS TOMORROW NIGHT ROSHI TOOLS 30% OFF plus an extra 10% off orders 100.00 or more Sale includes all of our large selection of Roshi Tools including Roshi Tools sets and kits sale ends tomorrow, Wednesday at 11:59pm EDT Judging by the … Continue reading Nice Tree, Spectacular Pot & Other Small Bonsai Wonders

Boon & His Bonsai Friends

This Satsuki azalea’s trunk reminds me of some of Antoni Gaudi’s sculptural architecture that graces the great city of Barcelona. Though in truth, the tree resides in Boon Manakitivipart’s impressive bonsai collection in the great city of Alameda, California (birthplace of yours truly, btw). The last week of April and first week of May are peak digging and transplanting season around here, so to save some time, it’s back to our archives. This one is from October, 2010 (with some revisions today). Boon Manakitivipart is one of North America’s most influential bonsai artists and teachers. Several of his students have … Continue reading Boon & His Bonsai Friends

Field Grown Bonsai that Look Like Wild Trees

After. This sweet little Shimpaku and the one below were posted by Bjorn Bjorholm. The before photos for both trees are at the bottom of the post. Just spent late yesterday digging Larches (they’re called Tamaracks around here) on a friend’s land, and now I need to get them into the ground right away, so we’ll save time by borrowing from our archives. This one originally appeared August, 2014. Before I make another mistake and look foolish in the process, here’s my disclaimer for this post: I don’t know for a fact the origin of the bonsai shown here. Much … Continue reading Field Grown Bonsai that Look Like Wild Trees

Dynamic Show Stoppers & Other Brilliant Bonsai

This brilliant Satsuki azalea is from a 2015 Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai add (see below). Yesterday we featured some striking photos from the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Today we’ve got some even more striking photos from a 2015 post we did on GSBF. Continued below… Bonsai Tool Sale Ends Tomorrow Night 30% to 35% off Roshi BONSAI Tools Roshi Bonsai Tools are famous for precision cuts, durability, beauty & great prices Roshi Sale Ends tomorrow, Sunday, Feb 19th at 11:59pm EST This dynamic show stopper with its massive deadwood swirl is one of many large bonsai from the private … Continue reading Dynamic Show Stoppers & Other Brilliant Bonsai

Eccentric or Just Twisted?

Doing the Twist. This tree belongs to Mauro Stemberger (Italian Bonsai Dream). Mauro has one of the most dramatic bonsai collections in the West, and though this one certainly qualifies, is there a line between dramatic and eccentric? Two of the trees in this post are naturally twisted and the other two were twisted by the hands of man. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble telling which is which. Site Wide Sale 20% to 25% off Everything* Including our large selection of Roshi & other Bonsai tools Even though there’s something unnatural about many of the twisted by-the-hands-of-man … Continue reading Eccentric or Just Twisted?