Small Is Beautiful (& Practical Too)

This banyan style dwarf Snow rose serissa (Serissa foetida microphylla) was styled by David Fukumoto of Fuku Bonsai in Hawaii. The pot is a Tokoname from Japan. Living in the tropics is a big plus when it comes to growing aerial roots. Monday morning, Stone Lantern’s peak season and the busiest time of year for bonsai growers, so it’s back to our archives. This one is from April, 2014 Based on thirty five years experience in bonsai business, I’d say that the majority of our readers and customers are into their middle years or beyond. I’m sure there are several good reasons for this, but … Continue reading Small Is Beautiful (& Practical Too)

Floating Mountains with Trees

Floating mountains with trees. I originally thought the trees with their tiny leaves might be boxwoods, but upon closer inspection, I think they are probably Serissas. This photo is a closeup from the photo just below. This unusual and creative arrangement was posted by Aus Bonsai on facebook. It would be nice to know who the artist is, but Aus makes no mention of the artist or even provide a link to their source. If this were the first time, we wouldn’t mention it, but Aus Bonsai often fails in this regard (it’s one thing to not be able to hunt down the artist, but a whole other thing … Continue reading Floating Mountains with Trees

More Great Boxwood Bonsai

Aside from being a phenomenal tree and a great pot, there’s a relaxed in-synch feeling, like the pot and tree are old friends. This might have something to do with the color, texture, soft lines and aged look of each. The color and feel of the stand fits right in too, while contrast is provided by its sharp rectangular lines. All together an excellent bonsai. The artist is François Gau (pot by Greg Ceramics). All three photos in this post are from Parlons Bonsai (I took the liberty to crop all three to bring the trees closer). We featured Kingsville … Continue reading More Great Boxwood Bonsai

Celebrating Bonsai & the Arrival of Our Bright Sun

This brilliant Deshojo Japanese maple (Acer palmatum var. Deshojo) and the equally brilliant rising sun scroll belong to Bill Valavanis. All the photos shown here were borrowed from Bill Valavanis’ timeline. Here’s Bill’s caption… “Alcove display for tonight’s Introductory to Classical Bonsai Course. Deshojo Japanese maple displayed with a ripe strawberry accessory. Although the rising sun theme hanging scroll is generally only used once a year in Japan on New Year’s Day, it was used tonight to celebrate the bright sun and 85F weather we enjoyed during the day.” By the way, Bill Valavanis is, in addition to being a highly respected bonsai … Continue reading Celebrating Bonsai & the Arrival of Our Bright Sun

Sweet Trees, but They Grow Microscopically…

You can tell this is a genuine Dwarf Kingsville boxwood by the tight tiny leaves. This planting by Boon Manakitivipart was the winner of the Certre Award at the 2010 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Continuing with Kingsville boxwoods and with Boon (see above), we’ve got three more Dwarf Kingsvilles today. Sweet trees, but they grow microscopically, so don’t expect fat trunks any time soon. NEW Bonsai Book Special 50% off list on Stone Lantern & Haskill Creek Publishing Books 30% off list on All Other Books This has to one of the most perfectly conceived and executed Kingsville boxwoods you’ll see … Continue reading Sweet Trees, but They Grow Microscopically…

Seven Pots for One Tree – What’s Your Choice?

Seven choices for Boon’s Kingsville boxwood. One stands out as by far the best choice for me, but I’m pretty sure we won’t all agree. Which pot would you choose? Boon Manakitivipart is at it again. Boon regularly posts his which pot? questions and we regularly borrow them. Judging by the response, it’s one of our most popular type posts, so as long as Boon is willing, we’ll keep putting them up. If you would like to share your choice, you can go to our facebook comments or you can go directly to the source (that would be Boon). Or you … Continue reading Seven Pots for One Tree – What’s Your Choice?

Plucking & Pinching Some Extraordinary Pines

Not only is this an extraordinary cascading bonsai, but there’s a story being told by the way the candles are strongest on the bottom third of the tree. Normally on apically dominant trees (like pines), you would expect the most vigorous candles at and near the top of the tree. My guess is that some of the upper candles have been pinched (shortened) and/or some have been plucked (removed) in order to control growth. Disclaimer: I am not an expert on controlling and balancing energy on pines. I’ve done my best here based on what I’ve picked up over the years, but fear that … Continue reading Plucking & Pinching Some Extraordinary Pines

Mystery Bonsai Artist – Koyo Tool Special Ends Tonight

Here’s what a machine translation from Japanese to English looks like… “70 times with kuromatsu stone, and the 77th Chinese National exhibition. 85 million yen. 15 years ago, when I was 32 years old, I applied for the first time in Japan’s National Exhibition, and I was elected, and I was very jealous of this kuromatsu, and I was very good at it, so I was very good at it. I feel strange about what I have to do I have a sense of time becoming a successive goshinboku ” BTW Kuromatsu is Japanese black pine. In this case, it’s … Continue reading Mystery Bonsai Artist – Koyo Tool Special Ends Tonight

Hiroshi’s Bonsai Beans

This little Trident maple (Acer Buergerianum) is just 10.8cm tall (4.3″). It was started from seed twelve years ago. Hiroshi is a potter, so you might assume that the pots shown here are his, though I couldn’t make much sense of the translations provided with the photos. Hiroshi refers to the pots as a Maru Bonsai Bowl / Guó Jing Masako. Maru simply means round and I couldn’t find anything when I searched Guó Jing Masako, though if you search Masako pottery you will get some results (where’s Ryan Bell when you need him?). We can’t stay away from miniature bonsai for long. This … Continue reading Hiroshi’s Bonsai Beans

A Little Bonsai History

This famous Chinese elm (Ulmus parivflora) planting is by Zhao Qingquan, reknowned penjing artist, teacher and author of two best Penjing books in the English, Penjing: the Chinese Art of Bonsai and Literati Style Penjing Yesterday we featured a couple of events and photos from the Pacific Bonsai Museum. So, just for the fun of it, I thought we’d go back and find our earliest PBM post. It’s from April 21st, 2009, almost exactly 9 years ago. Way back in the day when it was owned by Weyerhauser and called the Weyerhaeuser’s Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection. The two photos shown here were … Continue reading A Little Bonsai History