$100.00 Bonsai Detective Contest

Tree number 1 in our Bonsai Detective Contest Here’s a simple contest to amuse you while you wait for the spring growing season The prize The prize is a $100 gift certificate to Stone Lantern and recognition of your brilliance here on Bonsai Bark What you have to do to have a chance to win Provide the species and owner (and/or artist) and a link to your source for at least 8 trees (better to have all 10 if you can) email me wayne@stonelantern.com with Bonsai Detective in the subject and with your well organized answers listed in the body of the email. Be sure to put BONSAI DETECTIVE in the subject line. Continued below… Roshi Bonsai … Continue reading $100.00 Bonsai Detective Contest

Freeze Damage in Bonsai & Other Woody Plants

This now famous bonsai planting resides at the North Carolina Arboretum. The photo was put up on the Internet Bonsai Club forum by Arthur Joura. The caption reads “This planting is one of a small handful in our bonsai collection that consists entirely of plant material that can tolerate the extremes of winter, and so it remains on the bench, on display in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden all through the year.” The statement ‘can tolerate the extremes of winter’ makes sense if you live someplace like North Carolina, but less so if you live someplace like Vermont. Thanks to a … Continue reading Freeze Damage in Bonsai & Other Woody Plants

The Best Bonsai Deserve the Best Pots

I found this Kumquat on Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pot blog. My apologies for the fuzzy photo. It’s cropped from a larger photo that originally came from Bonsai Tonight. The full photo and Ryan’s caption are below. It has been a while since we borrowed from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pot blog. As you might expect, it’s a great photo source for some of the best bonsai pots in the world. We’ll offer a glimpse of a few here, with and without trees. If you’d like to enjoy a whole lot more, I suggest you pay Ryan a visit. Continue.d … Continue reading The Best Bonsai Deserve the Best Pots

Beautiful Bonsai – Before & After Scots Pine

It takes a lot of experience and strong sense of design to effect a transformation as good as this one. The tree is a Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris) and the artist is Martin Bonsai Kolacia. I don’t read a word of Czech, so aside from figuring out that Martin Bonsai Kolacia lives in The Czech Republic (it’s the cz at the end of his url that gave him away) and that he has inserted Bonsai into the middle of his name, there’s not too much more I can say about him. If you’d like do your own research here’s your link to his fb page and here’s … Continue reading Beautiful Bonsai – Before & After Scots Pine

30% to 40% off Yoshiaki Japanese Bonsai Turntables

Japanese white pine on a Yoshiaki Bonsai Turntable. If you think you’ve seen this tree before, it might be because we featured it a few weeks ago. Courtesy of Bill Valavanis. NEW BONSAI TURNTABLE SPECIAL* 30% to 40% off list on Yoshiaki Japanese Bonsai Turntables 3 Days Only – Now is your chance *special does not include Hydraulic Green T Turntables Heavy Duty Bonsai Turntable by Yoshiaki 13″ The very best non-hydraulic turntable list price 195.00 NOW ONLY 129.00 – and, at the other end of the spectrum… Mighty Mouse Bonsai Turntable by Yoshiaki 8″ small but strong – great … Continue reading 30% to 40% off Yoshiaki Japanese Bonsai Turntables

More Bonsai Berries & a New Year’s Resolution

Pyracanthas are prolific bearers of berries and this one is no exception. It’s from a post we did in 2012. I don’t know who the artist or owner is, but my guess is the tree is in Japan (more about this just below) Continuing our berry theme from yesterday… But first, my New Year’s Resolution. NO MORE UNATTRIBUTED TREES on this blog (uh… except for the one just above).* Bonsai Aesthetics Tool Special 30% to 50% off our list prices this applies to all our Aesthetics tools including kits & sets a small sampling of your large selection of Bonsai Aesthetics … Continue reading More Bonsai Berries & a New Year’s Resolution

Bonsai Berries and Other Winter Delights

Nothing like brilliant little berries to brighten things up in this white winter deep freeze we’ve been ‘enjoying’ lately (it’s 11am and my thermometer says -9F). The translation of Katsumi Komiya’s caption for this tree says simply… “Plum” I did quick online search and didn’t come up with a match for a plum with fruit this small, but if you really want to know, my guess is you might find it with a little perseverance. And it might help not to take plum too literally. Today’s bonsai all belong to Katsumi Komiya and there’s plenty more where these came from (you guessed it… facebook) OUR BRILLIANT SITE WIDE … Continue reading Bonsai Berries and Other Winter Delights

An Impressively Massive Japanese Maple Bonsai & an Equally Impressive Japanese Garden

This impressively massive Momiji (Japanese maple), perched on its Green T Turntable, belongs to Jean-Paul Polmans. Today’s post is mostly about Jean Paul Polmans‘ extraordinary blending of powerful bonsai and beautiful gardens, and just a bit about our powerful and beautiful Green T Professional Turntables. Continued below… Extended One Day OUR BRILLIANT SITE WIDE SALE has been extended until 11:59pm EST January 1st Almost Everything Discounted Some Items as much as 70% off List Prices SALE ENDS AT 11:59pm EST, TOMORROW, JANUARY 1st The entryway into Jean Paul Polmans’ Japanese style garden and bonsai collection. I borrowed this photo and the one below from Andys Shohin … Continue reading An Impressively Massive Japanese Maple Bonsai & an Equally Impressive Japanese Garden

Bonsai Flowers, Snow & Nasty Bugs

Japanese Flowering apricot (Prunus mume). This would be a remarkable tree even without the flowers. With the flowers… well, you can see for yourself. The tree resides at Bonsai Aichien in Japan. Speaking of snow & winter, we seem to be entertaining a nasty flu bug in these parts. I’ve been down for a couple days, so if you’re wondering why we’re a little slow answering emails, and why we’re resorting to recycled photos (February, 2014), now you know. Both the photos here were posted on facebook by Juan Andrade who is (was?) an apprentice at Bonsai Aichien and a great … Continue reading Bonsai Flowers, Snow & Nasty Bugs

An Old Bonsai New Year

This brilliant penjing by Robert Steven appeared in one of our earliest posts (way back in 2009). It’s from Robert’s book Mission of Transformation (now out of print) In three days we’ll turn the digital page on another year of brilliant bonsai and occasionally intelligent comment. On behalf or my two hard working compatriots; Ric Walter (the heart and soul of our warehouse) & Barbara Patitucci (our all-accomplishing jack of all trades) and all the other good people who are part of the Stone Lantern family -Fedex drivers, postal workers, our vendors and countless others who keep our gears oiled – I would like to wish you a Cheerful, … Continue reading An Old Bonsai New Year