Shohin Bonsai Exhibition – Roshi Special Ends Tonight

Shohin Shimpaku juniper. It looks like it could belong to Suthin, but there’s no identification or attribution, so that’s just a guess. If you know who it belongs to and you let me know, I’ll make the correction if I’m wrong. Thought you might like to know about the upcoming U.S. National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition. Bill Valavanis just posted this today, so it’s hot off the press. Continued below… Roshi Bonsai Tool Sale ends tonight at 11:59pm EDT roshi sets the standard for affordable high quality bonsai tools 30% off 2 or more roshi tools plus another 10% off orders … Continue reading Shohin Bonsai Exhibition – Roshi Special Ends Tonight

Dan & Roy – Picasso & a Bonsai Grafting Master

Roy Nagatoshi grafted the Shimpaku foliage onto this masterpiece 700 year old yamadori California juniper that Dan Robinson collected and continues to grow and develop (provided Dan still owns it). You can find a lot more about this and dozens of other ancient masterpieces in Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees, Will Hiltz wonderful book about Dan (the Picasso of bonsai) and his on going love affair with bonsai and nature. This post started out to be about the bonsai and grafting skills of Roy Nagatoshi (here’s a good example of Roy’s work from a 2014 Bark post). But somewhere along the … Continue reading Dan & Roy – Picasso & a Bonsai Grafting Master

More Prolific Bonsai Brilliance

Always nice to lead with a little color. This cheerful full fall color Trident maple belonged to Suthin Sukosolvisit when we first showed it way back in 2009. I don’t know who the lucky owner is now. Continuing with yesterday’s fully fledged admiration of Suthin and his bonsai, here are a few choice trees dug out from our archives. Continued below… A great sale ends tonight Bonsai Aesthetics Wire Sale 25% to 30% off 500 gram Bonsai Aesthetics Wire 25% off 2-5 rolls (10.12 each) 30% off 6 or more (9.45 each) this sale ends tonight, Sunday at 11:59pm EST … Continue reading More Prolific Bonsai Brilliance

No Problem that 20 Hours of Expert Work Can’t Solve

After. If you look at the before photo below, two big differences jump out. First is the trunk, where hours were spent meticulously applying lime sulfur on the deadwood and cleaning up the living vein. And then there’s the total restyling of the crown. The resulting form is classic Japanese style and the mastery is impressive. Naoki Maeoka wrote that he he spent 20 hours reviving this tree. Yesterday’s post was about reviving a neglected bonsai and so is today’s. The artist in both cases is Naoki Maeoka, and both trees are junipers, but this time it’s a Shimpaku. Yesterday’s … Continue reading No Problem that 20 Hours of Expert Work Can’t Solve

The Smoke of the Volcano

The Smoke of the Volcano. This famous old collected Shimpaku juniper is called Noble Satake’s Shimpaku. When it was collected it was given the name The Smoke of the Volcano because of its unusual twisting trunk. The fuzzy photo is what happens when you blow an image up from 300 to 770 pixels (see below for the original). I just discovered an excellent article on Morten Albek’s Shohin Bonsai blog (thanks to Bonsai Mary). It’s a history of a particular collected Shimpaku juniper and collecting Shimpaku juniper in general. This article was written by Kazuki Yamanaka and published in Japanese … Continue reading The Smoke of the Volcano

Five Shohin Bonsai Plus One

A sweet little Firethorn (Pyracantha) in full flower. Yesterday we showed one with a few berries and if you scroll down you’ll see one with a lot more than a few. Thought we’d continue yesterday’s Shohin theme with a few more photos. I’ll spare you too much commentary. The photo above is from Bonsai Mike. Continued below… NEW SALE 25% off All Bonsai Books Choose from 50 different titles additional 10% off orders 100.00+ FREE Shipping on U.S. orders 50.00+ be sure to select Free Shipping when you check out It’s not everyday you see a shohin Buttonwood (Conocarpus … Continue reading Five Shohin Bonsai Plus One

Short & Sweet

Here’s what Bob Bailey wrote when he posted this tiny but powerful pine by Koji Hiramatsu: “One of his finest and only 10cms tall.” And just in case you happen to live in one of the three countries* that haven’t adopted the metric system, that’s just under 4″ I’m not sure how we managed to overlook Koji Hiramatsu for so long (in February it will be eight years of approximately 300 posts per year), but we did. Until now. We’re still recovering from the December frenzy and it’s time to wade though digital piles of year end numbers and obligations, … Continue reading Short & Sweet

Three Robust Shimpaku on a Stupendous Rock

Three robust Shimpaku junipers on a stupendous rock. From the Omiya Bonsai Museum via Empire Bonsai. Yesterday we featured a type of bonsai forest, so let’s keep going with another type. Though some people might not call these rock plantings forests, they do share the multiple tree and the landscape features with more conventional bonsai forests. This post (with a few changes) first appeared August 2015. That’s Ryan Neil’s hand posing for a professional photo with a one of the largest root-on-rock plantings you’ll ever see. Here’s his caption: “In the studio today with @hornbecker shooting for the Artisans Cup … Continue reading Three Robust Shimpaku on a Stupendous Rock

A Great Bonsai Story & the Tree Isn’t Half Bad Either

Shimpaku juniper from a Peter Tea post, titled Shimpaku, The Unexpected Surprise. My apologies to Peter for cropping the bottom of the pot to get rid of a distracting white band that appears in the the original (it’s below so you can decide for yourself if my pickiness has gotten out of control). Just back from a total non-working vacation/ retreat. I usually work some during so called vacations, but this time I went whole hog and almost completely avoided work. I mention this as an excuse for resurrecting this old Bark post from 2013. If you’re not familiar with … Continue reading A Great Bonsai Story & the Tree Isn’t Half Bad Either

The Maximum with the Minimum

Even though the crown is leaning back a bit, I’m going to call this side the front, given that it provides the best view of the trunk and the deadwood. The four photos of this tree are by Haruyosi, as are the tree and the pot. Still enjoying a short vacay, so we’ll show you another Haruyosi rerun (see yesterday). And while we’re at it, why not start at the beginning (March, 2014)? Our first of many Haruyosi posts. We don’t usually show four shots of the same bonsai, but I like this little tree a lot and the shots … Continue reading The Maximum with the Minimum