Less Is Still Enough

Shimpaku juniper. This photo is titled ‘Shugaten 2013 – Tokyo Ueno.’ Guillaume Billaud posted it on facebook. I’m not sure I need to say anything about this magnificent little bonsai except that that’s a whole lot of tree to fit into such a small pot and I’m delighted that someone bothered. BTW: Shugaten is being held right now (until the end of this month). Shohin again (see our previous post). Enough said for now… Shohin Pyracantha with yellow berries. A couple things jump out. First are the luminous berries. Without these, I don’t think we’d bother. With these, we’d … Continue reading Less Is Still Enough

Less Is Enough

I think this one qualifies as Mame (‘bean’ in Japanese). Bonsai-wise, mame is a common word for the very smallest bonsai. I found it on Pinterest. It says Repinned via Luciano Guimarães. I’m not sure exactly what that means but my best guess is that this tree does not belong to Luciano. The photo had the Bonsai Empire logo in the corner (now cropped out to magnify the tree), but I couldn’t find it on their site. In any case it’s a sweet little gem and so’s the pot. “Shohin are small bonsai. When compared to large bonsai, shohin cost … Continue reading Less Is Enough

Suthin Again

Suthin’s site calls this an Eastern white cedar which happens to be one of several common names for Thuja occidentalis (Northern white cedar is another, though around here we just call them cedars). To further complicate the issue, it’s not a true cedar, but rather an arborvitae. No matter, it’s a great tree. I particularly like the way Suthin hasn’t tried to manicure the natural looking cedar foliage. Makes for a raw and rugged look that’s in keeping with the rest of the tree. Everybody loves Suthin. When I was peddling our books and tools and other wares at the … Continue reading Suthin Again

Just Say No

First, my apologies for the fuzziness. The photo (original below) is cropped and expanded because I wanted to show these delightful little trees up close. Looks like a juniper above, Pyracantha on the left and Trident maple on the right. All the photos in this post are from Shunga-ten and the Japanese Shohin-bonsai Association. They appear on Morten Albek’s Shohin Bonsai Europe blog in a recent post titled, ‘Say NO to RULES‘ that I think is worth a read. BTW: Morten is the author of our Shohin Bonsai, Majesty in Miniature (see below). A part of a larger display. Could … Continue reading Just Say No

Just Relaxing and Drinking Some Tea

I guess we can live with the lighter. Several of the trees in Lam Ngoc Vinh’s photos also have distracting tags hanging from them. Still, we’ll take what we can get and in this case, what we can get is pretty good. And, speaking of pretty good, check out the facial expression on this very relaxed tea-drinker. I’m also relaxing and drinking some tea this week. In a cabin in Maine (and yes, a cabin with wifi). So, in order to get back to the job of relaxing, we’ll keep it simple and borrow from someone else (the quote below … Continue reading Just Relaxing and Drinking Some Tea

Big Show, Small Trees

This pine by Mark and Rita Cooper was part of their second place Shohin display at the Noelanders Trophy. Mark and Rita also won the first place Shohin display (see below). All the trees in this post belong to Mark and Rita. All the photos are borrowed from Bonsai Eejit. In our last post we showed a small Chinese elm (see below) by Mark and Rita Cooper that was part of their first place Shohin display at the 2013 Noelanders Trophy. It was unattributed because I didn’t know who it belonged to. Now, thanks to Bonsai Eejit we know, and, … Continue reading Big Show, Small Trees

Small Is Still Beautiful

Kishu shimpaku juniper by John Brocklehurst. Mark Cooper took the photo at the 2012 Noelanders Trophy. I like the natural, fragile looking deadwood twigs and a whole lot more about this tree. Shohin again. We’ve been featuring shohin bonsai (small bonsai) a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with fact that we’re all aging and, as we age, smaller bonsai have larger appeal (easier to handle, take less space on our condo’s balconies and are a little less taxing on our social security budgets). Or maybe it’s just that we like them so much. All the photos in this … Continue reading Small Is Still Beautiful

Small Trees with Big Trunks

Root-over-rock Trident maple from Kaede Bonsai-en. In this case, it might be more accurate to say rock-almost-completely-swallowed-by-roots (which have morphed into a trunk). There are several things that stand out about this tree, not the least of which is the near perfect mix of reds, oranges and golds that make for a striking fall color display. Then there’s the trunk (ex-roots) with its impressive character and substantial girth relative to the pot and canopy size. Such thick trunks for such small trees are almost always the result of reducing trees that were grown in much larger containers (or in the … Continue reading Small Trees with Big Trunks

Deceptively Good – This Time with Attribution

Shohin bunjin? This little Shimpaku looks a lot like a bunjin bonsai, even though it may not fully reflect all the qualities, particularly age, that we associate with larger bunjin trees (the comments on this post may help shed a little light). Also, I wonder about the puffy little foliage pads. Still, in shape at least, I’d say there’s something bunjin about it. No matter, it’s an eye catcher that most of us would be happy to see sitting on our bonsai bench. Like the little trees in our last post, it’s from Bonsai-Mikunien (The Bonsai and the Moss Ball). … Continue reading Deceptively Good – This Time with Attribution

Small Is Deceptively Good

We’ll call this little pine tree number 1 (pretty creative eh?). I’m not sure if this is the best view, but it does provide a clear shot of the trunk which appears to be two trunks that start together, separate and then come back together, though if you go down to the last photo, you might be surprised at all that you can’t see here. Beyond the interest created by the trunk, there’s the branching which is pretty well developed for such a small tree. You gotta love Shohin. All the photos here are borrowed from a Michael Bonsai series … Continue reading Small Is Deceptively Good