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

Coming Soon, Brilliant Bonsai Fest at the Pacific Bonsai Museum

While you are visiting the The Pacific Bonsai Museum’s Bonsai Fest (see below) you can enjoy their current LIVING ART OF BONSAI: ELEMENTS OF DESIGN exhibit. A perfect twofer. Bonsai Fest! Comes to Federal Way. A two-day celebration over World Bonsai Day – Mother’s Day weekend Details below… Stone Lantern’s bONSAI AESTHETICS WIRE KILO ROLLS 17.95 ONLY 15.95 EACH FOR 3 OR MORE 500 GRAM ROLLS 9.95 ONLY 8.95 EACH FOR 3 OR MORE An Oak in one of the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s many outdoor display sections. I couldn’t find the variety, but the small leaves lead me to believe it … Continue reading Coming Soon, Brilliant Bonsai Fest at the Pacific Bonsai Museum

In Praise of 3 Phenomenal Bonsai Tools (Okatsune Tool Sale Ends Tonight) & Another ‘Cedar’ Bonsai

Close up of a Red cedar bonsai forest. I’m going to assume that it’s what we call the Eastern red cedar, which is actually a juniper (Juniperus virginiana), though there are trees in other parts of the world that are commonly called Red cedar (none are Cedrus or true cedars). Our source, an online company that sells ‘bonsai’ seeds is no help with identification, nor with the owner of this forest. I must admit I enjoy trying to sort out the common name versus botanical name confusion when it comes to certain trees. The other day we featured a Northern white cedar, which … Continue reading In Praise of 3 Phenomenal Bonsai Tools (Okatsune Tool Sale Ends Tonight) & Another ‘Cedar’ Bonsai

American Larch Season

I found this photo in an article about larch at Bonsai Empire. No artist or owner is given. It’s most likely a European larch (Larix decidua), though I can’t say for sure. Here’s a quote from the article… “The larch is a popular Bonsai species, since trunks grow thicker quite quickly and the tree displays stunning seasonal colors. Two common species exist, the Larix decidua (European Larch) and the Larix kaempferi (Japanese Larch).” Whoops! I think our hard working and normally knowledgeable friend Oscar (Mr Bonsai Empire) suffered a momentary lapse and forgot our American larch (Larix laricina)*, one of the very best species for … Continue reading American Larch Season

Boreal Bonsai King

One of Nick Lenz’ famous larches. The larches we’ll be offering this fall (see below) aren’t this old or nearly this refined (Nick is in a league of his own), but they are off to a good start. Monday morning, the sun is shinning and buds are just starting to swell. Spring digging season won’t last, so it’s time to get outside. Continuing our Larch theme, yesterday I dug, trimmed and potted (nursery pots) a few of the larches I’ve been growing on my land for the last dozen or so years. Most are around 20 to 25 years old (they started on a friend’s land … Continue reading Boreal Bonsai King

Boon’s Tamarack and 4 Pots – Which Do You Prefer?

One American larch (Larix laricina) and four pots (plus the original). Which do you prefer? All this images in this post were borrowed from Boon Manakitivipart (the image above is a composite that we put together). Yesterday, April 21st was our first day of spring here in northern Vermont (not technically, but really), so I started digging up some Larches I’ve been growing in the ground for the last 10 to 15 years and putting them into nursery pots. My plan is to take some of them to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in September. Anyway, my mind is … Continue reading Boon’s Tamarack and 4 Pots – Which Do You Prefer?