Defoliation – Before & After

A Shohin Trident maple before & after defoliation by Harry Harrington. Just to give you some perspective, this sturdy little tree is only 8″ (20cm) high. It’s time to defoliate. Early summer heat is causing leaves to become oversized. With some deciduous bonsai (especially maples) defoliation works wonders. Not only are the new leaves smaller, but they tend to produce better fall color. Most defoliation is a one-time-per-summer, per-tree occasion. If you live where the summers are very long, it’s possible to defoliate twice in one summer.* Be careful though. If there isn’t enough time to fully recover before cold … Continue reading Defoliation – Before & After

Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Here’s what Bjorn Bjornholm wrote about this impressive root-over-rock (root-swallowing rock) bonsai. “Trident Maple after defoliation and subsequent second flush. The leaves are all pinky nail size or smaller.” Given all the publicity lately, you might think Bjorn Bjorholm is a rising bonsai superstar. A couple weeks ago we featured a post about Bjorn Bjorholm’s Online Bonsai Course and so far we’ve featured about a dozen posts on Bjorn and his bonsai. All the photos in this post are from Bjorn’s facebook feed. You might also like to visit his website and Bonsai Empire’s site on Bjorn’s intermediate online bonsai … Continue reading Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Muscular Bonsai, Muscular Turntable

Old European olives are often full of character as well as muscle, and this one is no exception. I found it on flickr and then, as one thing led to another, I came to the conclusion that this tree belongs to Luis Vallejo (though I couldn’t find evidence on his website). Taking off on a long trip today, so we’ll fall back on our archives again. Actually, this will be the third time for this one, but after yesterday’s post it seems like a good idea to show you one of my favorite olives. There’s something compelling about bonsai with … Continue reading Muscular Bonsai, Muscular Turntable

Smaller Pot, Stronger Tree

Robert Steven’s digitally enhanced version of a Trident maple by Carl Morrow (the photo Carl submitted is below). This is one of our earlier (September, 2010) Robert Steven critiques. And one of my favorites. The tree is great and Robert’s lesson is simple. Reign in the spread of the crown and the pot, and suddenly the already powerful trunk and nebari jump out. Not that they didn’t already claim some demand on your attention, but with the distracting horizon horizontal energy reduced, that demand is more clearly focused and exactly where it should be. There’s more, but we’ll let Robert … Continue reading Smaller Pot, Stronger Tree

Winter Silhouettes at the National Bonsai Museum

Three point display with Trident Maple and shadow at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The tree has been in training for over 100 years (since 1895). It was donated by Prince Takamatsu. The other two points are a Mt. Fuji scroll and a Japanese Blood Grass companion. The U.S. National Bonsai Foundation invites you to visit their first exhibition of the new year. Winter Silhouettes opened at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum yesterday (Friday, January 8) and continues through Jan. 17. “Winter is the best time to enjoy the true mastery of the art of bonsai by observing … Continue reading Winter Silhouettes at the National Bonsai Museum

Coffee, Bonsai & Something for the Season

Trident maple at the 2013 Taikan-ten Exhibition. There’s a lot going on with the tree; three major trunks and a baby one sticking out the back, a large mounding nebari and a whole lot of movement. I particularly like the trunk on the right that emerges from the base of the nebari (the base of the base). I borrowed the photo from Bjorn Bjorholm. The color seems a bit off, but you still get the drift. It’s a busy time when catching up seems even less likely than usual. One solution is to delve back into our archives. This one … Continue reading Coffee, Bonsai & Something for the Season

The Original Backyard Bonsai

Trident maple root-over-rock by Wolfgang Putz. From a 2014 Bark post. Yesterday we featured our 15th backyard bonsai post. Today we’ll fall back to our first backyard bonsai post from 2009 (about 1,800 posts ago). This one is from Wolfgang Putz backyard. It turns out that Wolfgang is a bonsai professional, so his backyard is really a bonsai nursery. After this first one, the focus became non-commercial backyards (until yesterday that is, when we showed a mix of commercial and non). This ariel shot shows part of Wolfgang Putz’s back yard bonsai display. Clearly this is a labor of … Continue reading The Original Backyard Bonsai

Random Shots & Gnarly Branches

This powerful Japanese white pine with its lush canopy that’s shaped like something you’d see on a deciduous tree, makes little attempt to appear like a pine in nature. Still, it’s hard to deny how the power of its trunk and the rich beauty of its canopy complement each other. I found it here. It looks like it’s part of a Japanese bonsai nursery, but I couldn’t find any verification. Still on vacation and still working. But just enough to edit (or eliminate) dated information and resize the images on this post from July 2012*. This wild looking Hornbeam … Continue reading Random Shots & Gnarly Branches

Clipping and Growing

This massive Trident maple most likely started in a field somewhere and was allowed to grow quite tall (the fastest way to thicken the trunk) before it was cut back. This first cut was the beginning of clip and grow styling (see below). The owner/artist of this outstanding bonsai is German Gomez. Most large Trident maples (and some other deciduous trees) are started in the field and developed using the clip and grow technique. The result is usually a heavy trunked tree with gentle curves, often in a more or less S shape. You can see this basic shape in … Continue reading Clipping and Growing

Brilliant Bonsai Color Combinations

You don’t see that many bright yellow pots. The glaze is expensive and hard to come by and the brilliance of the color can be overwhelming. But in this case the little tree holds its own. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better choice of pots to set off the the richly hued Trident maple leaves. Yesterday one of the trees we featured was by Haruyosi, when reminded me how much I like his seemingly endless collection of Shohin bonsai. This post originally appeared November 2014. I think you could spend a lifetime browsing bonsai images and never find another bonsai … Continue reading Brilliant Bonsai Color Combinations