Bonsai Brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Cork bark Chinese elm in full fall brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. You don’t see that many good Chinese elm bonsai. I like this one a lot; its color, the heavy trunk with its corky bark, the handsome Tokoname pot. This photo and the others in this post are from the bonsai collection on the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens website. With the exception of the Trident maple root-over-rock just below, and some re-writing to bring things up to date, the rest of this post appeared back in December 2013. Though I haven’t been there for a long time, I think … Continue reading Bonsai Brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

A Collection of Famous Bonsai in a Lovely Outdoor Setting

Atlas cedar with shadows at the Pacific Bonsai Museum WHOOPS Let’s make that the National Bonsai Museum in Wash DC. From the John Naka collection. Photo by Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight). By now most of you have been flooded with great photos from the Artisans Cup (with more to come). What you may not have seen are photos from Cup sponsored tours to the Pacific Bonsai Museum with its collection of famous bonsai in a lovely outdoor setting. All the photos below (with the exception of the 5 styles) were taken by my childhood friend Michael Wells. The photos of … Continue reading A Collection of Famous Bonsai in a Lovely Outdoor Setting

Bonsai Guessing Game at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

This vivid close up was taken by Bill Valavanis at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The tree is a Chinese privet. To see a photo of the whole tree and a whole range of other great photos, visit Bill’s blog. Bill Valavanis is up to his old tricks. Exploring and promoting bonsai with flair and dedication. The result is one of the best bonsai blogs you’ll find. This time it’s the famous bonsai collection (collections actually, though the Penjing section was closed) at Montreal’s Botanical Gardens. I didn’t start out to turn this post into a bonsai varieties guessing game, it … Continue reading Bonsai Guessing Game at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

More Satsuki Flowers & Other Spring Surprises

The new growth on some Spruce is often a brilliant yellow. Almost like yellow flowers. In this case the spruce is an Ezo (Picea jezoensis). This one resides at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (Saitama, Japan) as do the other trees in this post. We’ve got a few themes running here; spring Satsuki flowers (last post), new spring growth and one of our favorites, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. For a lot of people, Satsuki azaleas are all about the flowers, so it doesn’t matter so much that you can’t really see the trunk in this photo. You can … Continue reading More Satsuki Flowers & Other Spring Surprises

Bonsai on the Plaza

Bonsai on the plaza. What could be better, sidewalk cafes, old world architecture and bonsai? All the photos in this post are from Barbazza Bonsai in Treviso, Italy. I think this the first time we’ve featured bonsai on a plaza. In Italy, or for that matter, anywhere. The displays belong to Barbazza Bonsai. The city is Treviso. You can visit Barbazza on facebook or on their website. Or, best of all, you could go to Italy. Another great bonsai and architecture shot. Looks like Treviso is an old walled city. And then there are the ubiquitous men on … Continue reading Bonsai on the Plaza

A Sneak Preview of the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Album

We just got our advance copy of the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album. Like the last three, it’s better than the one that came before. This speaks volumes (unintended) for North American Bonsai. It also speaks loud and clear of the tireless effort that Bill Valavanis and friends put into the Exhibitions and the albums. Stay posted for the arrival of the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album. Meanwhile here’s a quick sneak preview of the cover and a couple shots from inside the album. This Itoigawa shimpaku juniper won the finest medium size bonsai award. It belongs … Continue reading A Sneak Preview of the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Album

Staying on Message: A Few More Tips on Defoliation

Here’s Juan Adrade’s English caption for this photo. “Partial defolation on one of the grandfather trees. Close to 100 yrs old.” Here’s his Spanish caption: “Defoliación de las ramas exteriores en uno de los tridentes del abuelo de mi maestro. Este arbol posiblemente se acerca a los 100 años.” Here’s our translation of the Spanish: “Defoliation of the exterior branches of one of my teacher’s Trident maples. This tree is probably about 100 years old.” You might notice the part about exterior branches in the Spanish. This would indicate that Juan is trying to redirect energy away from the outer … Continue reading Staying on Message: A Few More Tips on Defoliation

Stone Images, With or Without Bonsai

There’s a story behind this delightfully complex Suiseki for those of you who know how read such things. The photo is from the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s website. It’s there to tell you about an event that starts tomorrow (see just below). The following was lifted from the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s website: “Viewing Stones from Members of the Puget Sound Bonsai Association Suiseki Interest Group. April 3 – May 4, 2015 “Viewing stones, or suiseki as they are called in Japanese, are naturally formed stones valued for their beauty and ability to represent a scene from nature. This includes anything from … Continue reading Stone Images, With or Without Bonsai

Nothing but Eat, Sleep and Bonsai for Two Weeks

In Jeremiah Lee’s own words … “Here are a couple trees that Juan recently worked on. I got to see him clean up and style this bad ass twisty Shimpaku.” From Jeremiah’s two week apprenticeship at Aichi-En Bonsai Nursery. Juan is Juan Andrade, a soon to be famous international bonsai artist (if he isn’t famous already). This and the other photos in this post are by Jeremiah. I’ve been a fan of Jeremiah Lee’s Yenling Bonsai blog for a while now (here’s an earlier Bark post that owes its existence to Jeremiah). Not only does Jeremiah take very good photos, but … Continue reading Nothing but Eat, Sleep and Bonsai for Two Weeks

Kokufu Mid-Winter Bonsai Splendor

Though any Kokufu bonsai might work, this Japanese white pine looks like a good tree to lead with. Besides, I’ve got a soft spot for short muscular trees. Especially short muscular trees whose scarred bark and hunched stance tell a story of hard times and harsh conditions, while its lush foliage and vibrant strength tell a story of better times and full recovery. This and all the other photos shown here are from Bill Valavanis’ blog, Welcome To My Bonsai World. Kokufu, the world’s premier (and oldest) Bonsai Exhibition is in full swing. Those of us not fortunate enough to be … Continue reading Kokufu Mid-Winter Bonsai Splendor