A Well Traveled, Hard Working Bonsai Artist

Bjorn Bjorholm posted this root-on-rock gem the other day. It looks like a juniper, but I can’t tell for sure what kind and won’t bother to guess. Speaking of guesses, I’ll venture that some or all of the trees might share a single root system, and that the rock formation is manmade. I cropped this photo to eliminate background noise. A version that shows the whole planting is just below. Bjorn Bjorholm has to be one of the most well-traveled and hard working bonsai artists anywhere. At least that’s the impression I get from his posts on facebook. Speaking of, stay posted … Continue reading A Well Traveled, Hard Working Bonsai Artist

Two Splendid Cedar Bonsai

This has to be one of the very best Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) bonsai we’ve seen yet. We’ve seen thousands of magnificent Cedars growing in the wild here in Northern Vermont and surrounding states and provinces, but very few top quality bonsai. BTW: this one belongs to Brian Donnely of Quebec City. The photo is from one of the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition albums (I don’t remember which). The rest of the photos in this post are of another brilliant Cedar that belongs to Michael Pollock This post was inspired by a Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) that we’ve featured here … Continue reading Two Splendid Cedar Bonsai

A Very Variegated Unusual Bonsai

I think this unusual gem is the first variegated privet bonsai I’ve seen. Here’s what our source for this photo, Miguel Ros of Museo Tatsugoro said when he posted it… “It’s a Ligustrum with a natural graft of the same species. Its leaves are variegated!!!. It’s a beautiful tree.” (If you’re interested, here a link to what Wikipedia has to say about natural grafts.) When I stumbled upon this unusual tree on Miguel Ros Museo Tatsugoro timeline, I thought the variegated and the unvariegated leaves look a lot like leaves you might find on two different Serissa foetida varieties, but that the trunk is … Continue reading A Very Variegated Unusual Bonsai

Juniper Bonsai – Before, During & After

This Itoigawa juniper (Juniperus sargentii Itoigawa) belongs to Yannick Kiggen of Yama Bonsai Studio. The shot is from Noelanders Trophy 2017. The 200 year old pot is by Nakawatari. The stand was built by Pascal Houdusse This before, during and after sequence, covers four years in the life of Yannick Kiggen’s massive old yamadori juniper (yamadori is bonsai collected from the wild). Yannick bought it in 2014 from Maarten van der Hoeven of Bonsaiplaza, who imported it from Taisho-en in Japan. Continued below… BONSAI BOOK SPECIAL ENDS SOON All of Our Vast Selection of Bonsai Books 20% to 75% off List Prices But only for 2 more days This special … Continue reading Juniper Bonsai – Before, During & After

No Bonsai Are Too Big for Green T – FREE $50 Coupon with Basic Model

No bonsai is too big for Green T. Speaking of too big, it’s not everyday you see a Japanese maple with trunk this massive. It belongs to Jean Paul Polmans and a Basic Green T Turntable exactly like this one can can belong to you along with a FREE 50.00 coupon that’s good for any future Stone Lantern purchase Order your Green T Basic Model Hydraulic Lift Turntable and receive a FREE 50.00 Stone Lantern Coupon see below for more reason to enjoy your own Green T… Four Good Reasons to Order Your Green T Basic Model Now FREE 50.00 Coupon good for any … Continue reading No Bonsai Are Too Big for Green T – FREE $50 Coupon with Basic Model

Bonsai Rafting – Sinuous & Straight

This rugged sinuous root raft-style planting is by our friend, Robert Steven. I don’t know the variety, but my guess is that Robert will let us know. We’ve added one photo (just below) to this post on raft-style bonsai that originally appeared here in August 2015 We don’t need to say much about raft-style bonsai – Peter Adams has it covered below -except that all the bonsai rafts shown here are sinuous root style (netsunagari in Japanese) as opposed to rafts with straight line trunks, like nature’s raft just below NEW LOWEST PRICE YET KILO BONSAI WIRE ONLY 14.95 PER ROLL Only 13.45 off with your … Continue reading Bonsai Rafting – Sinuous & Straight

More European Bonsai – Poland this Time

We found this Japanese white pine (Goyomatsu) at Bonsai Warsaw. The other photos shown here are from the Warsaw Bonsai Show. They were posted by Will Baddeley (links for both are below) Polish bonsai anyone? And just in case you think I’m a mole planted here to showcase European bonsai… well, it’s true, I do appreciate what’s going on in the European bonsai community and how rapidly they’ve advanced over the last 20 to 30 years.* But really, anywhere you find quality bonsai is good enough. Here’s your link to Bonsai Warsaw. And here’s Will Baddeley KILO BONSAI WIRE ONLY 16.50 per roll Only 14.85 off with your 150.00+ discount … Continue reading More European Bonsai – Poland this Time

Boxwood Bonsai – Before & After Armageddon

Michael Hagedorn’s Japanese boxwood. Here’s part of what Michael wrote about this tree (from his Crataegus Bonsai blog)… “And after the new flush of leaves came out, summer 2017. Defoliation creates regrowth with smaller leaves. This photo is after minimal wiring and pad cleanup. There is a scale shift from the earlier, un-defoliated 2017 photos, and the structure of the tree comes out a bit better than the earlier attempt 14 years ago as a well-manicured foliage ‘mop.’ Which was fine for dusting or generally shrubbery use in Monty Python movies, but less good for bonsai.” Up to our old … Continue reading Boxwood Bonsai – Before & After Armageddon

Adding Drama to an Already Dramatic Bonsai

Is this spectacular Juniper in its equally spectacular pot, listing just a tad to the left? Or is it just me? No matter, to my eye at least, the tension set up by this feeling adds a little more drama to an already very dramatic tree Here’s a post from our archives (Novemeber, 2012). It was titled Getting It Right This Time (you can visit the original if you’d like to know what we were getting right). I picked it mostly because I thought you might appreciate the rather spectacular tree above, though the others aren’t half bad either The photos you see here … Continue reading Adding Drama to an Already Dramatic Bonsai

A Feel for Small Bonsai

It’s not that often you see such a small Bunjin style bonsai (calling this a bunjin is probably a stretch, as it lacks that extra character that only time and rough conditions can bring*). But then, there aren’t that many artists with a feel for small bonsai quite like Haruyosi. I cropped this photo to emphasize just the tree. The uncropped version is below It has been a while since we visited Harayosi, one our favorites. Especially when it comes to small bonsai. Almost all of his trees are mame (lit. bean) and many, if not most, are junipers HERE’S A GOOD REASON TO STOCK UP ON WIRE … Continue reading A Feel for Small Bonsai