“One Quick Glance at this Tree Brought Me to a State of Nirvana”

1 day ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. A close up of a rather spectacular root-over-rock bonsai (the entire planting is just below). Here’s our original caption (from May, 2016) with some changes made today… Robert Steven (my mistake, see below) has done it again. This time it’s a perfect root-over-rock bonsai. Here’s what Charles Bevan has to say Read More

The Magician’s Formal Bonsai Forest

2 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. Masahiko Kimura ‘The Magician’ styled this Ezo spruce (Picea Glehnii) planting with a high mountain stand of conifers in mind (this shot is three years after the initial planting and two years after the intermediate shot – both are below). Much of this post is from 2009 (our first year blogging). Read More

MAURO STEMBERGER IN CANBERRA

2 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Watto Bonsai Blog. Today I had the opportunity to attend a demonstration sponsored by the Canberra Bonsai Society featuring Mauro Stemberger. I had a great day. The usual suspect of a juniper that looked like it was grown around a pole was presented, a juniper procumbens. It was an interesting subject  and one that Read More

Challenges All Their Own – Mixed Bonsai Forests

3 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. This mixed forest/landscape is from Spain. The Museo del Bonsai Marbella to be exact (from Bonsais del Sur). It’s too bad the pot is chopped off and the whole photo is cramped, but that’s the way we found it. Still, from what we can see, it look s like a very ambitious project Read More

More Impressive Works of Imagination & Skill

4 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog.   This Penjing landscape features exceptionally rugged terrain and no immediately visible sign of humans. Or are there one or two tiny almost indistinguishable specks of something that could be man made? Continuing where we left off yesterday. For some reason I got a little fascinated with the man made elements; mostly Read More

Attention to Detail, Skill and Precision

5 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. Part of large Penjing scene. The full construction is just below. The photo is from Hong Kong Bonsai Pots I’ve long been fascinated by Penjing tray plantings  The best exhibit remarkable attention to detail, skill and precision, resulting in dramatic scenes that can transport the viewer to places beyond their ordinary experience. Or if Read More

Forest Bonsai – Focal Point, Balance, Scale, Age & That Elusive Quality…

6 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. I stumbled across the European hornbeam (Carpinus betulas) by Walter Pall on his Bonsai Adventures blog. The shot looks like spring with some trees lagging behind others. Continuing with our multiple trunk theme (yesterday was Clump style, today is forests) and with Walter Pall (day before yesterday), we’ll go back in time once again Read More

IVY

6 days ago Nebby 0

Source: Watto Bonsai Blog. Ivy is an unusual subject for bonsai and probably quite underrated. Older specimens have good trunks, they are evergreen, are relatively disease free, they flower, and subsequently fruit, come in a few varieties and with regular trimming good formations can be realised. My Ivy is about 80 years old and as Read More

Clump Style Bonsai – Multiple Trunks with a Single Root Stystem

1 week ago Nebby 0

Source: Bonsai Bark Blog. We found this extraordinary clump style Japanese maple on Bonsai Nakayoshi (sorry the link is no longer active). You can imagine that all the smaller trunks started as suckers on the roots of the main tree (you could also imagine that they started from seeds dropped by the main tree; in Read More