Bonsai tree:Suiseki & Satsuki

This stone speaks of Death Valley or some remote spot on the edge of the North African desert. It’’s from the California Suiseki Society’s 15th Annual Show, via Bonsai Tonight.
I don’t think we’ve ever featured suiseki (viewing stones) on this blog. We used to feature them regularly in Bonsai Today, with occasional objections by some readers. I’ve always felt that suiseki is a natural with bonsai, so mixing in a few makes sense to me. Perhaps this is a Japanese influenced view, as it seems that you see suiseki and bonsai together with much greater frequency in Japan than in the West. Maybe this post will start a great debate on the subject (though I won’t hold my breath).

This still-in-training Satsuki azalea is also from Bonsai Tonight. It’s from The Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai’s 16th annual exhibit

Another suiseki from the California Suiseki Society’s 15th Annual Show, via Bonsai Tonight.
Melba Tucker’s Suiseki and Viewing Stones shows some wonderful American suiseki. Willi Benz’s Bonsai, Kusamono and Suiseki, goes into the subject in great detail, with an emphasis on the relationship with bonsai and kusamono (herbaceous plants in bonsai containers), as you might expect from the title.

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Bonsai tree:Suiseki on display

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Suiseki on display
Here are some more photographs from the California Suiseki Society’s 15th Annual Show.

Coastal – Italy

Figure stone – Northern California

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Bonsai tree: Near Perfect in Every Regard…

 
We get so used to looking at exception bonsai that sometimes we stop really looking. For me, this bunjin style Japanese while pine bonsai (seven tree clump) on a slab, is near perfect in every regard. If you just look for a while, free from ideas about what it is or should be, then it has the power to transport you to someplace natural and free.
 
I doubt if these shears have the same power to transport you as the bonsai above, but they will help you style your own trees.


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Bonsai tree:Lonesome Maple

This is an image I’ve wanted to create for many years, just waiting for the right bonsai tree I guess, and my friend Peter Warren had this beautiful , elegant, maple for sale. It was perfect for the image I had in mind, although maybe not so old, yet, it has a wonderful nebari, very elegant trunkline, needs more work on the branching and ramification, and the trunk texture needs ageing, it just needs time, and care, to mature.

I first saw this image in John Naka’s book several years ago, I love solitary trees in nature and this is my attempt to recreate the feeling of space.

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Bonsai tree:Bonsai No Satori

From the cover of Bonsai No Satori, Chase and Solita Rosade’s new newsletter.
I’m still digging bonsai larches (Larix laricina) and a few Northern white cedars (Thuja occidentalis). A friend of mine has a swampy area on his land that is full of larches. Nothing too old (the swamp was cleared about fifteen years ago), but nevertheless some excellent stuff with great potential that I’ve been planting here and growing on. On an earlier post, I promised that I’d be selling some this year, but now I think I’ll wait another year or two. Some look pretty good, but they grow fast here and will look much better later. No good photos yet, but I’ll post some pretty soon just to whet your appetite.

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Bonsai tree:Ezo spruce

spent some time pruning and refining this bonsai, the lower branches were very weak when I got this bonsai tree, but a few years of giving them more light and foliar feeding specific branches seems to be working, they are slowly getting stronger, I’m pleased with progress so far.
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Bonsai tree: California Suiseki Society 15th Annual Show

Source: Bonsai Tonight
California Suiseki Society 15th Annual Show
The California Suiseki Society held its 15th Annual Show at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California on June 12-13, 2010. Typically members display stones new to their collections – this year President & Founder Felix Rivera encouraged members to display their very best stones. The result was a wonderful collection of close to 100 suiseki.
Most of the stones on display were “mountain stones” from Northern California. I was a bit surprised by this – either most engaging stones in California make good representations of mountains, or the mountain style speaks to members. A core of over a dozen are from the Bay Area – most of the rest are located across the country. Worldwide, the active membership is about 50.
I was also surprised by the diversity of rock geology. Northern California is clearly home to diverse collections of rock making it a great place for collecting.
Here’s a sampling of the suiseki on display. I’ll post more later this week.

Mountain & arch stone – Northern California

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Bonsai tree:Bonsai by the Thousands

Talk about maximizing space. This photo is from somewhere in Japan via BonsaiNet on facebook.

If it weren’t the guy on the right, you might think we’re somewhere in the 19th century. This one, also from BonsaiNet, has a caption: Kanuma & Abe bonsai nurseries.

As an former nurseryman. two things pop into mind: no wasted space and no weeding necessary (except in the pots, that is). Morimae, Kanuma bonsai nurseries, from BonsaiNet .
Kanuma & Abe bonsai nurseries.
Do you have a bonsai nursery and would you like to see it featured here? Let us know in the comments below.

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Bonsai tree:Japanese Slab Forest & Other Issues

This illustrious bonsai forest is from Bonsai Today issue 23. Among other things, it shows how one very strong bonsai tree can add drama and power to a bonsai forest planting. Though the original doesn’t say, I’ll guess that it’s by Saburo Kato (Japan’s most revered bonsai artist) and that the trees are Ezo spruce.
Most of the content in Bonsai Today magazine is from the old Japanese masters, and even though there is much to be excited about in contemporary Western bonsai, you would be hard pressed to find a forest with this level of refined precision anywhere outside Japan. Even the ferns and other little plants that make up the forest floor seem to be in scale.

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Bonsai tree: back online

Althugh I’ve not posted for a while, sorry about that, been very busy with orders, shows and of course a busy time with trees.

I just took these out of the kiln, all shohin size, for a USA customer, some of these bonsai pots have some new additives in the formula, difficult to tell from pictures, but I’m very pleased with the matt, mottled and aged look and feel to these, I was inspired by the antique pots I saw in Japan and am determined to try and create a finish to my pots that will look and feel older than it actually is, the same as we try to create with our bonsai.
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