A European (Larix decidua) from our archives. When the photo was taken, at least four years ago, it belonged to Walter Pall. The pot is by Derek Aspinall. More ..read more

More ..read more

Today's feature tree would stop traffic if it could walk down the street. It's hard to know how much of the magnificent deadwood is the result of the forces of nature over time and how much can be credited to well chosen carving tools in skilled human hands, but it's probably safe to say that both played their part. Couldn’t resist today's two magnificent bonsai. Both express mastery when it comes to carving deadwood and both belong to David Benavente—a long time favorite here on Bark. David doesn’t mentioned the varieties and I won’t bother to guess, I've been burned one too many times Clos ..read more

We've got some Horst Kaltenbrunner beauties for your bonsai enjoyment.  Horst's  caption for this photo reads: European spruce that shows its naturalness. Andrea Maier wrote that this Horst Kaltenbrunner tree is a Beautiful sylvestris in a antimayer pot. You'll get no argument from me. Looks like the same Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) that's above. Only from other side. Horst identifies this one only as a pine. Horst's caption: Pinus Mugo, collected in Austria two years ago in our mountains, removed the topsoil. Now in the training bowl in pure substrate powered by Ibuki! W ..read more

After. This impressive Taxus baccata (English or European yew) was posted by Arsenio Mondo Zen—as were all of today's photos. Before . Here's the caption (translated from Italian): "How far we've come together with this rate of Gianluca, and so much more to go. From a not very expressive material, with the right techniques and the right time, you can achieve great things. Just believe it." "At Mondozen Bonsai Club." Arsenio's Trident maple after defoliation and some pruning. Before. Time to get to work! Arsenio and friend ..read more

A couple months ago, I visited New England Bonsai Gardens, my old nursery, for only the second time since I moved on in 1999. Fortunately, Ashley was there to give us (my friend Barbara was with me) a tour. Unfortunately we couldn't spend all day which might have given us a chance to see  everything. Still, we saw enough to be very impressed. If you haven't been there (or even if you have) I highly recommend you make time for a visit if you're ever in New England.  As an unexpected bonus Ashley introduced us to Andrea Meriggioli, a highly accomplished and very friendl ..read more

Got a few photos today from our friend Dave De Groot. He's the author of Principles of Bonsai Design and much more, including a long stint as the previous curator of the Pacific Bonsai Museum. So you might say he's a big deal in our bonsai world (though I don't think he would say that). One of the many things I enjoy about Dave De Groot's posting are his commentaries. I think we can learn a lot from accomplished bonsai artists that take the time to explain what their thinking is as they work with their bonsai. "I had to hurry to get my Japanese maple thinning done before it gets too late. He ..read more

Here's a good shot of what lookes like a Shimpaku juniper or close cousin (Kishu or Itoigawa). This and all the trees shown here are by Mariusz Folda. It's been a while since we featured Mariusz's work. He's a long time favorite. Take a look and you'll see why we can't go too long without returning to his trees and gardens. This impressive monster looks like it might be a Japanese white pine. Mariusz and plenty of other bonsai artists don't always identify their trees on FB, but some like this one are fairly obvious. A little taste of late spring color, This azalea (most likely a Satsuki ..read more

Ten years ago or so, we'd see Marc Noelanters' bonsai seemingly eveywhere, but not so much lately. Until recently that is, when I stumbled upon the extraordinary forest planting below. Marc Noelanders' only comment with this extraordinary mountain forest planting is, "On request some pictures of a demonstration that I did a few years ago." The trees. Marc says nothing about the type trees he used, but Cryptomeria (Japanese cedar) comes up twice in the FB comments and based on how they look in this photo, I'm on board with that.  The pot, slab, base or whatever you want to cal ..read more

Today's bonsai blog post, When is best to repot? Do we repot them all at once? is taken directly from Michael Hagedorn's Crataegus Bonsai blog. All the text in italics is directly quoted from Michael and all the photos are his.   Bud swell on Hemlock, about right repotting timing Ponderosa Pine—a bit late When is best to repot? Do we repot them all at once? The general guideline to repot as they break bud is a good one. Some, like pines, though, are best repotted a bit before we see bud elongation. Maples, as buds open. If you have a long spring—one that goes on at a mil ..read more