Bonsai Today

Online magazine for Bonsai lovers

guy wire

Masterclass

At your own risk

Italian, Alessandro Bonardo, now 24, has been an apprentice under Mr Kimura for 6 years and in May 2022, it was formally announced that he had graduated. Within the garden he is affectionately known as Aless. Mr Kimura prepared a tree, an unusually shaped Miyajima white pine for this demo,

Styling

Taming the wild

It is really easy to create a magnificent bonsai if you start from raw material with great potential. There are those trees that at first glance already have the right look. You only have to use the appropriate techniques to make that tree into a high-level bonsai.


For Basic,
Masterclass

The crazy rock

Something completely different: Mauro Stemberger creates the rock pine


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

Time for change

Restyling a famous tree into something new is difficult work and an artist must stake their reputation on it


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

A Pine Puzzle

Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, is one of the most popular pine varieties and one of the most commonly styled tree.


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

Father and Son

The Sanriku junipers: Father and Son Omachi work on yamadori trees


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Styling

An offer one can’t refuse

'The tree featured here is an eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), which is native to Eastern Canada and much of the north-central and north-eastern United States'


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Technique

Gardenia

You can propagate and create bonsai from seed, cuttings and by grafting


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

THE GIANT LOOP

Mauro Stemberger styles a massive Scots pine with a loop shaped trunk


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Shohin

Would you dare?

Chojubai, the dwarf variety of the Japanese quince, is cut in half.


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Workshop

The rough type

The arakawa maple is one of the most popular trees in the bonsai world. Andrea Meriggioli shows why.


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

Out of the box

The pine called 'Okou no kyosho' is brought back into shape by Master Kunio Kobayashi


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

Wired up?

Improving your wiring skills with Chiharu Imai


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Workshop

Hidden in cones

According to Todd, Douglas firs are one of the most unpredictable trees he has worked with.


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

The ‘Mugo’ team

The mugo pine is an extraordinary example of a yamadori, an impressive trunk with some natural shari and lots of compacted branches on top. A real challenge for Matt and Tyler


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Workshop

The big picture

Follow Martin Nielsen as he takes a simple tree to a bonsai with character It’s a quite an ordinary tree, a locally collected larch of around 70 cm in height, with a trunk thickness of about 5 cm. It is a tree with many possibilities, but with, perhaps, even bigger…...


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Styling

Is it just one blob of green?

Manuel Germade re-styles an Itoigawa juniper This very compact juniper, grafted with Itoigawa foliage, has grown out of proportion. The shape of the trunk with its deadwood is very attractive. The main task for Manuel Germade is to discover the best front and to split up the dense foliage dome…...


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Styling

Why does he want to break free

Massimo Bandera wants to work unhindered by convention For Massimo Bandera bonsai is very much an art form. The bonsai artist should be free from conventions and rules. In the process of creating an extraordinary olive (Olea europaea sylvestris), Massimo found much inspiration in the Japanese aesthetics and Zen philosophy,…...


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Masterclass

Can Kimura dance with a shari?

Masahiko Kimura rearranges the foliage around a dancing shari Exploring the artistic sensitivity of Mr Kimura, we take a look at the material he will work on. The transformation is not tremendously dramatic, however the work is of the highest quality in order to accentuate the best characteristics of the…...


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now
Styling

Intimidated by its age

François Jeker styles a venerable 500-year-old Buxus ‘When about to style an impressive old Buxus like this, you are so intimidated that you approach it with trembling hands . . . Over the years, though, I have developed three assets in the bonsai field: imagination for the future design of…...


For Basic, Plus, and Premium members.
Log In Join Now