Bonsai Today

Online magazine for Bonsai lovers

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Step by Step

The most popular Juniper

It's almost needless to say that junipers are the most popular material for bonsai. They can withstand lots of work done in a short period of time....


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Technique

Split in two

Yoshihiko Moriyama's transformation of a juniper by using an electric saw


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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.


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Masterclass

The crazy rock

Something completely different: Mauro Stemberger creates the rock pine


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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'


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Masterclass

THE GIANT LOOP

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


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Styling

The Azuma pines

Daiki, the third generation Abe, works on seed-grown pines


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Technique

Split in three

Considering the front, planting angle and every different orientation of material is part of the deep fascination of transforming a bonsai.


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Technique

cut in two?

Chiharu Imai deals with a dull bonsai and creates something special


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Styling

How to ‘crack’ a white pine

Masayuki Fujikawa transforms a white pine by changing the angle and compacting an elongated trunk. One of the best characteristics of this tree is the aged appearance of the bark, making it look as though it was just collected from the mountains. Additionally, the leaf characteristics and the power in…...


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Styling

This one?

Jörg Derlien’s all too familiar struggle to find the right pot fit for his larch The larch depicted here, a Larix decidua, was acquired in 2009 and obtained from the Alpine region of Wallis in Switzerland. From the very beginning, I was enamoured with its winding, twisting trunk and from…...


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Styling

All-American pine

Bjorn Bjorholm works on a pine grown from seed Bjorn gives an initial styling to a more than 50-year-old pine, grown from seed. This classic informal upright bonsai has a long and much told history in the United States, dating back to the early 1970s in Rochester, New York. At…...


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Workshop

Just too long

Jan Culek copes with a tree that is almost impossible to style The pine Jan has chosen to work on (Pinus sylvestris) hasn’t the most ideal branch setting and trunk shape. It is a clump with long, straight trunks, so what to do with it? The pine has three trunks…....


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Masterclass

No beating about the bush

A very bushy juniper for Mauro Stemberger to style It was January 2020 when I arrived at the small city of Marostica at the foot of the Italian Alps for a demo with Mauro Stemberger. In the studio of Enrico Pavin, Mauro, together with his team, was ready to transform…...


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Profile

Post-apocalyptic

The fascinating bonsai world of Laurent Darrieux. Laurent Darrieux has practised bonsai for more than three decades. His work speaks of a unique approach, non-conformist and somewhat rebellious, too. What was your professional education? Like many artists, my education has taken a rather jerky path. I first went to cookery…...


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Case History

I have no clue…

When he acquired a Buxus, David Quintana had not a clue where to start More than twenty years have passed since this tree and I first got together. And over the course of these years it has become a symbol of my garden, my school and my work. But things…...


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Masterclass

Is it a gamble?

Masahiko Kimura is challenged by a huge yew. In a corner of Masahiko Kimura’s bonsai nursery is a yew planted in the ground. The trunk is slender and of a feminine appearance. The top section has great potential as bonsai, both from a deadwood perspective and branch placements. If air…...


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Masterclass

Sweat and tears

Ryan Neil vs huge garden tree This bulky juniper (Juniperus chinensis) was originally meant to end up in a Japanese garden. Could it be made into a bonsai? Its massive proportions indicated that it would be a tough job, but perfect for Ryan Neil. However, styling it into bonsai proportions…...


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Masterclass

Can it be opened ?

Untangling the dense foliage canopy of a sabina juniper Valentin Brose, former apprentice of Kunio Kobayashi, is a refined artist. The sabina juniper has such a dense canopy that all is hidden away from the eye. Valentin knows what is needed to open it up and show off its qualities…...


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Masterclass

Did it snap?

Enrico Savini twists, bends and turns a sabina into a graceful cascade Enrico’s garden, close to Bologna, Italy, is where he meticulously works on all kinds of ingenious techniques. With these techniques his trees are styled and refined over a period of a couple of years, not created in just…...


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Styling

The wild one

Wild olive trees provides one of most ideal materials for bonsai Marcial Yuste Blasco, who runs a bonsai school in Spain, prefers to work on material from the wild. For Marcial, it possesses the characteristics needed to create fine bonsai and the olive has all the qualities that he favours…....


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Technique

On a tightwire?

Winding wire around a branch is easy; effective wiring is more difficult Wiring is an indispensable skill in bonsai; it is something that needs to be used at many stages in tree development, from the first styling of a rough piece of material through to the minute adjustments required when…...


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Masterclass

As one with the tree

Hiroaki Suzuki becomes as one with the tree during the styling of a pine Young artist Hiroaki Suzuki takes on the challenge of transforming and displaying a five needle pine. The aim is to change the front to enhance the natural, and rustic beauty of a white pine. It has…...


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Styling

Just cut all the branches?

How to deal with upward-growing branches on a pine Impossible material with all its branches growing upwards becomes a fine bonsai. Toshio Ogawa notes the superb movement of the lower trunk and solves the problem of branches that are upward reaching. A red pine with no lower branches and an…...


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Technique

Heavy bending

How to bend thick branches Sometimes wire is simply not enough to bend the branch in the desired position. Here we sum up the proper techniques to make things bend smoothly. Lower a branch by pulling a guy wire Even though you wire it from the base, if a branch…...


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