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30/08/2011 16:22:29

This is a picture of a rhododenron indicum, also known as satsuki azalea which is the japanese name. The word 'satsuki' means fifth moon, i.e. five complete moon cycles. After this five cycles (around may or june) this bonsai starts blooming what some people consider the most beautiful flowers in the world of bonsai.
Do you have any picture of a nice flowering azalea?
...

1 Last:30/08/2011 21:14:02

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Bontar73

30/08/2011 06:05:04

What do you think about this acer buergerianum?
I took this picture years ago, in the bonsai school of Josep Berch, who recently passed away, so here's my tribute to him.
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Bontar73

29/08/2011 14:25:31

We just redesigned the bonsai website.
Now it is a social network rather than a blog, so we encourage you to participate adding your messages and sharing your interests about bonsai with the rest of users.
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Jack (97711820) (no registrado)

28/05/2010 04:19:21

Bonsai Clearance

There are more than 50 pot waiting to be clear at low price. Preferable sell in whole bundle.

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Fiona (no registrado)

04/01/2010 08:35:18

Decades Old Bonsai Trees On Sale

Happy Bonsai is committed to offer boutique quality bonsais at
unbeatable price to the worldwide bonsai community, with 100%
satisfaction guarantee and great shopping experience.
Please kindly check our online store at www.HBonsai.com
Thank you!
...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:24:54

Origins of Bonsai. Part VIII

In the western world:
As we have already seen, the period of westernization that took place in the Japan of the mid 19th century woke up the interest of the Europeans for the growing of bonsai; there is no way of knowing how many trees came to Europe fruit of this interest, nor how many survived more than a few months. Probably not too many, if we bear in mind the first somewhat na�ve theories that arose to try to explain a phenomenon to all lights impossible according to the western knowledge
The first collections in a strict sense were presented in Europe in the Universal Exhibition ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:24:01

Origins of Bonsai. Part VII

As years went by, the art of bonsai became more and more popular, especially in the Edo period (1603-1867), in which the feudal Japan lived a span of peace and prosperity that made all forms of art bloom and spread. In fact, it was in the middle of this period when the skills of gardening as well as those of landscaping would reach their maximum splendour with an incredible variety of cultivated plants. The art of bonsai was not an exception.
There are references that mention what we might consider to be a conference of artists, specialists of the classic Chinese works, and poets, that ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:23:23

Origins of Bonsai. Part VI

Japan:
The Japanese culture has always had important contact with China, being the latter one of its greatest influences, not to say the greatest. References of this interrelation exist in periods as early as the Chin dynasty (226 - 206 BC) with numerous examples; some so quaint as the case of a famous Chinese magician called Hsu Fu who was sent to Japan by an emperor in search of the Elixir of Life, whatever it was. Later, there are references of numerous Japanese envoys wandering about different regions of China to learn its culture, in addition to numerous contacts between the ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:22:48

Origins of Bonsai. Part V

China:
The first mention of the art of bonsai in China, or at least of the embryo of what later would be bonsai, goes back to the Tsin period, somewhere around the 3rd century B.C., but it is difficult to define an exact origin. The extremely ancient Chinese interest for the creation of gardens derived - with the incorporation of rocks to them - towards an interest to represent a scenery in miniature, and in occasions not so miniature, as some of the artificial hills formed by an accumulation of great rocks, soil and vegetation could be dozens of meters high.
As the years went by, the ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:22:13

Origins of Bonsai. Part IV

Europe:
On the other hand, a form of art developed in Europe that, although it has little to do with bonsai, had some points in common with it, such as using the plant - in occasions also grown in a container - as an ornamental element. It is the set of skills and aesthetic rules that are called topiary, by means of which different garden plants were pruned with geometric or animal forms (spheres, pyramids, cones, deer or elephants are typical figures), keeping - in occasions - reduced sizes.
To give you an idea, think about some of the meticulously cut hedges forming walls of ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:20:55

Origins of Bonsai. Part III

Egypt:
Egyptian paintings approximately 4000 years old still remain, in which you can see different trees grown in containers carved in stone, or even images of trees being carried from one temple to another. And the simple fact that these facts were registered in a time in which neither writing nor painting were used by the majority will give us an idea of the importance that these events must have had in the Egyptian culture.
Texts of the time tell us that Pharaoh Ramses III donated more than five hundred gardens made up by olive trees, palm trees, date palms, lotuses, different ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:20:21

Origins of Bonsai. Part II

With all probability, growing plants in a container originates from the benefits that arise from different factors: the fact of being able to have all kinds of plants out of their natural habitat, their ease of transport, and the fact that growing a plant in a pot provides an absolute control of its growing process.
From civilizations as ancient as the Greek, Roman, Babylonian, Persian, Hindu or Egyptian, records survive that give us a more or less clear idea of how they grew different plants in containers, and especially why they did it. And although it is true that in most occasions ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:19:48

Origins of Bonsai. Part I

Nowadays the art of the bonsai has extended almost worldwide but, in spite of this, one tends to forget - or at least to confuse - its origin: the bonsai spread in the western countries thanks to the interest in Japanese culture, so we rapidly jump to the conclusion that they were its creators.
Far from that; there have been many cultures in which trees were cultivated in all sorts of containers, even centuries before the first bonsai appeared in Japan. In most occasions there was a purely practical reason behind the interest to keep a plant alive in the limited space of a pot, but it is ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:05:54

Bonsai repotting. Part VII

As to the third of soil that we keep, it is necessary to bear in mind that we will have to replace it little by little, since with time it will stick together and the roots inside will end up dying. A simple way to do it is to cut triangular sections in this area, so that with every repotting only one or two of these segments is renewed, leaving the rest of the roots protected.
6- Place the bonsai
Place the bonsai on the previously prepared mound of soil in the new pot so that there�s no empty space under the tree. The fixing wires, previously placed, are used to fix the plant in the ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:04:06

Bonsai repotting. Part VI

1- Make sure you have enough soil.
BEFORE starting the process, you must verify that you have the necessary amount of soil for new pot, as well as verifying that the mixture is suitable. The roots are notably sensitive to the loss of moisture when they remain exposed to air, so once the tree has been extracted from its pot it is not the time to ponder either on the type of soil to use, nor on the style of the new pot. These tasks have to be done before.
2- Prepare the new pot.
You must place the protective grates on the drainage holes, plus the fastening wires (two minimum), as ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:02:14

Bonsai repotting. Part V

For a bonsai, the soil must fulfill a series of functions as: physically support the plant, be a source of microelements (for example: iron, magnesium, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, etc.), and provide water at the same time that it allows ventilation of the roots.
The bonsai grower must be in charge of providing the fertilizer in the doses adapted to the time of the year, so generally quite poor and coarse substrata are used to facilitate the drainage.
As the popular saying goes, "each to his own ", and for the soil mixtures the same thing is true. Every professional or ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 11:00:50

Bonsai repotting. Part IV

A live root is usually brown, resistant and with a whitish end. A dead root is black, soft, and very fragile. On repotting, it is necessary to be alert and remove as many as possible of the dead roots that we find.
The pot must have two or more drainage holes and must not be enameled in the inside. Plastic pots are not very suitable either, as they don�t protect the roots from temperature changes much.
The bottom of the pot must be flat and even, and those pots made with a mold in which the legs have been formed as an extension of the bottom, leaving a hollow on the inside, must be ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:58:05

Bonsai repotting. Part III

In a bonsai it is convenient for the roots to be short, since only the final millimeters of each are active; the rest is a mere pipe that does not even have to be an anchorage point for the plant since it is usually bound to the pot, as you will see further on. The shorter and more branched the roots are, the more efficient they will be, and the effort of the plant to transport the water will be less.
The base of the trunk is called nebari; the point where the roots join the trunk. And the area of the trunk that goes from the nebari up to the first branch is called tachiagari.
In a ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:55:48

Bonsai repotting. Part II

As general rule, it is necessary to transplant when symptoms of damage appear in the roots, there are weak sprouts, bad drainage, etc. but it is possible to establish a certain regularity according to the species:
Young deciduous tree: Every 1 or 2 years
Old deciduous tree: Every 2 or 3 years
Young evergreen tree: Every 2 or 3 years
Old evergreen tree: Every 3 or 4 years
Young conifer: About every 3 years
Old conifer: Every 4 or 6 years
What this table is really indicating us is that it is necessary to repot more often the more active and vigorous the tree is: a young ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:50:09

Bonsai repotting. Part I

The repotting of a bonsai, or of any plant in general, is usually done because of two basic reasons: aesthetics or health.
The change of the pot can be suitable for aesthetic reasons, as it may have become too small for the tree, the tree has been reformed and it will look better in another type of pot, or simply we want to change the position of the plant. In any case no matter how good the aesthetic reasons that endorse a repotting may be, they should be completely subordinate to the plant�s health.
One might wonder why repotting is necessary when it does not take place in nature. The ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:48:42

Pines from seeds. Part VI

As you can see in this photo, the seedlings evolve quite well after the root cutting.
A few weeks later, the seedling looks like this:
As you can see, it has four or five small roots, instead of one, as it had before the root cutting.
And this is how the planting looks then:
I hope this article will help you grow your own pines from seeds, as it is one of the most rewarding ways to grow bonsai.
This article is a translation from the Spanish version at www.portalbonsai.com which was posted by José Acu�a, from 'Centro de Bonsai Tenerife'
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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:48:08

Pines from seeds. Part V

When the seedlings look like this, it's time to cut their roots, to avoid the excesive spread of the main root, which is not desirable for bonsai.
As you can see in this photo, the main root of the seedling is larger than the visible part of the plant.
So, we take all the seedlings out, to prepare them for the cutting.
One by one, and with a sharp knife, we must cut the main root.
Then, we leave the little pines soaking in water with rooting hormones.
And then we plant them again, taking care of planting the seedlings vertically.
We do the root cutting to achieve little ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:47:13

Pines from seeds. Part IV

Ten days after we have planted the seeds, some of them start to germinate.
And after two weeks, the most vigorous ones start to grow.
Remember to water when the top layer of the soil when it starts to dry.
As you can see in this photo, 17 days after the plantation, some of the germinated seeds are fighting to get rid of their cover.
5 days after the previous photograph, and you can see that some seedlings are showing their first leaves.
The germination is a complete success, nearly 100% of the planted seeds have germinated by now.
And the group of pines that germinated ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:46:27

Pines from seeds. Part III

The seeds must be soaked in water 24 hours before planting them.
After 24 hours, the seeds should be rehydrated, and the viable seeds sink to the bottom, while the bad seeds remain floating on the water, and can be discarded.
Now we get the viable seeds and we dry them, to prevent then from sticking together. Then, we plant the seeds, leaving a prudential separation among them.
Finally, we cover the seeds with a layer of akadama and volcanic soil.
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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:45:40

Pines from seeds. Part II

We will use a plastic tray with drainage holes, with a capacity for 300 pines.
The first step is to cover the bottom of the tray with a drainage layer. In this case, volcanic soil of large diameter granules.
The next layer will be a mix of sepiolite, peat moss and volcanic soil.
And the last layer will be a mix of akadama and volcanic soil with a granulometry of 1,5mm.
Finally, we'll make small furrows on the soil surface which will help us when planting the seeds:
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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:45:11

Pines from seeds. Part I

In this article we will show you how to obtain pine seedlings from seeds, collected or bought. It is not, obviously, the method to have a bonsai in a short time, but given enough time, and with good growing techniques, it is a good way to have an excellent bonsai.
The procedure explained in this article is intended only for pine tress. Although other species can be reproduced from seeds, there are different treatments that should be made to the seeds before planting them, depending on the species. For example, acer buergerianum seeds should be kept in cold temperatures three or four weeks ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:38:28

Bonsai fertilizing. Part VI

Sooner or later we will need to remove the wire we have placed, as the branch has been thickening and it will start to drive into the bark. To remove it, you can uncoil it beginning at the highest part of the tree and on the outside of the branches, and go down progressively. To uncoil the wire it is important to use both hands: one handles the wire and other one holds the branch just behind the point from which we are removing it.
When removing the wire, we have to be careful not to twist it, as with it we would also twist the branch. Neither should we exert any force on the branch; the ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:30:02

Bonsai Wiring. Part V

The wire must not be very tight since it would immediately damage the bark. But it cannot be loose, since it would not exert all its force and it would be easier to damage the branch while bending it. Whenever the wire of a branch passes to another branch, it is necessary to give it at least a coiling round the trunk to tighten it.
If the wire comes from below, it is better to make it reach the branch at the top, as this way it exerts a greater force; if, on the contrary, the wire comes from the top, it should reach under the branch first. It is not necessary to tighten the spirals in the ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:25:47

Bonsai Wiring. Part IV

One always has to anchor the wire in some point so it can exert force. If the trunk or a low branch is wired, it is possible to anchor it in the soil; otherwise it is necessary to fix it coiling it around another branch.
It is necessary to wire the tree from below upwards - beginning with the lowest branches - and from the inside part of the branch to the outside. It is the safest method not to damage the branches in the process.
The wire must be placed in equidistant spirals, at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. In this position the wire exerts its maximum force and is less ...

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Bontar73

20/08/2009 10:24:00

Bonsai Wiring. Part III

At first, and with the due care, it is feasible to wire in any season of the year, although according to the species there are moments less advisable than others. Wiring is easier in winter, when the deciduous have no leaves, as the task is easier without them. Also, the branches are slightly softer and it is easier to bend them, both in deciduous and evergreen, as the circulation of sap is less.
But it is necessary to be extra careful because they are also more fragile. Once spring comes and the buds start opening, it is better to wait until the leaves mature. The new sprouts are very ...

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