Rogue Bonsai

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I let this Portulacara bonsai forest get very leggy all winter and spring to thicken and strengthen the trunks. It became so dense that I could barely see the trunks at all.
The bountiful pile of cuttings is the result of today’s styling session, and I am VERY pleased with the result.
The shape, density, and RoR (roots over rock) are turning out better than I’d hoped when I started this project several years ago.
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(For scale, the custom Samarkand bonsai pot is 12” across the long part of the oval.)

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“Have the philodendrons stopped screaming, Clarice?”

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Oh, the plantmanity! 😜

“Safe In My Garden” (The Mamas & The Papas)

From my Laurel Canyon Series of bonsai projects inspired by the music of that magical time and place.

I’m sharing this one here today even though it’s a long way from presentation because I’m delighted with how well it’s developing.

This bogey (Bougainvillea) is ‘Pink Pixie’s cousin ‘Pixie Fire’, and I absolutely love the dense, compact nature of these dwarf varieties. This one has some spectacular nebari (exposed roots).
The pot is a 12” artisan bowl of pink glass, acquired from a private collection. Heavy enough to be a suitable bonsai pot with a nice thick base for stability. I used one of my larger 30mm diamond core bits to provide a drainage hole. This one took nearly an hour to drill, cooled with a trickle of water to prevent cracking the glass.
I added a plastic stake to the “Flower Child” figurine, and the stepping stones in her garden are pink sea glass. The ground cover will eventually fill the spaces between the stepping stones and I’ll keep it trimmed level with the stones.
I also added a plastic stake to the cholla cactus pillar so it can be easily removed if I decide later that it makes this project too “busy”.
The cholla pillar was filled with New Zealand long fiber sphagnum, and it’s the home of the Flower Child’s orchid collection. All the miniature orchids here have pink blooms. They are attached to the cholla with elastic bands which will eventually rot away as the orchids’ roots grip the pillar.

This is one of my wife’s favorites, and I have been forbidden from selling it. 😂

Another treasure uncovered. Man, it’s been a good week…

Grewia occidentalis, “The Lavender Star”, is another African tree from my collection. The base of this tree and the rock were buried two years ago via my usual method (an inverted plastic pot). The pot was carefully cut away this morning and I spent an hour gently washing/brushing away the excess soil. The nebari (exposed roots) wrapping around the rock came out better than I could have hoped. Grewia occidentalis is a more challenging tree than most, and I’m very pleased with how well this one responded to my attempt to grow it RoR (roots-over-rock).
The rock is a spectacular, collector-grade specimen of petrified wood just loaded with character. I mounted it at an upright angle to create the illusion of a weathered rocky crag with an old tree at the base.
The pot is a drop-dead-gorgeous 9.5” Bill Campbell bowl with a stunning, multi-hued drip glaze. Campbell fires his work very hard, so this one drilled beautifully when I used my diamond core bits to provide drainage.
The tree is approximately 21” tall from the soil line and as of this morning it is pushing out 22 flower buds. When it finishes blooming in a few weeks I’ll trim some of the longer branches and fully defoliate this tree.

This one will be available for sale in 2024 in the $300 range. I recently saw a Grewia occidentalis at a nursery here in NH for $180… about 2/3 this size, lots of dead growth, no nebari, no rock, in a butt-ugly mass-produced 7” bonsai pot. Choose wisely. 😉😀🪴🌳💚

“Day Of The Dead”

…from the album “Mythology” by Derek Sherinian. A high-energy rock instrumental that always makes the cut on my workout playlist.

When I came up with the idea of using carved skulls for RoR (roots-over-rock) bonsai projects in 2020 I was fortunate to find one carved from agatized “fossil stone”, which is essentially fossilized seabed embedded with shell fragments, crinoids, and bits of other sea life that accumulated on the sea floor millions of years ago. This one reminded me of a “sugar skull” and I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. It weighs over three pounds and measures about 6” front-to-back. The colors you see here are natural.

I left the pyracantha and skull buried for two-and-a-half years because I knew it would have roots more delicate that, say, a ficus commonly used for RoR, so I gave it extra time to develop strong roots around the rock. Bonsai is not an art form for the impatient. It’s strong and healthy, and starting to produce its colorful seasonal berries right now.

The pot is a one-of-a-kind vessel by William Turner, with a dark and brooding raku glaze. I love the irregular shape of it, highlighted by the matte black finish with brown spatters and streaks, and I think it perfectly complements the overall vibe.

I used my usual method for RoR, an inverted plastic pot that was cut away this morning after this project spent three summers outdoors and two winters indoors under lights. After gently washing/brushing away the excess soil I added a top layer of 1/4” black lava rock to complete the picture. It was then pruned and styled, and will be left alone until next spring. 😀🪴🌳💚

“Day Of The Dead” is not currently for sale.

“Constance”

A personal bonsai project featuring Ficus ‘Anastasia’ training for nebari (exposed roots) in a large 20” long Murano glass bowl that I drilled with a large diamond core bit to convert it into a bonsai pot. The third photo better reveals the gorgeous colors of the glass.

When my mother-in-law succumbed to Alzheimer’s nearly two years ago we found this bowl in a back closet. My wife remembers seeing it on their coffee table as a little girl when her parents were stationed in Turkey. (Connie was a code breaker in the U.S. Air Force in the Middle East during the Cold War… total badass!)

My wife asked me to turn it into a bonsai project so it wouldn’t end up as “just another trinket” but instead would serve as “a reminder of a great life well-lived”. Indeed. 😀🪴🌳💚

“From A Place Where Time Runs Slow”
(…from the Turbulence album by Steve Howe.)

One of my favorite instrumental tunes. This 8” handmade Sam Miller bonsai pot was a birthday gift from my wife three years ago, along with a stunning trident maple. (The trident has long since outgrown this pot so it now lives outdoors in a massive 20” bonsai pot where it is lush and happy and wrapping its roots around a huge specimen of petrified wood, but that’s a story for another day.)

This bonsai project is pretty much “me”… out in my rock garden with a bonsai tree and a good book, probably to look up the cultural needs of some crazy new plant I just picked up from my friend Jeff at Frizzhome Gardens. 😂

Ficus ‘Samantha’ is training nicely for roots-over-rock with a stunning specimen of petrified wood, while the miniature bonsai tree is a variegated Portulacara. I’ll let both grow wild until next spring, at which time we’ll get down to some serious shaping and styling. 😀🪴🌳💚

More bonsai fun with succulents!
I just cleaned these up and moved them inside, and I’m really pleased with how they’ve developed this year.

The variegated jade in the 7” one-of-a-kind artisan colander had a triple trunk that I bound with grafting paste and grafting tape to merge them into one thick trunk. It’s doing quite well, and I should be able to remove the tape and begin styling it in another year or so.

The two larger projects are both in traditional bonsai pots measuring 12” along the longest dimension. Both of them have presentation-grade specimens of petrified wood… the black one in the black pot is actually a beautifully striated crystallized oak branch.

Shellshocked!

“Seaside Rendezvous” from the album A Night At The Opera by Queen.
“Beyond The Sea” from the Bobby Darin classic.

This bear claw clam shell measures almost 11” at its longest dimension, and it was gifted to me as a curio box by my artist mother when I was 10. I’ll be 62 next month, and in the intervening years it has been the aforementioned curio box, a soap dish, a candy dish, a bowl for my wallet and keys, and now the two halves have found new life as two whimsical, music-inspired bonsai projects.

Variegated Crown of Thorns, Madagascar Palm, beach chairs, succulents, red lava rock, black lava rock, beach ball, miniature seashells… the only thing missing is the cabana boy with my margarita!

Seaside Rendezvous has a base crafted from a PVC drain cap carved freehand with a small sanding drum to fit the contours of the shell.
Beyond The Sea has my exclusive “drainage feet”; hollow bronze couplings that serve both as feet and drainage.

Beyond The Sea has just the one beach chair because…

🎼 “Somewhere beyond the sea, she’s there waiting for me…” 🎼

“Blue Desert”

Blue Desert is one of my favorite Roger Dean paintings. It’s the cover art for the ABWH album from 1989, and it partially inspired this bonsai project.

The pot is a gorgeous, 11” one-of-a-kind artisan colander with a brilliant blue glaze and a footed bottom like a bonsai pot. I like acquiring artisan colanders for bonsai projects that benefit from extra drainage.

Assorted succulents accompany the Desert Rose, accented by an excellent specimen of petrified wood that looks spectacular when wet (see third photo).

A 60/40 organic/inorganic substrate with a decorative top layer of more than one pound of tumble-polished blue sodalite gemstones completes Blue Desert. 😀🌳🪴💚

“Munch That Bush”

Portulacara afra, The Elephant Bush, is one of the main food sources of African elephants, so naturally that’s what inspired the name of this project. If you were thinking something else… call me. 😜

This grove began as cuttings two years ago with a dose of Clonex gel to promote root growth over the rock, which is a spectacular piece of petrified wood from my supplier in Texas. The whole rock was buried in extra soil and sphagnum for two years and the Portulacara were left untrimmed and wild to thicken the trunks.

The longest growth was 21” this morning, but as of an hour ago the tallest tree is only 10” from the soil line.

I began removing excess soil two weeks ago and then left this project out in the past couple rainstorms to wash away more of the soil down to the rock. The last 1/2” was carefully brushed away today exposing the rock and some excellent nebari (exposed roots).

The custom Samarkand bonsai pot from Australia features a woodash finish and measures 12” at its longest dimension.

I searched for more than a year to find a suitable ceramic elephant that looked like an actual elephant and not a cartoon character, and found this little gem with three hollow feet into which I could glue snips of bonsai wire to make stabilizing pegs.

I’ll let the grove grow a little wild again under the grow lights until next spring, and then do some additional shaping and styling. 😀🌳🪴💚

Never, ever, EVER turn your back on a zucchini!
(Unless you’re into that really kinky stuff, in which case… rock on!)

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“Safe In My Garden” (The Mamas and The Papas) from my Laurel Canyon Series of music-inspired bonsai projects.

I don’t often share “works in progress” until they’re ready for presentation to my standards, but I’m so pleased with how this one turned out (so far).

11” pink glass bowl acquired at an estate sale, drilled with a diamond core bit and fitted with a bonsai screen. Bougainvillea ‘Pixie Fire’ dwarf bogey with spectacular nebari (exposed roots). Pink sea glass stepping stones. Resin “flower child” figurine drilled and fitted with a plastic spike. Cholla cactus skeleton fitted with plastic spike and planted with miniature epiphytic orchids and variegated String of Hearts. The pink-edged ground cover will be allowed to grow thick and fill in the spaces between the stepping stones, and then it will be trimmed down level with the stepping stones.

Breaking all the bonsai “rules”, I remain…

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“Dusti”
…aka “Bowling For Cacti”

My better half recently retired after an illustrious 35 years of teaching that included being a two-time nominee and Top Four finalist for NH Teacher of the Year, being featured in NH Parenting Magazine in 2017 as one of the state’s Top Eight Educators, and moonlighting as an adjunct professor at SNHU teaching (what else?) teachers.

She arrived home one afternoon on one of the last days of this school year and asked me, “You know how you like to turn one-of-a-kind artisan pottery into unique bonsai pots? I received this really cool, oversized mug as a retirement gift from one of my third graders, and I was wondering if you could turn it into a bonsai pot or a flower pot?”

Oh, hell yes, and I already had an idea in mind. I used a 1” diamond core bit to drill an oversized drainage hole, screened it like a traditional bonsai pot, and went in search of the perfect cactus. You see, in recent years she has become friends with the author Dusti Bowling whose inspiring adolescent novel, Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus, is based on the true story of a Southwestern girl born without arms. Every year my sweetie purchases stacks of this book and gives them to students in various grade levels.

I was keeping my eyes peeled for just the right cactus to complete this project, but nothing was inspiring me. I was at my favorite local nursery, Frizzhome Gardens, a couple Saturdays ago and had selected some goodies for my own bonsai projects, but no luck finding the right cactus for “Dusti”, so I headed to the cash register to complete my purchase while chatting with my dear friend Jeff, the owner.

And there it was.

A perfect little cactus with flowers so brilliantly red that they matched the mug. Jeff had used it in a photo earlier that day and left it sitting on the counter instead of returning it to the greenhouse. Perfection.

The substrate I used is a coarse bonsai mix perfect for succulents… 60% organic and 40% inorganic, with a top dressing of 1/4” red lava rock.

Spending part of an afternoon using diamond core bits to convert artisan vessels into unique bonsai pots is always a satisfying endeavor.
Three of these are authentic Murano glass. The next step is adding screens.
I have some very cool projects on deck for these, some of which will be available for sale in 2024, and some that won’t be ready until 2025/26.