SOME SITE KUDOS
& CITATIONS

This Page Last Updated:  February 24, 2013


        The following are some of the known "major" references to material on our web site that we've located.  There have been additional mentions on various forums and we regularly receive praise in random e-mails offering new information, correction or questions.  Members of our club receive favorable mention about this web site during our near-annual Spring trip to the Los Angeles area for the California Bonsai Society show and bonsai nurseries.



        In the otherwise undated 2013 San Francisco Chronicle article from the Real Estate section, "How to Prune African Sumac" by Michelle Miley, our When to Prune article is listed as the second reference.  Accessed 24 Feb, 2013.

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        By November 2011, the Iowa Bonsai Association's website page of links, included this listing:
"Bonsai Pots For the ultimate current summary of what there is to know and what you should know about bonsai pottery, including finding a good source and selecting the right pot, see the page:
        ABOUT BONSAI POTS AND POTTERS (www.phoenixbonsai.com/BigPicture/Pots.html), which is a page within the ever growing, metastasizing bonsai web monster noted above -- Magical Miniature Landscapes (www.phoenixbonsai.com/BonsaiHistory.html).

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        The Museum of Learning web page for "Portulacaria" (by 2011) lists our Portulacaria mongraph as its primary source of info and reference.

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        The November/December 2009 issue of East Rand Bonsai Kai's Newsletter, pp. 2-3 includes three excerpts from our November and December Book of Days listings.

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        A page and a half review of some of the wonders of our web site can be found in the July/August 2009 issue of Golden States Bonsai Federation's Golden Statements, pp. 15-16, with eight links to and six graphics from the web site.

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        Seven footnotes, on pages 12-15, in the Asian Research Institute Working Paper Series No. 111, April 2009, "A Teahouse in the Gilded Age: The Story of the Georgian Court University (GCU) Meuji Teahouse" by Lim Tai Wei, reference "The State of Horticulture in Britain, With an Eye to Japanese Gardening" section of our Horticulture In Britain and The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 article.   (That article was accessed 1 Oct 2007 for the paper.)

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        Jessika Toothman's article What's the difference between bonsai and topiary? for the website Howthingswork? on 10/10/2008 referenced our "The Big Picture: A Summary of the History of Magical Miniature Landscapes" page.

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        For the sidebox "An American Bonsai Master" to Sara Elliott's article How bonsai works for the website Howthingswork? on 09/08/2008 our "John Yoshio Naka" page was referenced.

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        In an interesting roundabout, the brief biography for Richard Gordon Smith in the new edition of his Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan, republished by Forgotten Books in 2008, pp. vii-viii, is credited to phoenixbonsai.com.  Our info, of course, was from Gordon Smith's late published diaries, as found here.

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        Our Paintings page(s) was named "Bonsai Site of the Month -- March 2008" by the Wirral Bonsai Society (Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK), "Click on the link above for a journey into the visual history of bonsai pictures - as depicted in scrolls, woodblock prints and paintings."

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        The August 2007 edition of the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society newsletter page 9 includes an article by Mike Simmons, "Bonsai Notables on the Internet," about bonsai stamps, of course, referencing our pages.

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        Less a kudo than a July 22, 2007 professional listing with the Arts and Humanities service of Intute which offers an easy-to-use and powerful tool for discovering the best Internet resources for education and research in Creative Arts and Humanities.

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        For her May 2007 project in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Broadcast Journalism, Gabrielle Michelle Brick's Barbed Wire and Beauty: A History of Bonsai in Southern California used our John Naka biography as one of her information sources.

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        The Coconino Institute of Technology (CIT) is a school within a school at Coconino High School in Flagstaff, AZ.  Its American Gardening Tour Virtual Field Trip begins with the Phoenix Bonsai Society.

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        The Chattanooga State Technical Community College uses us as an example for correct American Psychological Association style citation for World Wide Web sites, http://library.chattanoogastate.edu/research/apawebexamples.pdf.

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        See also this Internet Bonsai Club exchange from Jan. 16, 2007 about the historical research on our web site.

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        The Historical dictionary of Japanese traditional theatre by Samuel L. Leiter (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006), lists our Hachi-No-Ki page on pg. 533 of its Bibliography.

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        In June 2006, the Art of Bonsai Website put up a copy of our article "Pen, The Origins of the Shallow Tray" (reproduced with permission) for which there is a forum for additional comments.

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        "Visiting your website (phoenixbonsai.com) is liking dipping a toe in a deep pool and wondering at its depth http://www.phoenixbonsai.com/SiteMap.html."
Chris Cochrane, in post to Internet Bonsai Club, December 23, 2005

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        "Magical Miniature Landscapes: The Comprehensive History of Bonsai, at: http://www.phoenixbonsai.com/BonsaiHistory.html    Unlike most grandly titled projects like this, Baran's work lives up to the billing."
Alan Walker, former BCI president, in post to Internet Bonsai Club, December 15, 2005

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        "Collecting Team of Tahei Suzuki and His Brother Fukuji," Chapter V of "The Shimpaku Juniper: Its Secret History," World Bonsai Friendship Federation, http://web.archive.org/web/20080222214532/www.bonsai-wbff.org/shimpaku/main.shtml, ends with a footnote concerning the famous shimpaku "Fudo," and refers readers to more information at www.phoenixbonsai.com/KMurata.html.

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        "Your biography ( http://www.phoenixbonsai.com/KMurata.html ) will be the most helpful source of information for the better understanding of Kyuzo. I have included the link.   http://www.iris.dti.ne.jp/~kyukaen/kyukaen/kyukaen-e.htm
With best regards. Kyuka-en Yukio MURATA"  
Personal correspondence of Kyuzo Murata's grandson with RJB, January 7, 2005

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        Our Portulacaria mongraph was one of the many citations used in Pamela Vass Thesis' December 2004 University of London Doctoral Thesis "Plant Diversity and Spatial Discontinuities of the Albany Centre in the south-eastern Cape, South Africa," http://www.ambiotek.com/theses/pam_vass_thesis_final.pdf, pp. 168, 217.

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        The first in-print reference to an article from the site was a sidebar on pg. 43 in Mary C. Miller's "Portulacaria afra, A Succulent In Tree Form," pp. 39-44 in the 2004-4 issue of Bonsai Today magazine, #68.  Our Portulacaria article was mentioned with its old users.uswest.net address.

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        Tasker, Georgia  "Bonsai! Passionate, near-obsessive devotion drives practioners of this ancient art," The Miami Herald, Herald.com, Oct. 13, 2002, cites our website.  Used material from The Big Picture page.

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        A review of Craig's book at 
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/The%20Bonsai%20School%20Review.html includes "Parts One and Two of The Bonsai School deals [sic] with the basics of bonsai containing sound horticultural advice for both the novice and more experienced enthusiast alike. It also contains what has to be the most most comprehensive account of Bonsai through history I have seen by Robert J. Baran."

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        "When I visited your excellent site I was initially interested in the John Naka section. However, I read further and realised that your research into the history of Bonsai was the finest that I have ever read.  I am in the midst of writing a book on Bonsai, called Bonsai School, and I would like to enquire if you would allow me to use extracts from the historical sections to show the development of Bonsai in the Far East...
        "I do hope that you are able to assist me as, quite honestly, I now realise that anything I say about the historical aspects of Bonsai in Japan would simply be inadequate without your wonderful references."

Craig Coussins, Scottish bonsai master and author, www.bonsaiinformation.co.uk, in e-mail to RJB, November 21, 2001, for his book to be released Nov. 2002

        And so, pp. 26-36 of The Bonsai School are based on  ChineseSchools and pp. 37-39 are based on The Big Picture.

Craig's site includes a copy of the Chinese Schools page at http://www.bonsaiinformation.com/Penjing.htm

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        "The Art and History of Bonsai" by Meagan Gates, Central Oregon Community College, Winter 2001, Humanities 201, Culture(s) & Literature(s) of Asia included a review of this web site.

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        "Just read your article on Portulacaria, all I can say is WOW."
James J. Smith, Vero Beach, FL, Portulacaria bonsai expert, in e-mail to RJB, August 20, 2000.  (As Jim supplied photographs and information for the above 2004-4 Bonsai Today magazine article, he might have seen the web article during the story's writing.)

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        In the April 2000 issue of the University of Arizona, Yavapai County Cooperative Extension, Yavapai Gardens Master Gardener Newsletter, the first four pages are about Bonsai, enthusiastically referencing us (the old URL, of course, in this early Kudo).

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        "I have just discovered your Website and have marvelled at the amount of information you have placed within.  The teaching sections, comprehensive history pages and book lists I think are very useful for others so I have linked to them from my History and How-to pages on my website - The Bonsai in Asia Guide Book - online at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/7574/..."
John Oldland, Perth, Western Australia, in e-mail to RJB, January 23, 2000

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        "Bonsai in Period: Tray Plantings in Medieval Japan" by Lady Tsukime extensively cites this web site, although she refers to the older links to some of the pages.

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        The directory Suite101.com ("Real People Helping Real People") for the topic of Bonsai has 14 web sites chosen by David J. Brock  Number 11 is www.phoenixbonsai.com : "I include this website because of its outstanding pages devoted to the history of bonsai. This website is a great reference for understanding the history and development of bonsai."

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        Seasonal Care Information pages ( Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring ) for www.bonsaisite.com is based on our Seasonal Care Information.

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        Cowing, Rev. Craig L.  "A Little Spot Enclosed by Grace: A Biblical Spirituality of Bonsai," World Bonsai Friendship Federation, http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/enclosedbygrace.shtml, cites our website for history of bonsai in the west.  Used material from Pre1945 Bibliography page.

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        The website Dao House...Later Daoist History includes a link to Fei Jiang-fang: "Short essay by Robert J. Baran (Phoenix) tells the story of one of the immortal "Gourd Elders" and his magical miniature world."



See also some of these Non-English References to our site.



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