Whoops! My mistake. This tree is from Bill Valavanis‘ excellent new book ‘Classical Bonsai Art’ (stay posted, it will be here next week). It belongs to Robert Blankfield, who originally styled it at a workshop with Bill. I found the tree on the web (unattributed, so I’ve deleted that link) and didn’t know its origin. I have Bill to thank for setting me straight.
It all started with an email from Terry Davis with a link a rather amazing Ashikaga Flower Park and the joy of spring video. To excite your optic nerves and maybe inspire you to take a look for yourself, I’ve lifted a few shots (just below). As to whether these photos are artificially brightened or color enhanced, I’m innocent but I can’t speak for the videographer.
Optic overload? This and the three photos immediately below are from a video titled Ashikaga Flower Park and the joy of spring.
I think it was Picasso who said that dentists are frustrated doctors and photographers are frustrated painters.
Given the purple sky, you might wonder about color enhancement. Still, the green leaves look natural.
This white flowers aren’t as dramatic, but the contrast with the other colors (above) is good. BTW: this one has a telltale sign that it’s been lifted from a video.
When its salacious spring feast is spent, this otherwise somewhat pedestrian bonsai will be quietly moved to a back bench. The photo is from the cover of Bonsai Today issue 52.
The top three all look like they are HD or have been otherwise processed from a pure format. The out of focus blur looks like an Impressionism filter (as in the art style).
RE wisterias: we have trouble blooming them up here. To improve your odds:
The azalea must be vegetatively propagated from a blooming plant.
Lots of sun
Hybrids with Natives such as Amethyst Falls are better bloomers. Some of the natives have awkward branching habits.
My best luck has been with a variety called “Sweet Repeat”/aka “Southern Belle”. It may bloom twice a year.
The “dwarf wisteria”, Millettia: it is a cute little plant, but I don’t know anyone who has ever had it bloom. I have had two.
One of the “Botanical Wonders of the World” is in Sierra Madre, California, near Pasadena. It’s the world’s largest wisteria.
It began as a small nursery plant that eventually overcame the house it was planted by. Now it’s enormous and the town of Sierra Madre has an annual festival to celebrate the enormous wisteria bloom. It’s great fun. Here’s a blog entry I found on the 2012 event:
http://dinewithdonna.blogspot.com/2010/03/sierra-madre-wisteria-festival.html