This azalea would be an excellent bonsai even without the flowers. With the flowers, well, you can see for yourself.
Getting ready to leave for a couple days and running late (what else is new?), so we’ll dip into our archives. This one originally appeared in 2012. BTW, my source for the photo above was Tae Kukiwon Bonsai.
Can there ever be too many flowers? If you look at the two azaleas in this post, you’ll see that the one above is covered with flowers, while the one below shows a mix of flowers and foliage. Some bonsai and landscape artists think that flowers work best when featured judiciously; as an accent or highlight, rather than as the whole story. Others (most of us) seem to feel that the more flowers, the better.
Though the tree isn't in the same league as the one above, it provides an example of the less-is-more approach, where the flowers don't overwhelm the viewer. This allows other features to stand out. Things like the shiny glow of the foliage, the trunk, the overall shape of the tree, and the way it is planted (a somewhat unusual saikei style in this case). I found this photo here.
This quince shows a profusion of flowers, but still, there's space for the trunks, the pot and other features to be appreciated. It's from the same place as the photo immediately above.
Color is not just about flowers. This Princess persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is from Bonsai Today issue 39 and is a rerun from an earlier Bonsai Bark post. Among other things, it's a good example of balanced contrasts, especially with the choice of background color.
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