This mixed forest is from Spain. The Museo del Bonsai Marbella, to be exact (from Bonsais del Sur). It’s too bad the pot is chopped off and the whole photo is cramped, but that’s the way we found it. Still, from what we can see, it looks pretty good.
Mixing it up
Forests with mixed species can be a little tricky; not only does the planting have to make sense aesthetically (particularly when it comes to questions of scale), but the various types of trees should make sense growing together (would you find them growing together in nature?) Not that you can’t experiment with trees that normally might not grow in the exact same locations, but the more different their natural habitats are, the more unnatural the planting might seem and the more difficult it is to keep all the trees healthy.
Have you visited Stone Lantern lately?
I like it! I like the hilly aspect of it and from what I can tell, the rocks seem realistic—I could see myself scrambling up them to reach the crest. I kinda wish the shrubs to the left didn’t look quite so manicured, but this is overall an innovative and realistic composition.
Hi Al,
Yeah, I had the same response to the manicured look. But, overall. it still looks like an exciting planting. Too bad we don’t a bigger better photo so we could see more detail