The Other Cascade: Before & After 8/24/12

After by Kimura (aka the Magician). This photo is from a chapter in our Masters’ Series Pine Book titled Masahiko Kimura Transforms A Semi-Cascade. The tree is a Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora).

The other cascade
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seem to me that, with the exception of Junipers (especially the ever present Procumbens nana) you don’t see that many semi-cascade bonsai (I just scrolled back through the last couple month of Bonsai Bark and about 10% of the trees featured are semi-cascade; more than I thought I’d find, but still, not that many). Actually, you don’t see that many full-cascade bonsai (see the photo at the bottom of the post) either, but when you think of cascade, my guess is that it’s full-cascade that comes to mind.

Semi-cascade is NOT the same as windswept
It’s not unusual to see semi-cascade bonsai referred to as windswept. This is a mistake. Windswept bonsai can be in any style (though I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a windswept full-cascade), including semi-cascade, and most semi-cascade bonsai don’t really qualify as windswept. Here’s a Robert Steven critique that explores windswept bonsai (there are others, but this is a pretty good start). BTW: Robert is the author of two excellent bonsai books.

 

Before. It helps to have well developed stock to start with. You can find the 28 other photos (not shown here) that describe the process and give general information on styling pines in our Masters’ Series Pine Book (currently on sale along with all of our other books).

 

Full cascade (the lowest point of the tree is below the bottom of the pot). From the Black pine gallery in our Masters’ Series Pine Book.