That's a tiny horse standing on a rock cliff. Which begs the question, do wild horses ever venture onto rocky cliffs, or do they avoid them? My guess is the later, but in this case it makes for a little more drama in an already dramatic and perfectly arranged scene by Li, Hung-Chien. The trees are Premna microphylla.
The other day we featured a dramatic juniper bonsai by a Mr. Chiu Chung Cheng, a Taiwanese bonsai artist. It had been a while since we’d shown any bonsai from Taiwan and if you know Taiwanese bonsai, you know just how spectacular they can be. So, now that my memory has been jogged, let’s go ahead and make a quick trip to Taiwan.
All the trees shown here (except the snowy one) are from the 2007 Taiwan Bonsai Creators 10th Exhibition booklet.
Colorful pots abound in Taiwanese bonsai. As do dramatic bonsai. The exposed root trunk can be accomplished by gradually removing more and more soil from the base or the tree. Of course, if you live in the tropics where new roots grow like crazy, the amount of time to achieve something like this is much shorter than if you live in a cold climate (it's snowing right now here in northern Vermont - see below). The artist is Huang, Ching-Chuan. The tree is a Ehretia microphylla.
Is that a dead rabbit in the dog's mouth? Dead rabbit or not, this is a very powerful bonsai in yet another colorful pot. Even in the tropics it takes a long time to develop such a massive trunk. The tree is a Eurya japonica and the artist is You, Pen-I.
Chinese (Taiwanese in this case) bonsai artists don't seem to be very concerned about things like spaghetti roots or crowns made of near perfect disks of foliage. Still, once you let go of any ideas about how bonsai should or shouldn't be, it's hard to deny that this is a spectacular tree in a beautiful pot. The artist is Lin, Ming-Shan and the tree is a Pemphis acidula.
Simple lines, simple pot. Still, there's something very unusual about the perfectly groomed elongated, pointed crown. And am I crazy to think that the tree is both static and dynamic at the same time (or just too much coffee this morning)? No matter what you think about that, there's no denying that the powerful trunk is full of character and that you just don't see that many baby blue bonsai pots. All this adds up to a very distinctive bonsai. The artist is Fang, Mao-Ti and the tree is a Pemphis acidula.
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Not exactly a dramatic tropical bonsai from Taiwan, but then they don't have snow on April 26th.