This Japanese hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) is from Bonsai Art’s facebook photos (from issue 129 of their magazine). I’ll let you provide your own superlatives. No artist’s name is provided on facebook or in the magazine for either of the trees shown here, but I’d bet they’re Japanese.
Last week we did a post on ramification which states the following: “the thing that most separates Japanese bonsai from much of the bonsai in the West is refinement. With deciduous trees this is most obvious when you look at ramification (branch structure and particularly fine branch structure).”
Based on the source (Bonsai Art magazine) and other hints (including refinement) I’m guessing that the two trees shown here are from Japan, and in a leap of convoluted logic, I’m using this guess to buttress my case about Japanese bonsai and refinement (there must be a name for this type of twisted logic). We’ll leave the rest to you.
This superlative Crabapple (Malus toringo) is also from facebook and Bonsai Art issue 129. If you squint just a bit, you can see a profusion of little apples.
In spite of the fuzz, this cropped version of the Hornbeam above gives you a little closer look at the fine branching.
Ditto with the Crabapple.
The cover of Bonsai Art issue 129.