This pitch perfect and powerful (sorry, too much coffee this morning) Japanese beech is from Bill Valavaanis' photos at this year's Kokufu Exhibiton. It's a Japanese beech. Here's Bill's caption... "Look at the size of the leaf buds. It must have tiny leaves. I asked, it it not a special variety, only the location were it was grown and training techniques developed the small foliage and buds."
Back to Kokufu. Still just a tip of the iceberg. As before, all the photos are from Bill Valavanis, Bonsai blog. One of our regular haunts and always a click worth making
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Bill does more in less time than almost anybody, but there's too much to see and too many trees to photograph and caption. This one simply says.... Rhododendron species
Bill again... "This is one of Mr. Takeyama’s signature bonsai, a Zelkova."
Again, Bill's caption... "2019 Part 2 Kokufu Award Winning BonsaiTrident Maple. Under the care of Shinji Suzuki. One of his client’s bonsai also won a Kokufu Award in Part 1. Congratulations to Shinji! Two out of two awards."
Bill aways gives a nod to Doug Paul, an American who seems to have at least one tree accepted into Kokufu for the last several years... "Japanese Red Pine, Important Bonsai Masterpiece, displayed by Doug Paul, The Kennett Collection."
I cropped this one for a closer look
"Koto Hime Japanese Maple" I would have to put this one in that 'one of my favorites category'... but then so many are so good...
Bill's closeup
The omnipresent, multi-talented and almost always happy man himself