Bonsai that Don’t Bust Your Bank Account & an Important Natural Phenomenon

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We've featured this tree before and we may well feature it again in a year or two. The tree is a yew. The artist is Harry Harrington.

Sticking with our friend Harry Harrington. We originally put this post together in September, 2017…

All the photos featured here are courtesy of Harry Harrington, an artist who specializes in what you might call found bonsai; bonsai from the wild or from hedgerows and gardens or wherever bonsai stock might come from that doesn’t bust your bank account.  For more found bonsai and other good news, you can visit Harry at Bonsai4me or on his fb timeline
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An example of a natural phenomenon that explains a lot about the carving in this post. Here's Harry's caption from a trip he took to Sweden... "Back to editing images and video from Sweden this morning, I came across these two excellent examples of how the sun-hardened outer shell of deadwood can remain intact while the interior rots away (seen on Picea/Spruce high up on the treeline)"

 

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B1FOUND350 Harry Harrington’s
THE FOUNDATIONS OF BONSAI

 

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Arbor obscura (just kidding). Actually it's a Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) that Harry carved just the other day from an old stump. You can see more here, including the old stump

 

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Another example of Harry's carving. This time it's a Privet

 

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A closer look at the fine carving from the lead photo

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Another Hawthorn & Harry’s Timely Reply

Another Hawthorn that belongs to Harry Harrington. It isn't as advanced as the one we featured yesterday, but it's full of promise

Yesterday we featured a freshly repotted Hawthorn by Harry Harrington. Here’s the rub… the tree hadn’t been repotted for 15 years! As you might imagine this provoked some questions by several readers. So last night I emailed Harry and this morning I woke up to his reply (before you read on, I suggest you take a look at yesterday’s post).

So here’s your answer, in Harry’s own words…
“Ive been asked this quite a few times since Saturday!
The reason that the tree has not been repotted for so long is 3-fold. Firstly, the branch structure is set and established, so I do not require strong vegetative growth anymore. Rather, I need fine and delicate growth to create ramification. On a hawthorn, as with many other deciduous species, this delicate growth only comes with reduced root-growth and a soil with fine grain. Root pruning this tree will lead to 3-4 years of coarse top growth that is unusual in terms of aesthetic design. I should also add that with hawthorn specifically, when the tree is rootbound, it enters a mature flowering phase. Root pruning can reverse this and the tree can return to a juvenile vegetative phase where flowering does not occur as well.”
Continued below…

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Yesterday's Hawthorn. The tree in question

Harry continued from above…
“Secondly, I am not focussing on creating an impressive nebari on this particular tree and generally speaking, I don’t bother trying to on hawthorns. So, I have no need encourage lateral roots by repeatedly pruning the downward growing roots (as I showed with another post I made this weekend on an Euonymus).

“Lastly, the tree is happy and healthy. It grows well, extending new vegetative shoots each year and does not suffer from insect or fungal attack, both of which are indicative of a tree under stress. Some species, such as Ulmus/Elm require periodic root-pruning simply because they can show signs of distress after just a couple of years of being rootbound.

“I should also add that the tree continued to be healthy in its environment because it is growing in an inorganic substrate that had not collapsed as can happen with organic soils or substrate with a large percentage of low-fired clays such as akadama.”

For more of Harry’s bonsai wisdom, you can visit his Bonsai4me website and  his fb timeline

Here's a closeup of today's Hawthorn from Harry's fb timeline

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Harry’s Famous Hawthorn

Harry Harrington's Hawthorn just before repotting

Here’s what Harry Harrington wrote about repotting his old Hawthorn…. “For the first time in 15 years, this afternoon I’m repotting this Hawthorn bonsai (some will know as the Informal Broom).
And I can’t remember seeing quite so many white fleshy roots circling the bottom of a rootball……..I mean, it’s nice when you repot a tree and they are present, but this has hundreds!”

In case you’re wondering why Harry is repotting so early, spring came to England ahead of schedule this year. You can visit Harry at Bonsai4me or on his fb timeline to see more of what he is up to and read about their early spring (if I were inclined to envy, this might be the time… snow is up to our eyeballs here in Vermont, with no end in sight)

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I cropped this shot for a closer look at the pot, ground cover, nebari, trunk and most of the branching. Nice tree

 

The first moment

 

Those fleshy roots Harry mentioned

 

A closer look

 

Here it is in bloom. Last summer?

 

Harry's books. We've got The Foundations of Bonsai in stock and we're expecting Inspirations 1 & 2 soon

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Hanging Loose

G4Good full cascade bonsai aren't all that common. Especially ones with such a relaxed feel (maybe it's the way the foliage hangs so loose). It's a Pemphis acidula. A common plant in Indonesia

Continuing with Gede Merta from yesterday. This one is from our archives (April, 2015), with some changes today. All the trees shown here are from Gede Merta’s Bonsai Bali timeline

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Another extraordinary Pemphis acidula

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And yet another. Gede Merta's caption says 'theme: bird'

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This makes four Pemphis acidula in a row. The theme is 'dance'

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Aha. A non-Phempis. The caption says Hokian tea. A more common name in English might be Fukien tea.

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Finally, another Pemphis acidula. The theme is 'People' Is this because we grow up the first part of our life and then down after that? Or am I missing something obvious?

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Bonsai Artist, Connoisseur & All Around Interesting Fellow

This Pemphis acidula with its distinctive curlycue jin (dead branch) and its even more distinctive carved shari (deadwood on the trunk), was collected in the wilds of Indonesia by Wayan Arthana. The tree is 77cm (30") top to bottom and the pot is 12.5cm (5") high and 63cm (almost 25") across. The artist and owner is Gede Merta of Bonsai Bali

It’s been a long time since we visited Gede Merta. Too long in fact, considering his accomplishments as a bonsai artist , bonsai connoisseur and all around interesting fellow. All the photo shown here are from his Gede Merta Bonsai Bali fb timeline and all the trees are Pemphis acidula

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Cropped for a closer look at the deadwood

 

The dark pot almost disappears against the equally dark background, but there's no denying the power and beauty of the tree. This one was collected by the Master himself, as were the rest of the photos shown here. Time is of essence as usual, so you'll have to visit his timeline for dimensions on this and the rest of the trees shown here

 

Another crop. This time for a closer look at the trunk and the detail on the stand

 

Looks like a rock on a larger hollowed out rock with soil and moss

 

Another closer look. You might notice the deadwood on the exposed roots

 

Gede Merta sometimes likes to name his bonsai. This one is Prancing Horse

 

Here's what I wrote when I posted this photo three years ago.... A little change of pace. We almost always just focus on bonsai and avoid people photos (that's social media's job), but this one is too good to pass up. The peaceful Bonsai Yogi is Gede Merta of Bonsai Bali. I cropped this photo to focus on Gede Merta (with apologies to Scott Jackson and his great tattoo)

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Putting the Art in the Art of Bonsai

Magical realism? Or putting the art in the art of bonsai? Or both? I'm trying not to indulge in too much hyperbole... still, this tree expresses something completely unique*... or at the very least, a break with conventional design. And it and it's pot are to my eye at least, simply beautiful

All three trees shown here are from Hong Kong Bonsai Pots on fb. No names or attribution are provided, but I couldn’t resist anyway. Especially the one above (with closeups just below)

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A closer look at the reddish (vermillion?) pot and the trunk, along with whatever you call the rest of wood...  perhaps a very unusual nebari?

 

Closer still

 

Don't ask, don't tell. Or as a few old timers here Vermont might say, "no telling not knowing" And even though my guesses often aren't worth much, I'll try Chinese elm

 

Simple tree with plenty of space for the birds to fly through (Thank you John Naka). No guessing this time

*Just because I know someone will comment… Though it’s true that unique is simply unique, or otherwise a definitive statement in itself, which is to say something can’t be more or less unique, and therefor ‘completely’ is completely unnecessary. Still adding the unnecessary completely  to unique is acceptable (completely acceptable?)  in colloquial speech, though it might lower your grade in a college essay and is frowned upon by most grammarians

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Another Brilliant Before & After Bonsai

As you can see, this before and after shows considerable skill in styling and refining bonsai. The tree is a European larch (Larix decidua). The artist is Will Baddeley. Someone goy lucky and bought this little gem from Will a while back

Still working on our new website. Our original launch date has been obliterated and now I have no idea when we’ll throw the switch. Meanwhile, time is of essence, so it’s back to our archives. This one is from August, 2017 with a few changes today
Continued below…

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willfinalAfter, a closer look

Here’s what Will Baddeley wrote about this tree in answer to my inquiry… “Ok. I bought it as raw material from Pavel Slovak in the Czech Republic 6 years ago. First two years were spent reducing and strengthening the bottom branch to use as the apex. This was hollowed with a dremel and bent round to compact the tree. No styling at that time as I wanted it strong. This took a year to hold and the tree had almost healed over. It has had two wirings since…”

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willrawBefore. The branch on the right was the one used to form the crown

 

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The new front after the first styling

 

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After a period of unimpeded growth to develop secondary and tertiary branching

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After the second major styling

 

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And finally... after some more time and more refining

 

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Will's masthead. An artist with a sense of humor

 

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Bonsai Before & After – a Six Week Transformation

B&A

Before and after. The tree is a Lawson's cypress (Chaemacyparis Louïsiana 'Elwoodii'). Here's the caption copied directly from Michel Delen, our source for these photos... "Chaemacyparis Louïsiana 'Elwoodii' AFTER Grandioos Noelanders Marc."
Continuing with our recent Marc Noelanders posts. And not by coincidence, Marc’s a headliner at the 2019 Mid Atlantic Bonsai Spring Festival (we hope to see you there)
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I’m impressed. The date on the before is Feb 8th and the date on the after is March 22nd (6 weeks later). Given just how little time elapsed, it’s an remarkable transformation. All the photos are from Michel Delen’s timeline
Continued below…
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before

Before

Continued from above…
You might assume from the caption and the photo below that the artist is Marc Noelanders. It’s unclear who the tree belongs to, but perhaps it’s Michel’s. The untranslated word Grandioos looks suspiciously like it might be Flemish (Belgian Dutch) for Grandiose. Maybe this is a way of saying highly accomplished, or something like that
Continued below…

 

after

After. A little soil removal and you've got a pretty good nebari. The deadwood around the base of the trunk must have been roots that were exposed when soil was removed

Continued from above…
Just in case you’re curious about Lawson’s cypress, here’s something from Dobbies Garden Center…  “Lawson’s cypress all originate from seed collected in Oregon and California, USA and sent to Lawson Nursery near Edinburgh in Scotland in 1854. The modern cultivars spring from these plants.” You might wonder why the botanical name is C. Louïsiana if the species is from the West Coast. If so, you’re not alone

 

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Marc Noelanders with tree and date
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Juniper Bonsai & Other Kokufu Treats

A loop the loop Juniper at this year's Kokufu Exhibition. I took the liberty of cropping* Boon Manakitivipart's original for a closer look at the deadwood and living vein, as well as the unusual loop. Even with this closeup, it's not easy to tell exactly what's going on. But we'll leave that to you

We’ve been featuring some of Bill Valavanis’ photos from this year’s Kokufu Exhibition. If you’ve been following Bark for a while, you’ll know that Bill is one of our favorites. Today it’s Bonsai Boon, another of our favorites

We’ll just show you some junipers this time, with more to follow later. I think they are all Shimpaku (Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii ‘Shimpaku’), though when it comes to variety, there are a couple very close cousins to Shimpaku, so I could be mistaken

What we’ve presented here is just the tip of the iceberg. I encourage you to visit Boon on fb for more Kokufu shots and a cornucopia of other great bonsai photos

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The whole tree this time. In addition to all the action mentioned above, I like the way the foliage enhances the movement of the wood and vice versa

 

Here's another one that I cropped* for a closer look at the action. The original is below

 

 

 

If you think you've seen this here before, you're right. We showed Bill Valavanis' photo of this tree just the other day

 

*I sometimes crop photos to eliminate background noise, or just for a closer look. Also, lighting or other factors often mess with background colors, sometimes causing faded pinks, yellows etc to show up. In these case I usually make minor adjustments to reduce this effect and bring the background a little closer to it’s natural, more uniform color (understanding the screen colors are not uniform, so I’m never sure what you see). I always try to mention what I’ve done and who the photos belong to, along with a link so you can see the originals. So far no one has complained

 

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Still Some of the Best Bonsai in the World

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

 

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