Before & After Root-Over-Rock Black Pine Bonsai

suthinB&ARoot-over-rock Japanese black pine by Suthin Sukosolvisit. No major restyling, but still a striking improvement. Sutin's caption reads simply... "Japanese black pine 2011-2013" The original before and after photos are from Suthin's timeline

Still on vacation, so we’ll simplify by borrowing from our archives. This one first appeared here almost exactly one year ago

Continuing with before and after bonsai from two days ago… A big part of bonsai involves transforming rough stock into beautiful, or at least passable bonsai. However, it’s equally important to do the periodic work necessary to keep a bonsai beautiful, or soon enough it will lose its shape and start to look like just another plant in a pot
Continued below…

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before

Before. This was taken after a period of undisturbed growth. For most types of trees (especially temperate zone trees), allowing new growth to remain undisturbed is necessary for maintaining health. This new growth is where the vigor of a tree is most concentrated, so continually cutting it back will sap (no pun intended) the tree's vital energy.

Continued from above…
Allowing a tree to just grow on its own for a while is essential to its health, and bringing it back into shape after this period of unrestrained growth is also essential. And of course, each time you bring a tree back into shape, it’s done with a eye to continued development and improvement.

after

After. What a difference an expert hand and eye can make.

 

scu

I cropped this one to get a closer look at the trunk and rock

  
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Juniper Bonsai – Before & After

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Before and after on an already established Juniper procumbens. By Naoki Maeoka

Traveling today, so we’ll make this sort and sweet. It’s what you might call a maintenance before and after. The tree is already well developed and just needs and expert’s touch to bring it back to it former glory and perhaps elevate that glory some. The expert is Naoki Maeoka. Beyond that, we’ll let you fill in the blanks

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mb

Before

 

ma

After
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The Cutting Edge of Bonsai Innovation

yew

The play of light and shadow... This photo is from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. Here's part of the machine translation... "Japanese yew, Autumn Special Exhibition: Contemporary Bonsai Masters: Masahiko Kimura; Playing with Bonsai, the Origin of His Works" You can read more and see other masterpiece bonsai photos here
Even though I think he’s fallen a little out of favor in some circles, I’m still a fan of Masahiko Kimura’s bonsai. For years his wildly innovative techniques and his visionary’s eye, combined with a healthy does of daring, produced results at the cutting edge (so to speak) of bonsai innovation. Now, forty some years later, Mr Kimura is still relevant in the ever evolving world of bonsai. Take a look at the these photos and some others at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, and see if you agree
yewcu
Cropped for a closer look at the play of light and shadow on the masterfully carved trunk
 mysteryThis unusual rock planting by Kimura is also featured at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. There is no caption, so we'll let it speak for itself
KimbunjinHere's one for a little contrast. We featured it here on Bark in December, 2009 (you can see the before photo there). The challenge was for Kimura to style a bunjin (literati) bonsai with only one branch. It's a Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora). You can see it in our Masters’ Series The Magician, the Bonsai Art of Kimura 2. It was originally from an article that appeared in Bonsai Today issue 69
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Sabina Juniper, Another Happy Accident

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The original caption from Milan Karpíšek reads "Sabina of my friend ready for a show." From this we might assume that the tree belongs to a friend and was styled by Milan, but we know about assumptions.

The trees shown here are from Milan Karpíšek’s fb photos (Milan is from the Czech Republic). Like many of the bonsai featured here, these were discovered by accident (aka stumbled upon). A happy accident as it turns out

After yesterday’s post featuring three Sabina (aka Savin) junipers (Juniperus sabina). I went back to see others we’ve featured over the years and was surprised by just how many there are. This one is originally from July, 2014. The post was titled A Happy Accident

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noelanders

The caption on this humble and elegant bunjin style pine says "My entry on Noelanders." Milan doesn't say what kind of pine it is (Scot's?).

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The caption on this one reads "For Sándor Papp the best picture of my Sabina photo Willy Evenepoel, Pilsen 2é11."

 

sabinacu

Close up of the tree at the top of the post. One thing that stands out is just how small the pot is relative to the tree. It's the mounding that makes this possible, but even so, that's a lot of tree for a small amount of soil.

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noelanderscu

This close up of the second tree (above) provides a better look at the aged bark and that perfect little shari. Nice pot too.


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sandor

This close up provides a good look at the superb handmade pot and that little fern. Not to take anything away from the tree itself, which needs no superlatives.
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Walter’s Wild Sabina Juniper

walterA recent photo of Walter Pall's wild Sabina juniper. There's a much older photo of this tree below

Second leg of our journey to the sun this morning, so once again we’ll take the easy way out and continue with a Walter Pall posts from our archives. This one is from May 2017, with a newly discovered lead photo

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Sabina1-1

This photo of the same tree, guy wires and all, dates back quite a few years. We found it on The Art of Bonsai Project. The pot is by Bryan Albright

 

This Sabina is from a post on Walter's Bonsai Adventures. The tree was collected in Austria in 1997.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Sabina junipers: “Juniperus sabina (Savin Juniper or Savin) is a species of juniper native to the mountains of central and southern Europe and western and central Asia, from Spain east to eastern Siberia, typically growing at altitudes of 1,000-3,300 m.”

 

This is a stock photo of a cascading Sabina with a somewhat 'in training' look. The caption says, "Sabina juniper, Juniperus sabina, 50 cm high, 80 cm long, 100 years old, collected in Austria, styled by Walter Pall."

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Bonsai Adventures, Three Hornbeams

hronbeamman

Oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) from Walter Pall's Bonsai Adventures blog

Staying on track with Walter Pall for at least another day. This time it’s three hefty Oriental hornbeams from Walter’s Bonsai Adventures blog. Time is of essences (leaving for a couple weeks in the sun later today) so we’ll provide the links and you do the research if you’re inclined in that direction

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hornbeam2

Another beefy Oriental hornbeam from Walter's blog. No leaves this time so you can see the profusion of small branches and twigs

 

hornbeam3 And one more. A rough cascade this time
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“These Bonsai Look Like They Were Made of Plastic”

bt104cover1

This Scot's pine (Pinus sylvestris) is from the cover of Bonsai Today issue 104. It belongs to (or belonged to?) Walter Pall. He presented it as an example of a naturalistic bonsai

Walter Pall yesterday, Walter Pall today. This one happens to be our first Walter post ever (June, 2009). It was titled The Great Debate part 2: You Be the Judge. I’ve condensed it to accommodate our shorter attention spans

The following quote by Walter is from the same 2009 post (it originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 104)… “I have seen that the trend in styling is toward more and more refinement, which often takes away all the naturalness. I find that too many of these bonsai look like they are made of plastic and are not real.”
Continued below…

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b1junp1681

This is a page from our Juniper book (due back in print in April). It features a famous Needle juniper that belongs to (belonged to?) Shinji Suzuki. To my eye it represents the more stylized look that Walter is objecting to (I'm not taking sides, just reporting). The California juniper in the upper corner was collected and styled by Harry Hirao, "Mr. California Juniper."

 

robinsondougfir1

At the far end of the spectrum. This wild looking Big cone Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa) belongs to Dan Robinson, aka the Picasso of bonsai. Here's what Dan has to say about it on the Elandan Gardens website: "Collected from natural granitic basin high in the Colorado Rockies, this tree, with the helping hand of Larry Jackall, was lifted straight up out of the basin using a crowbar under the bottom branch. The tree was subsequently planted in a granite basin here at Elandan Gardens. Its spiraled bark and dead wood are the result of a genetic mutation."

Continued from above…
Here’s another quote from Walter… “A traditional bonsai is ideal; it is abstract. A naturalistic bonsai is realistic, but never totally realistic. There’s always a certain degree of abstraction.” If you are interested in more, here’s our first post on the topic

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One Famous Bonsai Artist, One Tree & One T-Shirt

crab

I love this tree with its gently flushed little apples (crabapples), its muscular trunk, subtle movement, gradual taper and well-aged bark. I even love its handlebar branches.*

Today it’s The Venerable** Walter Pall, famous bonsai artist, entertainer and entrepreneur. We’ll keep it short and sweet with just one tree and one photo of the man himself (the tree is worth a whole post to itself and needless to say, the same goes for Walter)

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wptshirt

Walter in his American Bonsai T-shirt

*Thanks to joakimthoresen

**If you’re really good at something and you live long enough, you might become The Venerable…. (insert your name here)

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Bonsai Display Stands & their Trees

KMAINHere's David Knittle's caption for this remarkable display: "Honduras rosewood table, 20" x 8.5" x 4" high. It was built for this juniper rock planting displayed at the San Diego Bonsai Club's Fall 2016 show."

Still wrapping up year end stuff, so we’ll take the easy way out and show you one from our archives (Feb, 2017). It’s a good follow up to yesterday’s post on David Knittle’s stands and some of the bonsai that have been displayed on them. All these photos show here (and yesterday) are from David’s fb timeline. There’s a lot more where these came from

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K2Here's David's caption for this one (all the captions in italics are his): "Walnut moon stand - 24" x 24" x 6" deep. The Trident maple and Black pine are from the Goldstein Collection"

 

K3"Rosewood table 14" x 9" x 10" high. Cary Sullivan's potato vine bonsai exhibited at the 2015 GSBF Convention"

 

K4"Two tiered stand I built using wenge, a wood from Africa. 30" x 8.5" x 18" high. Black pine displayed by Louise Leister at the Artisans Cup. Beautiful tree and display Louise."

 

K6

No caption with this one. I'm usually loath to guess (for good reason, I'm often wrong) but can't help thinking this remarkable tree is a Chinese elm.

 

K7

No caption with this one either and like the one above, Chinese elm seems right. But before you take it to the bank, don't forget it's just a guess.

 

David

David Knittle at work in his impeccably organized wood shop

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