Dave De Groot's Redwood bonsai bridge in saikei (landscape) style

Today we've a unique Redwood bonsai by Dave De Groot. Rather than me trying to parse it out for you, we'll let Dave tell his story of his brilliant bonsai bridge...

"I got this redwood stump from Mendocino Coast Bonsai a number of years ago. It is a natural arch, rooted at both ends. Like all my other bonsai, it languished in my backyard during my working years, with some haphazardly shaped sprouts.

"Eventually the bark began to peel off the dead front of the arch. The very smooth newly exposed deadwood was jarringly different than the old, weathered dead wood and the transitional pot was too short and too deep. The new longer, shallower pot looked better to me but emphasized the starkness of the empty space around the arch. I carved the new deadwood to help it relate to the old, and created a landscape with stream to create context for the arch. There is now a line of eight somewhat disheveled young redwoods marching across the arch – (or is it off a cliff?) - of my saikei."

Before. Off to a good start...

 Just in case you don't know Dave De Groot, he is, among other things, a long time American bonsai artist and teacher as well as the previous curator of the Pacific Bonsai Museum.

Dave is also the author of the the best selling book, Principles of Bonsai Design, an important contribution to north American and world bonsai. We've seen nothing in print since John Naka's Bonsai Techniques one and two, that is so thorough going and practical when it comes to bonsai design (scroll to the bottom for more)

This is what happened after time spent languishing in Dave's bonsai garden

After. Close up of the arch and carving 

 Another closeup. The stream and its banks

 More detail 

 Principles of Bonsai Design
Available at Stone Lantern

Here's your link to Dave De Groot on Facebook