There's something about Quince flowers... Here's Bill Valavanis' caption: "A small size Toyo Nishiki Japanese flowering quince, Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Toyo Nishiki’ with multiple colored flowers. Although red, pink and white blossoms are common for this great cultivar, I’ve often seen red branches grafted onto specimens to improve color distribution."

Welcome to 2019. My other New Year’s resolution (see yesterday) is to avoid recycling these same trees for a forth time next year. Stay posted to see how we do.  I guess a passable excuse is just how good these trees are. They’re from the 2015 Kokufu Bonsai Exhibiton and were lifted directly from Bill Valanis’ blog, Welcome To My Bonsai World.

Continued below…–

I've got a soft spot for short muscular trees. Especially short muscular trees whose scarred bark and hunched stance tell a story of hard times and harsh conditions, while lush foliage and vibrant strength tell a story of better times and full recovery. Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora).

Another Quince ("Chinese quince, Pseudocydonia sinensis, created from air layering the top off another bonsai"). No flowers this time, bit plenty of action nevertheless. At the risk of stating the obvious, you might notice the exfoliating bark. Not to mention that wonderful old pot.

We could have titled this post Quince and Kokufu. Like the tree just above it's a Pseudocydonia sinensis.

Not a quince, but a Japanese grey-bark elm (Zelkova serrata).

You might get the impression that Kokufu is mostly about deciduous bonsai, but I don't think that's really the case (though winter is a great time show off these bare branched beauties). This one with its massive nebari could only be a maple.