There's nothing quite like bark to lend an aged feel to a bonsai. If you're skilled enough, you can make a tree look a lot older than it is with a few handy techniques. But you can't create old bark.

As you can see this Japanese white pine belongs to David Benavente, one of Europe's best know bonsai artists. In fact all of today's bonsai are by David.

Another muscular white pine. I wonder if both of these trees are white pines grafted onto Japanese black pine stock. This is fairly common practice. Especially in Japan where both species are native.

You can see where David intentionally broke the trunk to create interest. The rebar will hold it in its new position until it heals.

Before. Now it's clear why he broke it.

Full cascade Scot’s pine.

A wild Wild Olive.

It's almost that time of year. Here's David caption: Rhododendron indicum “Shin Nikko” hoy, en plena floración (today in full bloom). 45x55cm (18" x 21.5").

An olive. There was no caption with the original, but I think it speaks for itself.

Lizard on a European olive. Is it the same tree?

David's exquisite bonsai garden at just the right moment.

Fall color. I'm always impressed with how well organized and neat David's nursery looks. And then there are those magnificent trees.

Playtime! Mauro Stemberger titled this impressive Scots Pine Playing with Nature. He might have added Dreaming with Nature (Mauro calls his bonsai world Italian Bonsai Dream). The fiber glass container is the handiwork of Felix Ellhardt.

All the trees shown here today are Mauro's masterpieces from his FB timeline. All except the first came with no identification. You can guess if you want. Or if you have time you might even be able to track the names down.

Italian Bonsai Dreaming In the Garden.

In the Garden again.

Still In the Garden.

This is a magnificent old tree. Though it does bring to mind a snake about to strike.

A massive trunk with what looks like centuries of texture and movement. The companion looks like it might be growing on a rock, though it's hard to make out all the detail.

A labor of love. All of Mauro's deciduous trees shown here show impressive fine branching (ramification).

This yamadori pine look as though it was squashed by eons of heavy snow. Mugo pines grow in the Alps and other mountains, so it does make sense.

There can be little doubt that Mauro has a penchant for very large bonsai. In this case a very large bonsai with an appropriately large shari. Even the exposed roots have been carved.

It's hard to tell the size on this one, but it's probably bigger than you think. It's also hare to tell how that piece of deadwood on the left is managing to float in space.

One more by Mauro. The rock was made by Erik Križovenský, a master of unique pots and other creative vessels for planting bonsai. No mention is made of the type tree, but it looks like some type of Juniper.

This Ficus (Cuban laurel) by Robert Kempinski won Best Tropical at the 9th Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo in Kannapolis North Carolina. Today's photos are courtesy of Bill Valavanis.

The venue from above. This and all the photos of the Expo are borrowed from Bill Valavanis' blog, as is the following text: Well, Steve Zeisel, sponsor of the exhibition did it again! Every displayed bonsai was of much better quality than in the first eight expos featuring naked trees. He holds the event to promote bonsai and allows exhibitors to express their beautiful bonsai and creative displays. Although fewer bonsai this year, all were better designed and exquisitely displayed.

The winner of the Best Deciduous Bonsai award. It's a Japanese Zelkova the belongs to Adair Martin.

The Best Display award was won by Gary Clark. Winged Elm, American Hackberry & Japanese Flowering Apricot.

Best Fruiting Bonsai by Joe Noga. Beautyberry & Firethorn.

Best Evergreen by Brad Russel. It's a Rocky Mountain juniper.

The rest of the shots from the Expo are unnamed and unattributed. No problem, Bill's a busy man and it's typical in shows for non-prize winners to be unidentified.

I'm inspired by this one. It looks a lot like what some of us call a Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis). Or you might know it as the American Arborvitae. It's everywhere here in northern Vermont and one of our few local species that makes great bonsai. I wonder where this one is from and what it looked like when it was dug.

This wild, almost scary little beast looks suspiciously like a Larch. It was posted by Giacomo Pappalardo, someone who often posts impressive European larch (Larix decidua) bonsai.

A little piece of Giacomo's bonsai garden...

...which he calls (you guessed it!) Extreme Bonsai. Do you recognize the tree?

Another Larch. Giacomo says it's 15 years from seed.

A piece of Michael Hagedorn's world.

Another piece of Michael's world. This time it's the Oregon coast.

This lovely shot is the header on his Luis Vallejo's FB page which features shots from his famous Museo de Bonsai in Spain.

Another shot from Luis Vallejo's Museo. BTW, though I've never visited Luis' museum, if you've been following Bonsai Bark and our newsletters for a while, it's plain to see that his museum is one of our favorite digital destinations. And we're never disappointed.

One more of Luis' masterpieces.

Today we lucked upon a wealth of formal display photos of Luis Vallejo's collection. They were taken at this year's Tantai Exhibition in Vitoria Spain and featured on Santi Lorenzo Borda's FB timeline.

Pine with a companion that looks like it could be a pot. This tree and the rest featured here belong to Lusi Vallejo. No varieties were given and we'll spare you the guessing game today.

Perfection. If you saw this without the pot and nothing else in to lend it scale, you'd have little idea of its size.

It's good to have a companion.

Balancing act. We've featured the tree on the left a few times over the year. Its smaller companion also looks familiar.

Here's one of my favorites of Luis' trees that we've shown a few times over this years. In fact it once got me in trouble. The perils of guessing. It is, according to Mariusz Janusz Komsta a beech that is native to Europe.

I don't think you see that many full cascades with such massive trunks. Not that they don't exist, they're just not that common.

We can't go too long without visiting The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. A brilliant place full of rare and magnificent bonsai treasures presented with elegance and good taste.

A trunk-from-roots Satsuki azalea.

A Satsuki in bloom. If you look closely, you can just make out how massive the trunk is.

Multi trunked Satsuki. This one is all about the flowers.

One more Satsuki azalea. Interesting pot color. Would you have chosen it?

A Japanese maple with its summer foliage.

Winter.

Here it is again. In fall brilliance with a little summer color left over.

No caption came with this one but it looks a lot like a Japanese white pine.

And here's a Japanese black pine with fresh spring candles just sprouting.

A powerful old Ezo spruce with bright new spring growth.

A long time favorite of ours. It's three Shimpaku junipers with companions on a magnificent cliff-like rock.

Triple trunk Trident maple with some space for the birds to fly through.

Michael Hagedorn call this one a "Very Old Mountain Hemlock Styling." If you spend some time with Michael's Portfolio , you'll quickly discover his fondness for Mountain Hemlocks.

Today I've decided to feature some of Michael Hagedorn's conifer bonsai. All but one of the shots* shown here are from his Crataegus Bonsai Portfolio. In addition to being a bonsai artist and teacher of some renown, Michael is also the author of two of the most compelling and readable bonsai books we know of, Post-Dated and Bonsai Heresy.

Michael titled this shot "Day of Yikes: Grafted Rocky Mountain Juniper Styling."

Formal upright Cryptomeria. Because formal uprights are so unusual here in the U.S., we'll share Michael's story of this remarkable tree: 

"Any visit to Japan where remote temples are on the menu will usually involve Cryptomeria. These stately forest trees remind one of miniature redwoods, standing bolt upright as if on review.

"The Cryptomeria featured here is a home-grown bonsai from nursery stock, not an import. It was first styled by Harunobu Tokita in California. The first photo starts the legacy of this tree that lived for a long time in Boon Manakitivipart’s garden as a unique formal upright only rarely seen in the United States. I recall it well when I studied with Boon before moving to Japan."

Here's a "Historic Ponderosa" in an old brake drum.

A Black pine grafted Ponderosa.

Michael, again: "This juniper has been growing in my backyard for a year. It’s a client tree, another of the great native yamadori that was collected by Randy Knight of Oregon Bonsai."

A Rocky mountain juniper that Michael calls "The Fish."

Here's one that pops up a lot. It's a Mountain hemlock on a 'Levitated Nylon Board." (scroll down for your link to Michael's portfolio if you're trying to make heads or tails of what that means).

A Shore pine on a metal post. Michael has a few very unusual bonsai that he seems to conjure up from the depths of his adventurous mind.

Michael's famous Mountain hemlock planting at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition where it won the Finest Evergreen Bonsai. Photo by Oscar Jonker of Bonsai Empire.

A closer look at a different angle and another time.

Michael calls this Western hemlock a "Cliff Bonsai."

This one is a Limber pine with a 'helix' root (see just below).

Michael's Tiny House. Look for his Tiny House book next year.

I picked this one mostly because of the crazy pot, though the tree isn't half bad either. Unfortunately no indentification or attribution is given, which goes for all of today's trees. They're from a FB account called Japan Bonsai. 

Here's a Mountain hemlock grove that you might recognize. It belongs to Michael Hagedorn, makes its home in Portland Oregon and won the Finest Evergreen Bonsai at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition.

 Judging by what I can see of the leaves, I'd say this one is a Trident maple.

Walking on the wild side. In addition to the massive display of deadwood, you might notice the two different textures on the foliage. I'll guess that the smoother foliage is Shimpaku that was grafted on and the rougher foliage is original. You might imagine that it will be replaced later.

Another walk on the wild side...

This time a little change of pace. Even though the planting is small, there's a lot to appreciate. Not the least of which is the contrast of the three strong colors. And just in case your eyes got fixed on the brilliant tree, you might look down just a bit and enjoy the perfect little stand.

Another convoluted masterpiece that looks like it's pregnant with deadwood. Would you say Shimpaku juniper?

I don't know what this is, but I'm in love with melted wax trunk.

Gracefully flowing tranquility on a powerful nebari. And there's no doubt it's a Stewartia.

My best guess is crabapple on this gem. But I can't see the leaves clearly enough to be sure.

Here’s another assortment of compelling images that popped up on my facebook timeline.

After and before. It’s a Kishu shimpaku that belongs to Michele Andolfo.

This photo was posted by Serene Jade Almond. Here’s the caption… ”Magnificent ~ Japanese maple🍁 Acer palmatum ~ probably around 300 years. Fujikawa Kouka-en, Japan” The Fujikawa Kouka-en garden is owned by bonsai master Keiichi Fujikawa and is located near Osaka, in the suburb of Ikeda.

This one belongs to our old digital friend Harry Harrington, who happens to be the author of several fine bonsai books including Foundations of Bonsai. Here’s Harry’s caption for this tree…”Autumn senescence is fast approaching. Here’s my Ulmus pumila/Siberian Elm bonsai this afternoon, with its leaves starting to turn yellow. Bonsai pot by Victor Harris”

FOUNDATIONS OF BONSAI

I found this lovely work of art at 盆缽集錦交流社團

This one is from Hong Kong Bonsai Pots. Their caption says… Chojubai for sharing only (Chojubai is a variety of quince). I’m not sure why they couldn’t get the flower in focus, but I like it anyway.

An unidentified trunk from Walter’s garden (Walter Pall, who is almost certainly the most famous European bonsai artist, that is).

Here’s another one that belongs to Walter. It’s a Japanese euonymus.

Our neighborhood in Vermont. Posted by Caroline Demaio.

Speaking of Vermont, a friend from just up the road apiece had some of his bonsai stolen. Please contact me (wayne@stonelantern.com) if you know anything. By the way the tree shown is an American larch that was originally mine. It’s in one of our tie pots and that’s one of Robert Steven’s ergonomically designed shears next to it.