Bark and Bonsai
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen bark quite like this. Its uniquely patterned texture and color adds an abundance of character and age to this live oak. Furthermore (and at the risk of excess word proliferation), have you noticed the pot? How much character it has (and how small it is for the tree)? No mention of who made it with the photo, but whoever did deserves some love. The tree and the pot are from the ‘My Trees’ section of Mauro Stemberger’s website.
There is no surer indication of a bonsai’s age than its bark. You can grow young trees with fat trunks and if you’re skilled enough, you carve deadwood and apply techniques that can make it look ancient, but you can’t create old bark. Only time can do that
At first glance I thought the rock that sticks out on the right was part of the trunk. But a closer look confirms the strong suspicion that it's a rock. There’s a story here for sure that has to do with how this tree grew over time. But it’s the heavy furrowed bark that chinches it. The tree is the King of bonsai, a Japanese black pine. We borrowed the photo from Micheal Bonsai an ongoing source for great shots of Japanese bonsai.
Bark like this is unusual on a Japanese maple, unless it’s this Rough Bark variety (Acer palmatum 'Arakawa'). The tree is approximately eighty years old and stands 70cm (almost 28") high. Walter Pall imported it from Japan as semi raw material. Walter has an excellent series of photos on the tree's transition on his Bonsai Adventures blog.
If you are skilled enough you can create the illusion of age by carving and applying other techniques with deadwood. But when it comes to bark, time and only time is necessary for that prized aged look. We borrowed this photo from Salvador De Los Reyes.
More aged bark, this time on an illustrious old European olive that belongs to David Benavente. It resides at his Estudio de Bonsái in Galapagar, Spain, just outside of Madrid. The photos are from David’s timeline.
Here’s one from Michael Hagedorn’s Portfolio. Because Michael is a gifted writer in addition to being a bonsai genius, we’ll let him do the talking…
“This Engelmann spruce was originally owned by a guy up in Seattle and I suspect it grew in a mica drum pot for a couple decades. Collected in the Cascades many years ago, it has nice flaky, mature bark and sports a healthy community of lichen up and down the main trunk.
“It was growing wildly and moppish when I bought it in 2008, and was styled in 2009. When wiring spruce, be careful to spray the foliage with water first. Otherwise many healthy needles might simply drop off, which really weakens a tree. Ezo spruce is especially sensitive to agitated needles; hydrating them first makes them more durable.
“I like the calm, peaceful feeling of spruce. This one would look good in a tokonoma display, maybe with a water stone to suggest a serene high mountain lake. Or, for the ironically inclined, a small figurine of a panting, exhausted hiker, leaning on a stick…”
Speaking of Michael Hagedorn, his Bonsai Heresy is a must read (and reread) for any serious bonsai enthusiast. I know of no better way to increase your bonsai understanding and ultimate success than to read Bonsai Heresy and then take your newfound insights and apply them to your practice of the art of bonsai.
Blazing Bonsai Brilliance!
Even though we weren’t able to find out who this tree belongs to or even who took the photo, I decided to feature it as out lead photo for reasons I hope you find obvious. It’s a Japanese maple in full brilliant fall color. You might notice the unusual mounded nebari as well as the outstanding movement in the trunks and branches.
We’re going to dazzle our senses with some fall color today. Almost all the photos shown here are from our Bonsai Bark archives, which dates all the way back to 2009.
There’s more to fall bonsai than just color however. Fall is a good time to fertilize, and though I know we’ve mentioned it before, nitrogen in balance with other key macro nutrients is important, even in the fall, contrary to an old and incorrect bonsai myth which says that using nitrogen too late causes top growth to continue into the colder months.
However, the truth is that plants determine when it’s time to stop growing based on light and temperature, not on whether or not there is nitrogen available (thanks to Michael Hagedorn for exposing this commonly held misconception in his groundbreaking new book Bonsai Heresy).
You can also trim in the fall once summer growth has stopped, but don’t do it too soon. If you trim while your bonsai is still growing, it might be inspired to push out some tender new growth which won’t have time to harden off before winter sets in.
Here’s a brilliant tree (and lovely pot) from back in the early days of Bonsai Bark. It belongs to Wolfgang Putz and the pot is by Ingrid Kralovec. The tree is a Korean hornbeam. The botanical name is Carpinus turczaninowii (though you’ll sometimes see them referred to as Carpinus coreana).
This Japanese Maple was donated to our National Bonsai and Penjing Museum by Ryutaro Azuma. It has been in training since 1906. The photo is from Capital Bonsai.
This strikingly colorful Ginkgo with its thick and uncommonly well tapered trunk (especially for a ginkgo) is from a Bill Valavanis (International Bonsai) facebook post from way back in 2010.
Berries can provide fall color too. Not only does our friend Bill Valavanisis style and raise top quality bonsai, he also takes great photos. This one is from the 2016, 90th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition in Tokyo. No variety is given.
The luminous red/pink leaves, set off by the purple pot with strong red undertones, work its magic to perfection. The tree is an aptly named Burning bush euonymus (Euonymus alatus form ciliatodentatus) that belongs to Haruyosi, who in addition to being our favorite tiny bonsai master (not him, his trees!) is also a master bonsai potter.
Maro Komsta's Sumac showing off its fall color. Sumac are everywhere here in northern Vermont, including outside my window and this is exactly how they look. Well, not exactly... they're much bigger and growing in the ground. l don't know anything about the scroll, except that it's beautiful and works with the tree.
A rough bark Japanese maple in full fall color. Though you can only see part of the base of the trunk, still, you can get a pretty good idea just how powerful this tree is; with or without leaves. This photo is from Luis Vallejo's Bonsai Studio (Bonsai Estudio), at the Bonsai Museum Alcobendas in Spain.
Shunka-en Japanese Bonsai Gallery
This Japanese flowering apricot (Prunus mume) is from Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum. I borrowed the photo from Bill Valavanis' Bonsai blog.
When it comes to photographs of the best Japanese bonsai Bill Valavanis' Bonsai Blog is hard to beat. We found all today's photos there. And all the trees are from Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum.
A muscular old Camellia full of flowers and buds. This photo and a couple others below were taken by Bill Valavanis during a 2018 visit to Shunka-en Bonsai Museum in Tokyo.
More color. This one looks like a Persimmon and the pot looks like it has a story to tell. Like the Camellia this photo was taken by Bill Valavanis during a 2018 visit to Mr Kobayahi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum.
Some people complain about highly stylized bonsai and in many cases I get the objection. But please don’t complain about this one. To my eye, It belongs in the pantheon of highest quality bonsai art. A masterpiece of movement, harmony and creativity. When I first featured this tree a couple years ago I wrote the word Embrace. Now I don’t remember if it was my idea or if the name came with the tree. No matter, I think it works.
Quoting Bill... "There are over 12 alcoves for formal bonsai displays. Mr. Kobayashi always shows his creativity in creating distinctive bonsai displays."
A closer look at just the tree.
One of many powerful Shimpaku at Mr Kobayashi's Shunka-en Bonsai Museum. Here's a quote from Bill, "There were many large grafted Sargent juniper bonsai, all wired and just waiting to fill out for future sales." Bill consistently refers to Shimpaku as Sargent junipers. He is of course correct, even though most of us in the bonsai world refer to them as Shimpaku (there is a lot more that could be said about this, but we'll leave that for another time).
This would be a remarkable bonsai even without the flowers. In addition to Japanese black pines and Shimpaku junipers, Mr. Kobayashi is known for his Satsuki azaleas.
Here’s a great little Satsuki root-over-rock.
Another Satsuki in full bloom and another of Mr Koybashi’s tokonama.
Walter Pall’s Embarrassment of Bonsai Riches
“What a monument of naturalistic bonsai art you have Walter - a charismatic ajan spruce —- like a walk in a microcosm of enchanted trees - a place to linger for a fraction of eternity” This quote is by Frank Krawiecki from the comments about this tree appears on fb. It’s an old (estimated over 300 years) Ezo spruce (Picea jezoensis) that was originally collected in Japan. The artificial rock is by Avicenna.
Walter Pall’s bonsai collection is so rich, varied and astoundingly numerous, that we could feature one of his bonsai every day for a year and still have only scratched the surface. All this without sacrificing any quality. Not even one whit.
Almost all of Walter’s trees fall into what you might call Naturalistic bonsai. A term used for bonsai that look like they’ve been barely touched by human hands, even though this natural look requires a high degree of skill and human involvement with the entire process. Especially in the case of the top quality trees shown here. Or really, shown wherever you find Walter’s trees.
The other side, this time with a grey backdrop.
There can be no doubt that Walter likes spruce and ditto here, especially Walter’s spruce. In this case, it’s a Picea abies (Norway or European spruce). This photo appears in Bonsai Today issue 106 (Nov/Dec 2006).
Speaking of Walter Pall and Bonsai Today magazine, here’s Walter’s naturalistic Scot’s pine on the cover of issue 104. Unfortunately, both 104 and 106 (see above) are sold out. But the good news is that we still have quite a few back issues in stock.
We’ve been featuring Walter’s bonsai for over ten years and I’m pretty sure this is the first tropical variety of his we’ve seen. One thing that stands out about this tree is how natural it looks. More like a tree than a bonsai, which is something Walter might say. This photo is from Walter’s fb timeline.
This Grape vine (Vitis vinifera) was originally collected in a vineyard in Croatia. It’s around 40 years old and stands 55 cm high (approx 22”).
A small piece of Walter’s garden taken this August.
A massive naturalistic Trident maple that was originally imported as raw material from Korea. The pot is by Tom Benda.
Natural and relaxed. This one has Walter’s naturalistic style written all over it. Here are some specs (from Walter’s website): Norway spruce. 75 cm high. Around 150 years old. Pot by Derek Aspinall. From a tree which was collected in Switzerland in 1998.
This European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was collected in Germany in 1995. It’s 50cm high ( about 20”) and its estimated age is around 70 The pot is by Lubos Skoda.
I’m not sure you’d see this tree in a top flight bonsai show. It’s too rough and the branches need some time to catch up to the trunk. Still, if you put aside preconceptions, Walter does it just right with this Japanese maple’s scarred old trunk and its contrasting smooth flowing movement.
Just rediscovered this in Walter’s fb photos from last winter. Also discovered that I had left a comment at the time… “So natural… a gift!” There’s no information with the photo (if you wanted to work your way back through Walter’s timeline, you might find it). It looks like a single species Spruce forest with trees of varying ages, but that’s just a guess.
FInally, a great tree enhanced by a wonderful Lubos Skoda pot. It’s Mugo pine (the tree, not the pot) that Walter says is about 100 years old. It was collected in Austria in 1995. It’s 40 cm high (about 16”).
Root OVER Rock Bonsai
The sheer beauty and power of Suthin Sukosolvisit’s roots-devouring-rock bonsai is a good example of why Suthin has long been one of our favorite bonsai artists. Over time, roots can virtually swallow rocks, especially with trees as vigorous as this Trident maple, which happens to be the most popular type tree for root-over-rock bonsai.
No source is given for this colorful 'Seki-joju' Azalea. My best guess is that the tree and photo are originally from Japan; it's not uncommon for Japanese trees to remain unattributed.
This Trident maple root-over-rock by Wolfgang Putz has to be on my top 100 bonsai photos list (if I had such a list). It originally appeared in a 2014 Bark post.
Here's a brilliant Trident that started as a root-over-rock and slowly morphed into a root-swallowing-rock (like root-devouring-rock, this not an official designation, just an observation). The photo is originally from Kaede Bonsai-en (Kaede is Trident maple in Japanese).
A strange sort of root-over-rock. You might imagine that it started more or less like other root overs, but because the rock is so small, the roots grew under it and pushed it up, while also growing around one side and creating a firm grip on the rock. Though I originally thought the result might simply be a happy accident, upon reflection I think it was the intention of the original artist 40 to 50 years ago... It's just too perfect the way most of the rock, particularly the bowl is left uncovered and even emphasized. Like so many root-over-rock bonsai, the tree is a Trident maple. I borrowed the photo here from Peter Tea’s blog back in August 2012.
A Robert Steven tree. We’ve shown it before, but it's been a while and it's worth another look.
Root on Rock Bonsai
This is what can happen when you have a great rock and excellent plant material to work with (a little skill doesn’t hurt either). It’s by Norboru Kaneko, from our Masters’ Series Juniper book.
Needle junipers and companions growing on a rock. Like the photo just above, this one is by Norboru Kaneko and also from our Masters’ Series Juniper book. Given what we’ve seen so far, it’s safe to say that Mr Kaneko has achieved a degree of mastery when it comes to root-on-rock bonsai.
With bonsai, it's usually the tree that dominates, even though the pot, (stone, slab or whatever) is considered a critical part of the whole. In this case however, you might decide that it’s the rock that dominates and elevates the planting from very good to extraordinary. The tree is a Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica). The tree, rock and moss belong to David Benavente.
Here's an equally impressive and improbable Benavente planting. The main tree seems so relaxed and natural given its precarious position. It's a Scot's pine (Pinus sylvestris) and the others are Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica). As with the planting above, there are also ferns and moss. I'll guess the convex slab is man made.
A planting by Marc Noelanders. No mention is made of the type tree or what the rock is made of.
Three robust Shimpaku junipers on a stupendous rock. We’ve shown this one more than once, but it’s good enough for at least a fourth or fifth encore. From the Omiya Bonsai Museum.
Kimura rocks! I don’t think it’s a good idea to feature a bunch of root-on-rock plantings without at least a quick visit to Masahiko Kimura (aka the Magician), the grand master of root-on-rock plantings and almost anything to do with bonsai innovation. The photo is from a facebook posting by Alejandro Sartori that he took during a visit to Kimura’s nursery. The trees are Shimpaku junipers.
Another root-on-rock by the Magician that was taken by Alejandro Sartori. It looks like the trees might be Hinoki (Cham. obtusa), a tree often used by Kimura for rock plantings.
Beyond bonsai… Here’s an unusual and quite compelling rock planting by Colin Lewis. It’s hard to tell, but it’s likely that some of the roots have found their way down into the soil in the pot via the mossy channels you can see, which might make this one a combo root-on and root-over.
Mixed Bonsai Forests & Other Wonders
This magnificent mixed forest is by Saburo Kato, who was one of the original old masters of Japanese bonsai. You can find it and other remarkable trees in his timeless classic Forest, Rock Planting & Ezo Spruce Bonsai (see below). You can also find some of the most comprehensive how-to bonsai instructions anywhere. The trees are (more or less left to right) Japanese maple, Japanese beech, Dwarf Stewartia, Japanese red leaf hornbeam, Kyushu azalea and Desojo Japanese maple. The planting was about 30 years old when this photo was taken. Its height is 41 inches (104cm). In other words, it’s a lot bigger than you’d think just looking at this picture.
We’ve got four uncommon forests for you today, the first two are mixed forests and the other two are unique in their own way. Forests with mixed species can be a little tricky; not only does the planting have to make sense aesthetically, particularly when it comes to questions of scale, but the various types of trees should make sense growing together (would you find them growing together in nature?)
Not that you can’t experiment with trees that normally might not grow in the exact same locations, but the more different their natural habitats are, the more unnatural the planting might seem and the more difficult it might be to keep all the trees healthy.
This mixed forest/landscape is from Spain. The Museo del Bonsai Marbella to be exact (from Bonsais del Sur). It's too bad the pot is chopped off and the whole photo is cramped, but that's the way we found it. Still, from what we can see, it looks like a very ambitious project with numerous types of trees, smaller plants and other features to integrate. No mean feat to pull off.
When I first caught site of this planting on Quoc Viet Tran‘s timeline I was immediately struck by how powerful and realistic it is. I wish I could tell you more but no information is provided. I guess we’ll have to settle for simple appreciation of the artist’s mastery.
Bonsai Empire's caption says "Buxifolio Bonsai forest, planted on a rock, by Luisa Alfaro." The Buxifolio part is a bit of a mystery. Buxifolia (with an a) is a species name, but without the genus, it could be any number of things. The leaves look tiny, so we'll try Neea buxifolia.
Michael Hagedorn's Historic Ponderosa Restyling (in a rusty old brake drum!)
Michael Hagedorn's Ponderosa pine in an rusty old brake drum.
Okay, if your interest isn'tpiqued by the photo and caption just above, maybe it's time for a nap. Or a cup of coffee...
However, if you're still here, rather than listen to me scribble on, here's the whole story in the words of Michael Hagedorn, our favorite brilliant bonsai bard and shapeshifting trickster.
In Michael's own words, just as I lifted them from his Crataegus Bonsai blog: "Years ago a friend dropped off an old brake drum, an old rusted thing from a car, and said ‘Put something in that’. I was pretty amused and said I would, and yet it’s taken me a while to find something worthy of it. We finally did, this spring, and it was the first time I’ve ever put a tree in a metal container.
"I’ve featured this Ponderosa here before. Collected way back in the 80’s, it made its way onto the cover of BCI magazine in 1992. The lower branch was getting weak and last fall we had a post about cutting that branch off, and rethinking the inclination and front."
The same Ponderosa pine on the cover of BCI magazine in 1992.
Michael's caption... "Fall of 2019. A lower branch was cut off, with some blocks helping us think about what a restyle might look like. The only problem with this perfectly serviceable front is that it looks like a bonsai should look, when it’s being polite."
"This spring we put the pine in the brake drum. I worried that the metal container would heat up a lot, but, interestingly, it didn’t (more about that in another post).
"Fall has arrived and the tree is plenty strong enough for a restyle. While looking at the pine again an edgier front possibility arose, and we went with that…
"August 2020. In spring the Ponderosa pine was repotted into a rusted brake drum, at this new angle, but we found a new front, too. The decisions here were not easy (are they ever), as we had to give up an interesting burl of wood at the base of this tree for the new tucked in look. What I liked was the more interesting line from this view. Bunjin is all about line, not base, or nebari, so we sacrificed that to get a far more active trunk line. No major bends were done, just a turn of the pot 90 degrees. There is nothing I did here that a future owner couldn’t undo, with a return to the original front, which is a nice one. But, the original front felt a bit…prosaic…to me, and I wanted something edgier. The unusual container choice and the unusual front have a touch of simpatico. It’s a little less bonsai-like and maybe a little more interesting. To me at any rate."
That's our favorite bonsai trickster on the right, trying to confuse a juniper.
A close up from the cover of Michael's now famous Bonsai Heresy. I'd like to say 'the only bonsai book you'll ever need' but that might be silly. So how about this quote from Gary D. Wood that appears at the beginning of the book: "Doing it right will take you a long time; doing it wrong takes forever".
Firethorn Bonsai: Blazing Red Berries
This exquisite beauty must be one of the best overall berry bearing bonsai I’ve ever seen, with just the right combination of berries leaves and space. You might say it’s understated as compared with some others we’ve seen. It’s a Nepal Firethorn (Pyracantha crenulata), in training since 1966, donated to the U.S. National Bonsai & Penjing Museum by Yee-Sun Wu. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I think that’s a stone on the left.
I grew up in California’s Great Central Valley where hot weather and Firethorns (Pyracantha) are abundant, with equally abundant berries ranging from various reds, through oranges and yellows. In the ground you’ll often see them as hedges as their sharp thorns make them quite impenetrable.
Firethorns take to bonsai culture, but insects, blight and other diseases also take to them, so they need to be raised with plenty of attention to detail. We won’t go into symptoms or treatments here, but there’s plenty of good information online and in books about general treatment for pests and diseases including What’s Wrong with My Plant?
Other than that Firethorns are hardy to zone 6 with good protection and care that is basic to most bonsai. Be sure to give them plenty of sun if you want abundant berries. The same goes for water - they’ll drink a bit more when growing berries (don’t keep the soil soggy though, that’s an invitation to all kinds of problems).
We recommend our regular professional soil mix for almost everything, including Pyracantha and the same goes for our Green Balance slow release pellet fertilizer, which is great for promoting berries.
Just the right amount of berries for this miniature Firethorn (Pyracantha) beauty. It and the pot were done by Mame master Haruyosi (mame is the Japanese name for tiny bonsai. It literally translates as ‘bean’).
Red berries, red pot. Or maybe more accurately, orange and red berries, red pot (colors vary from screen to screen, so it's hard to tell for sure). The tree is a Firethorn (Pyracantha) that belongs to Bill Valavanis. Bill sent it to us with the line I LIKE RED POTS TOO!, in response to a post we did a couple years ago that was titled, Red Bonsai Pots, a Shift in Taste.
Shohin Pyracantha with yellow berries. A couple things jump out. First are the luminous berries (without these, I'm not sure we'd bother). The other thing that jumps out is the funkiness of the roots-turned-lower-trunk. Exposing roots so they become part of the trunk is common practice. In some cases it works, in other cases less so. You can be the judge. The tree belongs to Edson Cordeiro who lives in Brazil. It's from a series titled "Pyracantha em 3 anos de formação" on facebook.
Tiny Pyracantha with smoke by Yoshiyuki Kawada.
Pyracanthas can be prolific bearers of berries and this one is no exception. It's from a post we did in 2012. I don't know who the artist or owner is, but my guess is the tree is in Japan.
I chose this one as much for the pot as the berries. It’s from Bonsai in Japan.
Flowers come first, so maybe we should have started with this sweet little Bonsai Mike Pyracantha that we originally featured way back in 2010.
Before & After: A Two Legged Bonsai (& More)
All bonsai have numerous before and after moments in their progression. You might say that every time you pick up your tools and start to work on a tree is a before moment and every time you put down the tools and walk away is an after moment.
We could have started this newsletter with any number of excellent before and after trees. But how many great two legged trees do you see? It’s a Sierra juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) that belongs to Bonsai Mike. You can see the potential peeking out underneath the foliage in the before shot. Still, even with good potential, the after shot reveals an impressive transformation.

You might divide before and afters into two other general groups. One is radical restyling and others is what I call maintenance styling, which is mostly just bringing an overgrown tree back to, and perhaps beyond, its earlier beauty.
Staying on topic, here’s a strikingly beautiful maintenance before and after by Naoki Maeoka.

Another maintenance before and after. This time the artist is Jan Culek. Most of what was done on the tree just above was also done here, though it doesn’t look like there was much wiring and no repotting this time. No variety is listed, but it looks like it might be a Shimpaku juniper.


Here’s one that involves much more than maintenance. It’s an Itoigawa juniper before and after by Gabriel Romero Aguade. When I first saw this one, my guess was that the transformation took years. But rather than settle on a guess, I decided to ask Gabriel Romero Aguade how many years it took. Here’s what he wrote... “From the first to the second photograph, 6 hours have passed. more or less.“ Go figure.
Before and after by our friend Robert Steven. The before photo was submitted to Robert by David Royinsyah. The after is one of a large number of digital simulations that Robert employs as a teaching tool. The tree is a Tamarindus indica, a type of tropical legume. The photos are from the Black Scissors Community.
Note: the following are my comments, not Robert’s.
First thing was to get rid of the ugly pot and replace it with something more natural whose lines and color complement the tree – what an improvement!
The rest of the changes are fairly subtle. What I see is a tree with a gentle prevailing breeze from left to right. With this breeze you get shorter branches on the left and extended branches on the right, with the foliage on the right extending beyond the tips of the branches. You might also notice some inner branches curving to the right.
Another change is the apex, with its nod to the right which further emphasizes the prevailing breeze. Beyond that, I’m sure there are other changes, but you’ll have to check with Robert about those.
And on that note I think it's about time to be after before & after. We could go on an on I'm sure. If you made it all the way to the end well thank you. Give yourself a little pat on the back.