This Mastic Tree (Pistacia lentiscus) belongs to Andrija Zokic. I cropped the original photo (it's just below) for an up-close look at the trunk

We're always on the lookout for bonsai artists we haven't featured before. However, finding quality photos of bonsai that suit our taste and that are attributed and identified isn't always that easy

What I'm trying to say is that we're excited about a new (to us) artist whose trees are unique, express quality craftsmanship and posses an intangible quality that moves us (I'm the only one here, just a little wary of the incessant first person pronoun). Anyway, hIs name is Andrija Zokic and he lives and practices bonsai in Croatia

The uncropped original

Mock privet (Phillyrea latifolia). Looks like this one is slated for repotting at a slightly adjusted inclination

Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera)

Andija's caption for this one reads "Mastic Tree No.03 in retro pot by Horst Heinzlreiter." 

Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera). You probably noticed that Andrija likes guy wires

 Mahaleb Cherry ( Prunus mahaleb). I cropped this one for a close look at Andrija's carving. And again more guy wires. Speaking of, our tie pots are built for training with guy wires

For more on Andrija's bonsai, you can visit him of fb. Or just stay posted, we plan on a followup soon

Tie Pots 

Winner of the Finest Bonsai Masterpiece at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It's a Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga Mertensiana) that belongs to Eric Schikowski. The photo is by Joseph Noga as are all the photos in Exhibition Albums 2-6

Every two years we get a jolt of bonsai excitement when our copies of the latest U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album arrives. So far there have been six, and though it's a little premature to start anticipating the 7th Album, it's not premature to start anticipating the 7th Exhibition itself

It's just a little over one year away and if your calendar is anything like mine, you might need to block out the dates soon (Sept 12th & 13th 2020)
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Another Mountain Hemlock and another winner. The award is for the Finest Evergreen Bonsai and the artist is Michael Hagedorn (one of our favorites here on Bark). We've shown this tree several times over the years, but this iteration is the best yet

Today we're featuring photos from the 5th Album. We could have done any other, but because we're about to run out of the 5ht (and the 4th) and they will not be reprinted, we thought it might be a good time for a heads up. Because there are so few left, we are featuring them as part of a Special price on the set of the last 3 Albums (4, 5 & 6). The 4th or 5th are no longer available individually
 

 Winner of the Creative Award at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. The tree is a Dwarf Japanese garden juniper (Juniperus procumbens 'Nana') and the artist is Creighton Bostrom

 This amazing root-on-rock Colorada Blue Spruce won the Nippon Bonsai Association Award. It belongs to our good friend (everyone's good friend) Suthin Sukosolvisit

Commemorative Albums 4, 5 & 6 - U.S. National Bonsai Exhibitions

This and the other photos shown here were all taken by Bill Valavanis at the 2019 2^nd US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition. It's cropped for a close look at the tree. Bill's original is just below

The following is taken from Bill Valavanis' bonsai blog, as are all the photos shown here...
"The 2019 2^nd US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition was held on June 28-30, 2019 at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina.... I’ve never seen such a beautiful refined display area for bonsai, and I’ve seen numerous exhibitions throughout the world. The light colored imported marble from Italy is bright and each bonsai could be easily studied. No need for additional lighting"
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Bill's original photo with bird...

 Bill Valavanis continued from above...
"The compressed beauty of small size bonsai was featured in the three day event including eight workshops, eleven lecture/demonstrations, a critique, benefit auction and the exhibition featuring 140 individual bonsai. They were displayed by 29 people from Puerto Rico, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and New York. All of the beautiful shohin and small size bonsai were formally displayed alone, in three point, five point and seven point displays. In addition to a wide variety of species and cultivars it was amazing to see the high quality display tables as well. This type of display is not often seen, except for the US National Bonsai Exhibitions in Rochester, New York. Attention to detail and the love the artists put into presenting their small bonsai and displays is truly shines for the visitors..."

No artists, owners or varieties are listed. This is common with photos taken at bonsai shows 

For more great photos from the show, you can visit Bill's blog

Yamaodri* Scots pine before and after by Mauro Stemberger. Here's Mauro's caption  "It's amazing what Time donates to our bonsai!!! Scots Pine ‘Godzilla’ 2019-2013. Personal collection"

I don't really have to say much about this tree. It's all there for your enjoyment and edification. Still, I can't help but notice and say how much difference starting with good stock can make. And how much difference the talent and eye of a highly accomplished bonsai artist call also make

*Yamadori is a bonsai that was originally collected in the wild. Mauro doesn't say that this magnificent tree is a yamadori, but you don't find nursery stock like this anywhere

Here’s Juan Adrade’s English caption for this magnificent old Trident maple. “Partial defolation on one of the grandfather trees. Close to 100 yrs old." Here's his Spanish: "Defoliación de las ramas exteriores en uno de los tridentes del abuelo de mi maestro. Este arbol posiblemente se acerca a los 100 años." You might notice the part about exterior branches in the Spanish. This would indicate that Juan is redirecting energy away from the outer tips and down closer to the center of the tree. This photo is from Juan’s facebook feed.

Defoliation is an important technique for redirecting energy, maintaining balance and creating fine branching. Especially on deciduous bonsai. We've shown this information before in various post, but I think defoliation warrants the repetition

Cut… Use sharp scissors to defoliate. Cut in the center of the petiole (leaf stem). If you cut too close to the base of the leaf stem, you may damage the buds that form there.

Don’t pull.... Don’t use you fingers to pinch or pull leaves off. This is a recipe for damage (the unreadable text with the illustration above says: Don’t pull, it could damage the buds). More on defoliation below….

Defoliate, then prune. This illustrations go from right to left, Japanese style. Upper right is before. Lower right is next. It shows after defoliation, but before pruning. The message here is; if you are going to prune and defoliate, then defoliate before you prune so you can better see exactly where to prune (within reason; if you know you are going to remove a whole branch, no point in defoliating it). Bottom center is after pruning (the after pruning tag in the illustration is a little out of place).

Defoliation results in better ramification. The two on the left show what the branch might look like later if you hadn’t defoliated (top) and with defoliation (bottom).

All of the illustrations in this post are by Kyosuke Gun. They originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue #3 (Japanese images courtesy of Bonsai Focus).

Three crowns and soft shades of pink. I'm pretty sure this style Satsuki is a first for me 

I think the Omiya Bonsai Museum stands at or near the top of Japanese and world bonsai. There are other great places for sure, but when it comes to pure quality and quantify, I think Omiya might be number one

Today it's Satsuki azaleas, but only a few. There are more where these came from

Here's one you could show without its flowers. Muscular trunks like this are not uncommon with Satsuki 

 I like the elegance of the tree on the right, though there's a whole lot more going on here. Shadows, vertical and horizontal lines, hues, thin trunks and of course brilliant flowers

If it wasn't peeking out at the top, you might not know that part of the trunk is rock

I love the size and shape of the feature tree in this display. At first glance I thought it might be the same as the one at top of this post. But only at a glance

Walter Pall's caption for this tree is "Grape Vine #1 - grape is forming - color yet unknown"

I wanted to title this post "I heard it through the Bonsai grapevine," but then I thought many of you are too young to remember, and besides, iI don't want to trivialize such a strong tree. But I still like the song and the sentiment 

You might notice how rugged and natural looking this tree is. Walter is a Western master of naturalistic bonsai (scroll down for a famous example)

Baby grapes 

Same tree, different background. Walter often shoots trees with two or even more backgrounds. This and the other two grape photos are from Walter's fb timeline

 A naturalistic Norway spruce (Picea abies) by Walter (from Bonsai Today issue 106)

Rainbow, blue sky, soft wall shadows. The bonsai are almost an afterthought. It's David Benavente's bonsai garden at just the right moment. Here's link to the first time we posted this photo along with more from David's garden

Three photos, each drifting a little farther from just bonsai, but still on the same planet. I hope you enjoy them 

It don't know if any of you are offended by naked bodies, or in this case, part of a naked body. Cover your eyes if you are

Bonsai-esque Body Art at its best. I found it here. We use to feature bonsai related tats years ago, but it's been a while

I'll bet you can't guess what this is. It goes under the heading of 'Who would do such a thing?' 
Hint, it's part of a story about something almost no one has ever thought of doing with a large problem tree in their front yard. It's from our one of our favorite brilliant bonsai teachers and friends, Michael Hagedorn

Tree number 1 in our new Bonsai Detective Contest

Okay, that last one was too easy, so we'll up the ante with this one. Three trees with two questions for each

First question: what kind of tree is it? 
Second question: who styled it or who does it belong to?
Do your best to provide answers for all 3 trees and you just might win

If you would like optional bonus points, provide what proof you can for your answers

The contest will end Sunday, July 13th at 11:59pm EDT. First prize will win a 50.00 coupon to Stone Lantern. Second prize 25.00 coupon, third prize 10.00 coupon. If two or more people tie, then first come first serve

Email me wayne@stonelantern.com with Bonsai Detective in the subject line. I will only answer the winners. If you don't get an email from me, it means you didn't win. Good hunting and good luck!
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Tree number 2 

Often moving slowly has its advantages, however, speed can win in some situations. For example, Charles Peterfy beat our old friend Ken To by seven minutes in our contest we held the other day. Both had the correct name (Quercus suber - Cork oak) and the proof, as did several others who were simply lagging in time.

And then there were some who simply guessed. Often incorrectly. The moral of that story is, little effort no prize. 

Tree number 3

This amazing trunk belongs to Salvatore Liporace. The rest of the tree was frost damaged but appears to be on the road to recovery

After a confusing journey through some miserably machine translated Italian, I finally figured out what kind of tree this is (I had a hunch but needed evidence to back it up). But rather than telling you straight out, let's turn the question into a contest.

The first person to email me with the botanical and common names of this tree, with proof* will win a 25.00 gift certificate to Stone Lantern. Here's your link to Salvatore on fb that you'll need to get started. And remember, NO PROOF, NO PRIZE*

Send your answers to wayne@stonelantern.com. Contest ends when we have a winner or at 12 noon U.S. EDT Thursday, July 11

*Asking Salvatore will NOT constitute proof for the sake of this contest. You have to find it on your own. Hint, the proof is in the comments

Salvatore's caption for these is simply... "Shadow and light!!!" 

Just in case you don't know him, Salvatore Liporace has long been a bright light in European and world bonsai. We've featured him several times over the years and it's a safe bet that he'll turn up here again

 Salvatore's caption...
"Il primo selfie non si scorda mai!! 😂😂😂 e si alimenta l’ego ..."
"The first selfie never forgets!! 😂😂😂 and feeds the ego..."