Here's Boon's caption for this before and after... "Itoigawa shimpaku removed old needles, downward growth, rewired and reposition"

No bonsai is ever finished (unless it’s dead and then it’s no longer a bonsai anyway).  I don’t know how many trees Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon) has, but I know it’s a whole lot more than most of us

So what do you do when you have so many trees? Beyond basic care, like watering, feeding, treating for disease, insects etc? Well, one thing you do is spend some time bringing established bonsai back into shape, and if you have the talent, improving them in the process. But there’s more to the whens and hows of bringing them back into shape than you might think…
Continued below…

Before. This masterpiece Juniper has been allowed to grow for a while in order to regain its strength. Time to bring it back into shape

Continued from above…
If you keep pruning new growth back and never let it  just grow, you can damage your bonsai. Some years you might let it go a bit in the spring and trim it back into shape after it slows down. But once in a while it’s important to let it ‘run off leash’ Most beginners don’t know about this practice and run the risk of damaging (or worse) their bonsai (thanks to Michael Hagedorn, a student of Boon’s and someone who apprenticed in Japan, for the expression and the instruction on ‘running off leash‘

After trimming off excess growth

After wiring. Now it needs to be repotted at its new angle and fill out a bit and it'll be ready for big time. I don't know if Boon is going to wait a year to repot (some people don't do heavy trimming and repotting in the same year). If you stay posted to his timeline you might find out

Before and after European olive by Javi Campos Juan. Though it looks as though Javi has somehow managed to bend the trunk, perhaps all he has done is changed the planting and viewing angles. In any case, the improvement is striking

Continuing with our Before & After theme from the last few days…
You don’t often see Olives styled like this one; more like a conifer than an Olive. Regarding this, there is a good argument for styling in the way the type tree naturally grows. Trees that don’t conform to this standard often look unnatural

Still, I like this tree. True, at first glance I thought it was a conifer and was surprised when I read Javi’s Campos Juan’s caption which refers to it as Ullastre (Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris). But beauty doesn’t always conform to our expectations
Continued below…

Before...

I’ve been following Javi Campos Juan and his impressive bonsai  for a while now (here’s a link to our first from August 2016). This post is a repeat (with some changes) of a post we did in February, 2017 from photos we found on Javi’s facebook timeline

After. An impressive transformation

The original uncropped after shot with companion

Walter Pall's Wild plum (Prunus cerasifera) before and six years later

Continuing with our latest before and after series…
Walter Pall has long been a favorite of ours. Aside from his massive bonsai collection and his considerable skills in developing and maintaining that collection, Walter takes the time to walk us though step by step transformations with a series of sharpe uncluttered photos. And not just three or four photos. In this case there are upwards of fifty (that’s on the high side even for Walter, but he’s always generous in this regard). We’ll show you five photos here and encourage you to visit Walter’s timeline for the whole series.

What's that cat doing?

After. Walter seems to be taking a fancy to red pots lately and I think it's becoming a bonsai trend after years of avoidance

Walter and our subject tree, somewhere in the progression.

Before and after Shohin pine by Koji Hiramatsu. No size or species is mentioned, but you can tell it is quite small and you might guess it's a Japanese black pine simply because it's a favorite in Japan and the after shot looks like it might be one

Continuing with another before and after, though moving way down in scale from yesterday’s monster. The photos are from Koji Hiramatsu’s fb timeline.

–

I like this before version. Maybe that's what distinguishes the best bonsai artists; the desire to improve what many of us might settle for

A close up of the trunk and the piece of deadwood that Koji decided to move up (see below). I can't tell if he removed it and glued it back on, or if he managed to lift it while it was still attached

After. New pot and redesigned trunk and crown

Before and after Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) by Todd Schlafer. The tree belongs to Mike Andrews. For the Godzilla reference, scroll down to the bottom of the post

Continuing with another before and after transformation by Todd Schlafer (see Oct 19th).
Here’s a quote by Mike Andrews (facebook)… “Progression of collected Rocky Mountain Juniper. Collected by Randy Knight, delivered to my house September 2016. Initial design and structure setting with Mauro in April 2017. Fertilized heavily and full sun 2017 and 2018 growing seasons resulted in very nice dense foliage. Finally detail wired and pad formation by Todd yesterday. Now to watch the tree develop next season…”

Before...

After...

Close up of the deadwood circle. You can barely see a piece of the base of the trunk peeking through (lower left)

Todd Schafler with his impressive accomplishment and his Godzilla T-shirt

Juniper with shadow. This and the other trees shown here belong to Luis Vallejo

It’s time to visit Luis Vallejo, one of our favorites. I was attracted to these photos for their artist value as well as for the trees themselves. The only text Luis provided is… “Preparando exposición. 17/25 Noviembre 2018.” Though I suspect you can get it without translation, here it is just in case… Preparing for exposition,  November 17-25. (scroll down for details)

One tree, two shadows. I don't know what type tree this is, and know even less about the one you can't see

Another shadow shot. Looks like a Live Oak

No shadows but still a good shot

Texture & color

I cropped this on for a close up of the deadwood

The original. No species is given

This before and after by David Benavente provides a look at what you can do with a piece of rebar, some nerve, and more than a little skill. I originally posted this in 2010 and can longer find David's original, but if memory serves, the tree is a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)

Continuing with David Benavente (see yesterday’s post) and our  before and after from the day before…
The photos for this post are from a a 2010 Bark post. I’ve reworked them some, and the text is new. For more on David, you can visit his website and  you can visit him on facebook too.

What do you do with a long straight trunk with no taper? I suppose you could appreciate the aged bark and the potential that the branches provide. But beyond that you'll need some serious imagination and skill...

... After!!! Imagination and skill brought to fruition

There's a lot going on with this one. Especially the two types of exposed roots - the long aerial roots growing down to the flat stone on the right, and the other set of roots fanning down the side of the large stone (the stone is another nice feature). I couldn't find the type tree (looks like it might be a Ficus) nor any info on the artist/owner. Unless the person who put the photo up is the owner (there's a name embedded in the Instagram address)

Just ventured onto Instragram for the first time. So far I like it. It’s an easy quick source for good photos, though there seems to be the usual social media information void. There are names embedded in the addresses, but they don’t necessarily give the information you want (especially plant varieties and the embedded names may or may not belong to the owner /artist).

Another stone and tree (looks like a Japanese white pine). The Instagram address for this photo has David Benavente Estudio Bonsai embedded. If you been following Bark for a while, or just following Bonsai (especially in Europe) you know who David is

Not from Instragram, but a great photo. It's from David Benavente's website. We featured it here on Bark in January, 2011

Before and after Procumbens Juniper by Todd Schlafer at the Des Moines Botanical Gardens

Continuing with our venerable Before and After tradition…
This is only the second time* we’ve featured bonsai by Todd Schlafer, but there will certainly be more. Todd  is one of a significant (in numbers and skill) crop of young North American bonsai artists . You can enjoy more of Todd’s bonsai on his First Branch Bonsai website, on facebook and in the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album

Before. As you can see, the trunk is already developed and doesn't require too much beyond cleaning up and a few other deft touches. It's top half of the tree that needs more time and skill to bring back to shape

There it is. Great touch! It's hard to know what was under all that foliage in the before photo, but if you've ever tried to bring an overgrown specimen back to (or beyond) it's original beauty, you know that considerable skill and vision is required

*Here’s your link to our first post featuring Todd’s bonsai

A lot of age and character packed into such a small pot. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is. Perhaps and Ilex of some sort?

Continuing with our unknown artist’s tiny trees from the other day  and our love affair with small bonsai. A love affair that grows as we age (sooner or later old backs and heavy bonsai must part ways). There are no varieties listed, but some are easy. Others, not so much. Here’s your fb link for our source.

The berries look like Pyracantha and so do the leaves

Japanese maple of course. The leaves are big for such a small tree, but it works anyway. Nice pot too

This one has a heavy trunk for such a small tree, with bark that lends a feeling of age

I'll guess boxwood on this one

Here's your fb link to our source of the photos show here. And here's a link to their website. I can't provide the name of the site because I can't read it, nor will this program accommodate the name in the text provided (on fb). However, we have this logo just above and this email address info@kawaguchibonsaimura.com which does contain a name or two