You don't see cascading Azalea bonsai all that often. This flowing full flowering favorite (sorry about that) is by Teunis Jan Klein. Speaking of Azaleas, we just received our spring shipment of Kanuma azalea bonsai soil

Monday morning so we’ll make this quick. This post is borrowed from our archives (March 8, 2017). The photos were originally from  a Bonsai Empire post titled Bonsai in Full Bloom.

Prunus mume (Japanese Apricot). Photo by Michael Bonsai

Azalea Bonsai in full bloom, by Makoto Tsuji

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Wisteria bonsai in full bloom by Heike van Gunst

This wild Mugo pine has nothing to do with our bonsai pirates theme, though it may raise some eyebrows given its break with traditional bonsai styles, particularly traditional Japanese bonsai styles. It was posted by Sandro Segneri of the Bonsai Creativo School and Academy. To reiterate, it has nothing to do with our bonsai pirates theme.

Yesterday it was digital bonsai theft, today it’s piracy. Two ways of talking about the same thing, or has the severity of the crime graduated from misdemeanor to felony (figuratively and maybe literally)?

The following was originally written in February, 2010 and reposted in 2015 (with some changes then and now)…
At least one blog has been pirating our posts for a long time. No links and no mention of Bonsai Bark or Stone Lantern. Nothing. If you are reading this on any website or blog that is not ours, and is not attributed to us, then it has been pirated. If this is the case, please visit us at Bonsai Bark. Thank you.

This powerful Mugo pine is reminiscent of the revolutionary Japanese bonsai back in the 80s and 90s. It belonged to Carlos van der Vaart when we originally posted it in February 2011. Like the one above, it was most likely collected in the mountain of Europe. Also, like the photo above it has nothing to do with our piracy theme

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Did that huge apple really grown on this small tree? Occasionally you see fruit that is glued on, but in this case I think it's the real deal.

There’s something a little shady about putting your logo on photos that don’t belong to you, though in a world with more than enough serious corruption, this practice barely registers.
Continued below…

I've seen this tree before, but can't remember where, or what it is. It's even possible that it has appeared here on Bark.

Continued from above…
I can’t read the text where I found these photos (I’m not going to link them, for obvious reasons) but you can assume that they are, in addition to being falsely represented, unattributed.

All this might beg the question… why post these trees? The answer is, I like them. Plus they provides an opportunity to bring up malfeasance on social media, a topic worth mentioning.

A sweet Japanese little maple

I've always liked quince flowers

I would recognize this little Rhododendron anywhere. It belongs to Morten Albek and appears in his Shohin Bonsai book (out of print) and on his blog.

Before and after. This impressive and very unusual European olive (Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris) was styled by Javi Campos Juan.

Continuing with Javi Campos Juan (see two posts from earlier this week)… 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 follow this standard often look unnatural. Still, there’s a lot to like about this one and beauty doesn’t always conform to our expectations.

Before

I’ve been following Javi Campos Juan and his impressive bonsai on facebook for a while now. This is our third post this week featuring Javi’s trees. We originally featured this one February of last year (with some value added today)

After. Several big changes, including some serious bending of the trunk and plenty of refinement using wire and skilled trimming. Good pot choice too


The original uncropped shot with companion

This Colorado blue spruce won the All American Award (Finest American Species in an American Container, Displayed on an American Table) at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. It belongs to Jason Eider.

Just a friendly reminder…
It’s time to make your plans. The 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition is the premier North American celebration of bonsai. The one event you don’t want to miss and it’s less than six months away. We’ll see you there!

If you would like to submit any bonsai, the deadline for entries is June 1, 2018 (or until the exhibition is filled). If you’re like most people and just want to be there, it’s not too soon to make your plans

Another Colorado blue spruce. This one won the ABS North American Bonsai Award at the 5th U.S. Exhibition. It belongs to Todd Schlafer

The following is from Bill Valavanis’ Exhibition website…
“The world bonsai community will once again be enriched by the display of bonsai gathered from across the United States at the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, September 8-9, 2018, in Rochester, NY. 

“Like Japan’s Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, people from around the world attend the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibitions to appreciate and study the diversity of the unique and distinctive species displayed by accomplished bonsai artists from across the United States.

“Towering bonsai from the Pacific Northwest, rugged bonsai from the Rocky Mountains, and tropical bonsai from the Southern swampy regions will be displayed alongside weathered bonsai from the Southwestern deserts and refined deciduous bonsai from the Northeast.”

Immigrant species are welcome. This Japanese black pine is also from the 5th U.S. National Exhibition. It belongs to John Kirby. You can find it and over 200 other distinctive bonsai in the 5th Exhibition Album. We still have some albums from the 4th Exhibition as well (1,2 & 3 are sold out, and according to Bill, there are no plans to reprint)

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No variety is given with any of the photos featured here and we won't bother to guess.

Another big snow storm is blowing in and there’s too much to do, so we’ll take a shortcut and resurrect a post from August 2016 while staying with our Javi Campos Juan theme (see yesterday).

I’ve always liked photos of hand held bonsai. The hand immediately provides a way to determine the size of a tree and it adds a personal touch, without the more intrusive photos of the proud artist posing with the tree. All the photos shown here were posted on Facebook by Javi Campos Juan.

I think the somewhat distracting shoot on the left is for sacrificial purposes. In other words, to draw energy into and hasten the development of the branch. It will be removed once its purpose is accomplished

This gnarly little tree with its gnarly little pot also shows a sacrificial shoot. 

Just wanted to see what the tree looks like without the hand

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Javi Campos Juan's caption reads Tenía falta? The translation is "Was it missing?" That didn't seem quite right so I checked with Free Translation, which came up with "What was missing?" Anyway, sweet tree (no variety given) and well chosen pot. 

I’ve been follow Javi Campos Juan for a long time, but have only featured his bonsai twice and the last time was over a year ago, so we’re overdue. The images and captions are from Javi’s  facebook timeline.

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Before. Time to rootprune and repot. BTW, those are exceptionally vigorous looking feeder roots.

After. Reddish pot, reddish new leaves and even some reddish bark

Estaba tan entretenido con estas chucherías que se me olvidó la foto de las raíces. Here's facebook's translation... "I was so entertained with these trinkets (???) that I forgot the picture of the roots." The ??? is mine.
 Mirto desde esqueje. Maceta Bigei,definitiva esta preciosa Seiko. "Myrtle from sapling. Pot, definitive this beautiful Seiko." Oh well...

Javi's caption with this and the photo below...
 PROXIMAMENTE NUEVAS MACETAS DE AUTOR!! http://kyobonsai.com/es/26-de-autor. Yamaaki,koyo,Reiho,Yamafusa...y otras especiales.
 Your turn to translate!

Raffaele Perilli's Holm oak with Green T Turntable and tools

Cork bark Chinese elm in fall brilliance at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. You don't see that many good Chinese elm bonsai. This photo and the others in this post are from the bonsai collection on the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens website.

The positive response to yesterday’s post, got me looking for Wisteria bonsai in our archives, and finally to this post on some bonsai at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from October, 2015 (the Wisteria is below). Enjoy!

This large root-over-rock bonsai is a Trident maple; the most popular non-tropical variety for root-over-rock bonsai.

Nice Crabapple. I particularly like the tree's movement and the bark. And of course the flower buds. Maybe the apex could use a little work, but still, a sweet bonsai.

Wisteria bonsai are about the flowers and this one is no exception.

Nice old Shimpaku. The crown seems a bit heavy for the trunk and could be reduced a bit, but still, who wouldn't want a tree like this in their collection?

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Here's the tree at the top, sans leaves. Not only does this photo allow you to see the fine ramification, but the gnarled old bark stands out more without the large canopy of bright leaves.

This Prunus mume variety is aptly name 'Bonita.' I took the liberty to do some radical cropping. Here's the original.

All the photos in this post are from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden bonsai collection. Here’s their website and here they are on facebook.

Pretty flashy, but it has character that will come through even after the the color fades. It's a Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) that belongs to Tobie Kleynhans.

The Happy Accident in the title is from a post we did two days ago that features bonsai by Tobie Kleynhans. Just so you don’t misunderstand, it was our discovery of Tobie’s bonsai that’s the accident, not his bonsai, which are the happy part. Tobie lives and practices bonsai in South Africa.

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Bastard olive. Tobie lists this as a False olive (Buddleja saligna). To quote Wikipedai.. Buddleja saligna, the false, or bastard olive, is almost endemic to South Africa where it has a wide distribution. It occurs most often in ravines and against outcrops, and is distributed from coastal elevations to the central plateau at elevations of < 2000 m. The species was first described and named by Willdenowin 1809. It is stricktly South Aftican.

Bougainvillea Peruviana. One of about 18 species of Bougainvillea, a native South American genus.

Another False olive (Buddleja saligna), though quite different than the one above.

I like this one. Even though it's a Juniper, it reminds me just a bit of the towering* White pines (Pinus strobus),  a dominant tree in much of the Northeastern U.S and Eastern Canada. It's a Sargent juniper (J. chinensis) - probably Shimpaku, but I can't tell for sure.
 * towering by East Coast standards