Five favorite trees of all time.

[KennedyMarx]

Fourth is an itoigawa Shimpaku (I think) that Michael Hagedorn styled a couple years ago. I love the twisting trunk and deadwood. I asked him for an updated picture but he doesn't have it anymore.

 

[M. Frary]

Keep them coming. So far from what I've seen there is a wide area of what we all like. That's what I was looking for. Just find out what people like in bonsai in general. And a lot of these trees are ones that I've never seen before.

 

[KennedyMarx]

Hard to pick just five, but my last one is going to be Nick Lenz's Penelope. It reminds me of an area that time forgot and nature started reclaiming.

 

[daygan]

Wow - it's really difficult to pick just five. So many of the trees already mentioned are really great, and quite a few I had never seen before. The following are some of my favorite trees:

From Dan Robins:

Chinese Elm by pjkatich

A mountain hemlock by Will Hiltz:

For some reason or another, I can't get the image to load in the body of the post, so you can follow THIS LINK to view it.


And finally, a larch by crust

 

[crust]

Hard to pick just five, but my last one is going to be Nick Lenz's Penelope. It reminds me of an area that time forgot and nature started reclaiming.

Oh Penelope, I dream to touch your breast
To ramble over you and let my hands do rest
Across your porcelain neck so white--entwined in all your grace
And in the shade recline with you--forever in embrace

 

[MACH5]

Impossible to answer with just 5 but here are a few of mine. I chose these not only for the merits of the work itself but what these people mean to me and the community at large:

Luis Vallejo: Japanese White Beech
Walter Pall: A. Palmatum
Nobuichi Urushibata: Shimpaku
Bill Valavanis: Koto Hime
Masahiko Kimura Cryptomeria forest

 

[Vance Wood]

Impossible to answer with just 5 but here are a few of mine. I chose these not only for the merits of the work itself but what these people mean to me and the community at large:

Luis Vallejo: Japanese White Beech
Walter Pall: A. Palmatum
Nobuichi Urushibata: Shimpaku
Bill Valavanis: Koto Hime
Masahiko Kimura Cryptomeria forest

The Cryptomeria is a truly remarkable bonsai, the material and the planting are knock your socks off beautiful.

 

[Milly]

Two of my favorites have already been shown here, namely the Hinoki Cypress by Dan Robinson and Masahiko Kimura's Cryptomeria forest.
Then, in no particular order, there is Will Bladderley's English Elm,Dan Robinson's Hornbeam and Bill Valavanis' Five needle Pine.

 

[Eric Group]

Impossible to answer with just 5 but here are a few of mine. I chose these not only for the merits of the work itself but what these people mean to me and the community at large:

Luis Vallejo: Japanese White Beech
Walter Pall: A. Palmatum
Nobuichi Urushibata: Shimpaku
Bill Valavanis: Koto Hime
Masahiko Kimura Cryptomeria forest

All gorgeous trees! Funny, that is the second time the Walter Pall maple made an appearance!

 

[Nybonsai12]

I thought I had favorites. Then i saw all of the ones posted here. great trees all. keep em coming.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Some of my favorites lately. Sorry, I don't know who are the artists of the JBPs.

Japanese Black Pine Kokufu Prize 2013: I like the elegance and power of the pine.
Japanese Black Pine Kokufu Prize 2012: I like the large dropping branch very much. It's something that I like and see often in some mature pines. In fact there's a Taeda pine near my home with branches like that.
Bill Valavanis- Deshojo: The unique and natural shape attacts me.
Cheng Cheng Kung- Taiwanese Juniper: Amazing what beautiful deadwood could be created. Makes me want to grow some juniper in the ground.
Lo Min Hsuan- Hackberry: I have a thing for this ancient looking hackberry. The warty bark and well ramified branches.

 

[mcpesq817]

Currently, subject to change, and in no particular order:
Mike Hagedorn's RMJ
clump-style arakawa maple from last year's Taiken-ten
Twin trunk Chinese Quince from last year's Taiken-ten
2 shimpakus from the Shinpuku-ji Temple

That clump arakawa makes my top 5 list also. Amazing tree.

 

[johng]

Masahiko Kimura Cryptomeria forest

I've seen this one in person...its not cryptomeria... It is some type of chamaecyparius...possibly dwarf hinoki. On my first look I almost thought it was shimpaku...but definitely not.

 

[bdwarner]

Great thread, lots of wonderful trees to gawk at. I'm a sucker for flowering specimens which will likely show through in my choices..

1- My favorite tree of all time, a very famous Chojubai. Sprawling, lush, fertile, and yet it has such age. This tree takes me away to a different setting, which I think great bonsai should. It reminds me of a setting taken from the movie 'Fern Gulley'. This tree in my eyes is perfect and as it grows and changes the dynamics will only improve IMO. Its bewildering to try and wrap my head around the many decades of training this tree has probably endured.

2- Another Chojubai. I like the strong trunk and amazing ramification. It reminds me of the old gnarled fruit trees around where I grew up. My friend had a seemingly ancient wild cherry in his yard that instantly comes to mind when I look at this. Again, very healthy and elegantly lush.

3- This I believe is a forest planting of some type of Ficus. I stumbled on this photo floating around on the internet and from what I understand these plantings are located somewhere in Thailand. Perhaps a 32 hand bonsai? I love the sheer size and could imagine standing in front of this and instantly being taken away on a journey through a dense tropical rain forest.

4- A flowering Crabapple. Malus Zumi. Wonderfully gnarled and weathered trunk that tells a wicked tale of survival, absolutely love it. I do not know who trained it, I believe its Japanese. Living in the north I cant help but love deciduous trees and all the seasonal shows they display.

5- A Prunus Ume. Again, a delightfully aged trunk and beautiful branching. I really like the proportions of the small pot to the larger tree. It has obviously seen many more years than I have. It would be a privilege to see this tree and its year round show and the changes it displays throughout the seasons. I also do not know who trained this tree.

 

[Poink88]

Four is a Robert Steven designed windswept landscape. .... Seeing this one and some of his others really blew my mind. I haven't seen windswept done very well except by another guy from Indonesia (Jun on IBC).

FYI, Jun is from the Philippines.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Darlene, I think that the bunjin you posted is a pemphis acidula.
bdwarner, I'm pretty sure that tropical forest is from Vietnam.

I've stumbled on both in the blog that I linked. I can't remember which post that bunjin can be found on though.

 

[wireme]

Two of my all time favorites are in one of my first owned bonsai books that I no longer have. A book written by Colin Lewis. One was a maple the caption something like "one of the finest trees to ever leave Japan." The other a cypress I think, caption "over 100 years old by now the trunk is completely hollow." Does anyone have those pics? I'd love to see them again.

My other favourites a scotch pine of W.P. that is the closest of any I've seen to capturing the feel of the large old growth pondys in the valley where I live. Also a couple of Walters spruce, I'm not sure if its cool to pull images from his gallery so no pics.

 

[KennedyMarx]

FYI, Jun is from the Philippines.

Thanks, Dario. I realized that after I posted. I went to look at a few of his threads again on IBC. He's an incredible artist. There's a recent thread he posted about the Philippine National 2014 exhibit if you haven't seen it yet (http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t16150-philippine-national-exhibition-2014).

 

[M. Frary]

Yeah. Jun has some killer trees.

 

[Dav4]

This one, by Sinji Suzuki, has always been a favorite of mine.

Then, pretty much any tree of Walter Pall