Newish To Bonsai and wondering about alternative Bonsai styling

redsblue

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I had some questions about bonsai styling that look different than Japaneses. Such as western styling where it could blend in nicely in an office outside park area. Also, possibly other culturing styling of Bonsai.
 

BrianBay9

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rockm

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The distinctions between "Japanese" and "Western" bonsai are false. "Japanese" bonsai is used as something of an insult for intensely manicured trees, when in fact, that category (if there is one) spans some pretty "naturalistic" classic, old trees. Mostly the same for "naturalistic" vs whatever. What there is among those trees, is effective use of design techniques to produce a "believable" tree. All those styles depend on understanding and using those techniques and "rules" effectively. I used to believe that there was a true North American style of bonsai being developed back when I started bonsai in the 1990's. American material, etc. Wasn't true. I realized that what made great American or European or Indian, or Aussie bonsai was pretty much the same thing--understanding trees and how to substract and add elements intelligently to bonsai to make them look like, well, trees. Those techniques are pretty universal.

For the most part, making excuses that "it's naturalistic" or its "western" has unfortunately come to mostly mean sub-standard, unorganized, undisciplined weird-looking bonsai. "Naturalistic" is one of the hardest designs to pull off effectively. It is far from the rampantly overgrown, unpruned style that some think it is. It requires a deep understanding of "natural" elements and how to achieve them--ask Walter Pall if naturalistic is easy.

The key questions you should be asking yourself about design, is "what makes a tree a tree --to me?" Forget Japanese, western, naturalistic, etc. Why does a particular tree appeal to you? How can you emulate it EFFECTIVELY in a piece of nursery stock. That is the path that leads to bonsai, not following some script of design ideology centered on a particular place--any bonsai master in the west or in Japan would likely agree.

And BTW, the "rules" offer guideposts on how to arrive at a decent bonsai.

A Japanese Ezo spruce bonsai and a link to an American elm bonsai--flips the narrative,

 

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BrianBay9

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The distinctions between "Japanese" and "Western" bonsai are false. "Japanese" bonsai is used as something of an insult for intensely manicured trees, when in fact, that category (if there is one) spans some pretty "naturalistic" classic, old trees. Mostly the same for "naturalistic" vs whatever. What there is among those trees, is effective use of design techniques to produce a "believable" tree. All those styles depend on understanding and using those techniques and "rules" effectively. I used to believe that there was a true North American style of bonsai being developed back when I started bonsai in the 1990's. American material, etc. Wasn't true. I realized that what made great American or European or Indian, or Aussie bonsai was pretty much the same thing--understanding trees and how to substract and add elements intelligently to bonsai to make them look like, well, trees. Those techniques are pretty universal.

For the most part, making excuses that "it's naturalistic" or its "western" has unfortunately come to mostly mean sub-standard, unorganized, undisciplined weird-looking bonsai. "Naturalistic" is one of the hardest designs to pull off effectively. It is far from the rampantly overgrown, unpruned style that some think it is. It requires a deep understanding of "natural" elements and how to achieve them--ask Walter Pall if naturalistic is easy.

The key questions you should be asking yourself about design, is "what makes a tree a tree --to me?" Forget Japanese, western, naturalistic, etc. Why does a particular tree appeal to you? How can you emulate it EFFECTIVELY in a piece of nursery stock. That is the path that leads to bonsai, not following some script of design ideology centered on a particular place--any bonsai master in the west or in Japan would likely agree.

And BTW, the "rules" offer guideposts on how to arrive at a decent bonsai.

A Japanese Ezo spruce bonsai and a link to an American elm bonsai--flips the narrative,


Thanks for the link. That's a great tree.
 

pandacular

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Perhaps the most prominent alternative to bonsai is penjing. You may want to explore that and see if it resonates more with you.

A neighbor of mine practices a very non-standard form of tree cultivation that is something of a freestyle bonsai (as she calls it, but her focus on building scenes with figurines and scale landscapes to me makes it more in line with penjing). She does not wiring or shaping of her trees, just clips them occasionally and let's them grow. All of her trees are from cuttings. She has found an alternative by approaching her collection without really any of the tradition of bonsai.

Another way you could style your trees alternatively is to just use species that no one else uses. Of course, there's reasons why certain species are common and other uncommon, but surely there's some underutilized species that can make great bonsai.
 
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