The Art of Bonsai Project

This thread is for the "Bonsai Olympics" Deciduous entries received to date.

Notice:

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Andrew (Andy) Buettner, Costa Rica
Olivo (Ligustrum vulgare)
Height: 16.5 in, 41.9 cm
Pot: Chinese
Categories: Deciduous

Judge Dan Barton scored 5
Judge Nick Lenz scored 9
Judge Michael Persiano scored 6
Total score 20
Total average score 6.66

Judge Comments:
DB - "Well structured but foliage still needs developing • Good nebari • over-fussy pot"
NL - "This olive has a most engaging and pleasing Gestalt, inviting you upward from powerful root buttresses to a graceful and always apparent branch articulation. The more I encounter this photograph, the more I like the composition. As stalwart as the bonsai is, it nonetheless displays motion with a compelling story."
MP - "Unusual. The small back branch that juts upward should be removed."

William N. Valavanis, USA
Seigen Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Seigen')
Height: 23 in, 58 cm
Pot: Chinese
Categories: Deciduous


Judge Dan Barton scored 9
Judge Nick Lenz scored 7
Judge Michael Persiano scored 7
Total score 23
Total average score 7.66

Judge Comments:
DB - "Beautiful maple with excellent nebari • pot shape and colour very well matched for tree • well displayed"
NL - "Yay, a bushy maple with gorgeous surface roots. The lower right hand branch bothers my sensibilities but can not be pinned down for want of three dimensions. The pot is decidedly too small and shiny – it looks as if the girl refused to give up her second grade princess slipper when she hit puberty."
MP - "This is a work in progress, and I am expecting great things in the years ahead for this tree."

Pedro J. Morales, Puerto Rico
Cafeillo (?)
Height: 20 in, 50.080
Pot: Chinese
Categories: Deciduous

Judge Dan Barton scored 2
Judge Nick Lenz scored 5
Judge Michael Persiano scored 1
Total score 8
Total average score 2.66

Judge Comments:
DB - "Weak trunk taper • wrong choice of pot (should be shallower and probably oval in shape) • fairish nebari • nice bamboo stand"
NL - "This tree demonstrates that a bonsai need not be a 300-year-old Sumo wrestler to have appeal. It is elegant in its simplicity. I like the spread of the white basal root into the same colored container."
MP -

Walter Pall, Germany
Trident Maple (Acer burgerianum)
Height: 20 in, 50 cm
Pot: Derek Aspinall
Categories: Deciduous

Judge Dan Barton scored 8
Judge Nick Lenz scored 9
Judge Michael Persiano scored 10
Total score 27
Total average score 9

Judge Comments:
DB - "Powerful trunk but branches disproportionately thin • excellent choice of pot • excellent nebari • nice display stand"
NL - "Hah! Godzilla at the opera. Who knows what branching pattern lurks behind the perfectly colored canopy of autumnal warmth. It is pleasing to observe some fine new roots at the periphery of the trunk. The container, while most attractive in subtlety, has become too small for the brute. I may have come across this beast at the Ghent show and commented to my students that the branch structure was Japanese perfect and mundane. Should it convey a story, it would have to be one of volcanic eruption."
MP - "Magnificent…a master piece."

Nacho Marin, Venezuela
Astromelia (Lagerstroemia indica with)
Height: 31 in, 89 cm
Pot: Chinese
Categories: Deciduous

Judge Dan Barton scored 6
Judge Nick Lenz scored 9
Judge Michael Persiano scored 3
Total score 18
Total average score 6

Judge Comments:
DB - "Interesting broom style and rich choice of pot colour which works well • clumsy nebari"
NL - "Ooh, a pretty thing born upon a solid base that slides so nicely to the edge of the perfectly colored container for aesthetic contrast. But alas, the container has become too small."
MP - "This is a nicely potted plant—the bonsai has yet to be released."