Bonsai tree

Strange as this magnificent old tree is, it all works together to with a perfect blend of eccentricity and balance. But the nebari? That takes some getting use to. (This photo and the others in this post are from Peter Tea Bonsai.)

A good place to start resurrecting

Way back in 2009 and early 2010 we ran a series of posts that we called Eccentric Bonsai (here’s the last one). Maybe it’s time to resurrect the series. If so, this absolutely unique Trident maple seems like a good place to start.

Borrowing from Peter…

As you may have noticed, we’ve featured several posts from Peter Tea’s blog lately (Peter is an apprentice at Mr. Junichiro Tanaka’s Aichi-en bonsai nursery). Peter takes good photos, writes with a fresh perspective, and knows something about bonsai. To an old editor and bonsai enthusiasts, that’s an unbeatable combination.

Here’s that nebari, and here’s what Peter has to say about it: “A close up of the root spread.  Even the root spread of this tree is strange.  Answer me this, would a more natural radial root base go well with the rest of the tree? or vise versa?  My first impression of this root base was, “what is this?”  When I looked at the overall tree again this root spread turned out to be so right for this tree (there is an important lesson to learn here).  If you don’t believe me, look at the picture of the front of the tree again.  ;o).”




A profusion of very small, very colorful fall leaves almost completely cover the tree’s eccentric nature.

Source: Bonsai Bark