2020 Tree of the Year Contest

 20200216163726 casuarina equisetifolia

Casuarina equisetifolia

Common Name: Cemara udang

Budi Sulistyo | Indonesia

Designed by Budi Sulistyo

Style: Twin Trunk
Height: 91 cm
Container: A rectangular - ceramic - Chinese pot
About: The tree was collected from the wild in Madura, East Java, Indonesia in 1985. Since then it was put in a pot and trained into a bonsai. Time, rain and sun has rotten all the woods in the trunks. It created the look of an ancient old tree of several hundred years old.

 

 carlos morales tree1

Wrightia religiosa

Common Name: Water jasmine

Carlos Morales | Puerto Rico

Designed by Carlos Morales

Style: Tropical
Height: 12cm
Container: Hattori pot Navy blue very shallow
About: Love this little guy. Never thought that Wrightia religiosa regular variety, can be so compact. The leaf have a very small size too. Have been grow by cutting for more than 10 years. Always have been in a very shallow pot. Hope you all can enjoy it!
 

 20191010131945 carpinus orientalis forest

Hornbeam

Carpinus Orientalis

Danilo Scursatone | Italy

Designed by Danilo Scursatone

Style: Forest
Height: 80 cm
Container: Sandstone slab

About the tree: Featured article in Q4-2014 Bonsai & Stone Appreciation magazine.

 

 ed trout

Lantana camara

Ed Trout | USA

Designed by Ed Trout

Style: Cascade
Height: 92 cm
Container: Chinese
About: This tree was collected along a horse pasture fence line in 1984. It was displayed at the 1992 World Bonsai Convention in Orlando. It flowers like clockwork every 21 days.

 

 mangf

Buttonwood

Conocarpus erectus

Enrique Castano | Mexico

Designed by Enrique Castano

Style: Driftwood
Height: 89cm
Container: Korean Pot

About the tree: The buttonwood, was collected by Enrique in 2009, in 2015 it was finally put into a bonsai container to start the development as a bonsai. This tree has seen many hurricanes over the years and has a an interesting movement that divides the tree in two sections.

 

 Enrique Castano Bucida Spinosa

Dwarf Black Olive

Bucida spinosa

Enrique Castano | Mexico

Designed by Enrique Castano

Style: informal Upright
Height: 85cm
Container: Mexican Pot

About the tree: The bucida was collected in 2008 by Enrique and has been slowly developed to reduce the rootmass and allow the health of the tree to be ready for bonsai refiment. Currently, the tree has a natural spiral and a very dramatic movement that only nature can create.

 

 herden pedrajas 2015 tamarind

Tamarindus indica

Tamarindus indica

Herden Pedrajas | Philippines

Designed by Herden Pedrajas

Style: Informal Upright  (Moyogi)
Height: 65 cm
Container: Japanese pot given as a gift by my godfather Vic Ceballos

 

 james low jade

Crassus Ovata

Common Name: Jade/ Money Plant

James Low | Australia

Designed by James Low

Style: Informal Upgright
Height: 110 cm
Container: Mica pot
About: Grown from garden plant 30 years old
 

 Jose O Rivera Ficus tigerbark

Ficus tigerbark

Ficus microcarpa var tigerbark

Jose O Rivera | Puerto Rico

Designed by Jose O Rivera

Style: Formal Upright
Height: 73 cm
Container: Chinese

About the tree: This ficus was worked for the first time at the BCI98 convention in Puerto Rico. He has currently gone through several changes in the process during these 21 years of training

   

 

 marco tarozzo

Cupressus sempervirens

Common Name: Cipresso

Marco Tarozzo | Italy

Designed by Marco Tarozzo

Style: Bunjim
Height: 88 cm
Container: created by Mr. Watanabe Akira

 marco t phoenichea 1 step

Juniperus Phoenicea

Common Name: Ginepro Fenicio

Marco Tarozzo | Italy

Designed by Marco Tarozzo

Style: Han Kengai
Height: 75 cm
Container: Created in Italy by a contemporary artist Tiberio Gracco
About: The tree has been in the pot for about 17 years. In 2008 he was presented at the BCI in Saint Vincent in France. Immediately afterwards it became part of my collection. Over the years I have modified it until it becomes as seen in the photo.

 marcos tarozzo-tree of the year entry

Juniperus Phoenicea

Common Name: Ginepro Fenicio

Marco Tarozzo | Italy

Designed by Marco Tarozzo

Style: Han Kengai
Height: 75 cm
Container: Created in Italy by  contemporary artist Tiberio Gracco
 

 Peter Hanrahan  Eucalyptus Nicholii Bonsai

Eucalyptus Nicholii

Narrow leaf peppermint gum

Peter Hanrahan | Australia

Designed by Peter Hanrahan

Style: Natural Eucalyptus
Height: 900cm
Container: By Australian potter Pat Kennedy

 rhett hook entry

Melaleuca Styphelioides

Common Name: Prickly leaf paperbark

Rhett Hook | Australia

Designed by Rhett Hook

Style: Weeping
Height: 72 cm
Container: Chinese Pot
About: Developed from a nursery plant for the last 18 years, the tree has endured periods of neglect and restyling and has recovered well, a testament to the toughness of this Australia native species.
During autumn some of the native paperbark trees provide an interesting view of twisted whiteish branches weeping down within the reduced green foliage .
This bonsai is being styled to reflect this view, requiring foliage be left on the tree and exposing twisted weeping branches.
The tree has won awards at club shows over the last 7 years and was awarded a BCI medal in November 2019.
This tree has leaves that have reduced in size down to 6mm long which can be finger pinched out easily when new.

 20191017212044 snipes jwp

Japanese White Pine

Pinus parviflora 'Miyajima'

Roger Snipes | USA

Designed by Roger Snipes

Style: Informal Upright
Height: 68 cm
Container: Modern Chinese

 1 seb v img 2059

MIRTUS COMMUNIS

Mirto

Sebastiano Villante | Italy, Sicily

Designed by Sebastiano Villante

Style: Prostato
Height: 68cm
Container: Japan Tokoname

 

 

 20191109192831 fb img 1573118504109

Olea oleaster

Olea

Sebastiano Villante | Italy, Sicily

Designed by Sebastiano Villante

Style: Inclinato
Height: 82cm
Container: Cina

 

 

 2 20191229080858 olivo gio

Olea oleaster

Olivastro

Sebastiano Villante | Italy, Sicily

Designed by Giovanni Mugnas

Style: Kengai
Height: 60cm
Container: Japan tokoname

 

 

 20191008184510 mmm

Rosemary

Rosmarinus Officinalis

Sebastiano Villante | Italy, Sicily

Designed by Sebastiano Villante

Style: Shakan
Height: 70cm
Container: Tokoname Japan

 Susan Lee Pemphis Acidula Tree of the Year Contest 2020

Bantigue Tree

Pemphis Acidula | Bantigue

Susan Lee | Philippines

Designed by Bernabe Millares

Style: informal Upright
Height: 100 cm
Container: Zisha Pot made by Master Gong Lin Min

About the tree: This tree is designed and maintained by Master Bernabe Millares, who is one of the Five Outstanding Bonsai Artists of the Philippines 2017. The materials was found in Fuga Island, an island North of Luzon in the Philippines and it has been trained in the pot for 11 years. It has won several awards on different exhibitions and recently won the ASPAC bonsai award at the Asian Bonsai and Suiseki Summit 2019 held in the Philippines.

   

 

 susan lee bantigue 5

Bantigue Tree

Pemphis Acidula | Bantigue

Susan Lee | Philippines

Designed by Bernabe Millares

Style: informal Upright
Height: 90 cm
Container: Made by Master Gong Lin Min

 

 tobie k tree 8 juniperus virginiana

Juniperus Virginiana

Pencil Juniper

Tobie Kleynhans | South Africa

Designed by Tobie Kleynhans

Style: Forest planting
Height: 1010 cm
Container: Container imported from China

tony bebb bougie cropped 

Bougainvillea glabra

Common Name: Bougainvillea

Tony Bebb | Australia

Designed by Tony Bebb

Style: Semi Cascade
Height: 40 cm
Container: Japanese unglazed earthenware
About: This tree is 40cm from base of pot and is now 100 years old. Collected in 1984 by a friend from the gardens of an old farm house built in 1920. An historical photo of the house taken in 1925 shows a number of very well established Bougainvllea in the gardens around the house.
The house is now gone, but there are still bougainvillea planted in a rectangle at the site.
It has been under development as a Bonsai by me since 1987. In 2016 all branches were removed as the tree had become too large and had lost its powerful trunk proportion. Always many years to go.
 

 vaclav pinus uncinata řidítka

Pinus uncinata

Common Name: Mountain Pine

Václav Novák | Czechia

Designed by Vaclav Novak

Style: Ikadabuki
Height: 85 cm
Container: Chinese
About:

This  Pinus uncinata, I collected myself in my country Czech republic. Pinus uncinata grow in peat bog in moutains 800 meters above sea level. It was in1998. In 2004 I shaped Pinus during my bonsai club exhibition. 2007 I planted to final pot from China.I exhibited this tree at all major exhibitions over Europe. 

 

 20200430052648 ficus nerifolia4a

Ficus Nerifolia

Common Name: Willow Leaf fig

Vincent Manzano Ferrer | Philippines

Designed by Vincent Manzano Ferrer

Style: Windswept
Height: 90 cm
Container: The container is a handmade concrete pot, painted brown.Size 150cm length and 90cm width
About: This tree is collected from a garden nursery in 2008. Each planted and styled individually. We styled this specifically for this contest!
 

 pomemgrate

Zoe Nady | Double Flowering Pomegranate

Punica granatum

Zoe Nady  | USA

Designed by Zoe Nady

Style: Formal Upright
Height: 13 in
Container: Chinese

About the tree: This tree started its bonsai transformation in 1999 as a two gallon nursery offering, approximate age 10 years.  I bought it at Teas Nursery in Houston, Texas.  (John Teas, owner of said nursery, famously ( or infamously) had introduced the Chinese Tallow tree into the United States several decades before, and much to the chagrin of the Texas Department of Agriculture, it rapidly metastasized throughout the region and was officially declared an invasive species!)  Estimated age of the pomegranate is 30 years, and it has been in training as a bonsai for the past 20 years.  Trunk caliper one inch above the soil line is 21/2", height above the soil line is 13", and  the canopy is 15" across.