Piece 8: Brian Van Fleet

 

Hawthorn, Brian Van Fleet. Hawthorn. Private Collection. Photo from Brian Van Fleet.

    This hawthorn has been in the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, which is a juried show. Hawthorns (Crataegus spp.) are fruiting trees that bloom in late spring. They are most famous for their wicked thorns. In bonsai they're most popular in Europe. Most never manage to bloom in container, so they're grown for other attributes like bark and fall color.

    Van Fleet's hawthorn is styled in an informal broom style, a style that originated in Europe and made popular by Walter Pall. The biggest difference between the two is the overall branching structure. The formal broom style looks like a planted whisk broom, hundreds of tiny branches. The informal broom looks more like a natural deciduous tree, with multiple sub-trunks and thicker branching.

    Unfortunately, the picture taken at the U.S. National is blurry, but the placement of the tree in the pot is better in that picture. Here, the centered planting highlights the symmetry of the canopy, which is a big flaw. Other than that, this tree has a very good base. The sub-trunks have good movement and the branching is very fine.

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