Deciduous bonsai at the Pacific Bonsai Expo

Back in March, when the submissions started coming in, Eric Schrader and I were thrilled by the quality of the deciduous bonsai.

Deciduous trees, a group of species that includes maples, elms, and hornbeams, among others, are often under-represented in bonsai exhibits, particularly on the West Coast. They are particularly great trees for fall exhibits as they can be shown with leaves in fall color, without leaves in winter silhouette, and for some species, with fruit!

For today’s post, I’ve included an assortment of highlights from the deciduous bonsai on display at the Expo. I’ve included the average scores from the judging panel.

As you’ll see, many of the scores were close. The trees were judged on a scale of 1-5 and the averages here range from 3.1 to 4.1. (The scores used for determining awards were normalized – you can learn more the judging process here).

Images courtesy Julian Tsai unless otherwise noted.

Winter hazel by Andrew Robson – winner, Best Deciduous Award sponsored by PT Bonsai
(Average score: 4.1) Photo courtesy Aki Yamakawa

Washington hawthorn by Dennis Vojtilla
(Average score: 4.1)

Japanese maple by Andrew Robson
(Average Score: 4.0)

Corkbark elm by Ryan Neil
(Average score: 3.9)

Winterberry by Andrew Robson
(Average score: 3.8)

Ginkgo
(Average score: 3.6)

Zelkova by Howard Griesler
(Average score: 3.6)

Kashima Japanese maple
(Average score: 3.5)

European beech by Jonas Dupuich
(Average score: 3.5)

Korean hornbeam by Patrice Morrow
(Average score: 3.1)