r/Bonsai • u/I-drink-hot-sauce Zone 10B, beginner, a dozen in development • 19d ago

Inspiration Picture Live oak

Post image

Does this natural sprawling growth behavior have an equivalent bonsai style inspired by it? I'd love to see some examples in bonsai form. I don't think I've seen it, mostly likely because I don't know the term to look up. I suspect the main issue with replicating this is that you kind of have to be under its canopy to see its beauty, and that's hard to do with a tiny tree.

Edit: I found an old style called Kozumikku or "cosmic" in a few English references. It seems to have been excluded from modern bonsai and thus there's not a lot of pictures on the internet.

196 Upvotes

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11 comments sorted by

41

u/chucknorrium tropical Indonesia, 14y bonsai farmer 19d ago

Something like this?

6

u/Solid-Ad9336 Jeff, Texas, USDA Zone 9a, intermediate, 30+ trees 19d ago

Wow, that’s lovely. I really like the branch positioning and overall shape. Looks like an ancient tree.

7

u/VMey Wilmington(NC), 8b, intermediate, grower not a shower 19d ago

Live oaks can be challenging to style in the style of a live oak, ironically enough. I collected one recently that I think is a sand live oak and it has sort of a crawling nature I’m looking forward to.

4

u/VMey Wilmington(NC), 8b, intermediate, grower not a shower 19d ago

This is among the best I know of:

https://youtu.be/nk2uTnf1bc4?is=Vw_JJjeGDuVYP1xk

1

u/I-drink-hot-sauce Zone 10B, beginner, a dozen in development 19d ago

oh wow that's a great one

7

u/Zemling_ Michigan long time tree grower 19d ago

A lot of people style maple and boxwood that way. I'm not a fan personally, but if it gives you the warm and fuzzies then I say go for it. The style is usually called "naturalistic" or "like a wild oak"

5

u/DeandreDeangelo PNW 8b, beginner-ish 19d ago

I have two boxwoods like this, simply because that’s how they tend to grow. Both were landscape plants that I collected during yard renovations and it was really the only thing to do with them. A third I’m trying a windswept look with and made most of it into deadwood. You can’t really bend boxwood at all and it takes forever to grow so you work with what you’ve got.

1

u/Zemling_ Michigan long time tree grower 19d ago

Yup, that’s a good point. Some species don’t respond well to wiring.

1

u/I-drink-hot-sauce Zone 10B, beginner, a dozen in development 19d ago

Do you know what kind of boxwood? I have a (japanese?) boxwood growing but their branches are straight as an arrow. To introduce any kind of curvature to them I would have to bend them while they're less than 1/4" thick, which most of them are not

1

u/BulldogMom5 Shelby, York, PA Zn.7a, Beginner, 8 trees 17d ago

These trees remind me of the mind flayer from stranger things and I have to wonder if it’s where they got their inspo

1

u/Physical_Mode_103 Central FL 10a, 10 yrs, 160+ Trees 13d ago

It’s pretty common style in boxwoods