Broadleaf trees include many deciduous varieties which drop their leaves and leave bare branches through part of the year. This gives the bonsai artist time to study the underlying structure of the tree and plan for its pruning and shaping. An artfully designed deciduous tree will be pleasing to the eye at any time of the year.
​Tree name: Bougainvillea ‘Rosenka’
Display height: 12” (24” long)
Cork Oak (quercus suber)
Height including pot 33"

The cork oak is grown in Europe where its bark is harvested to make corks for wine bottles and sheets of cork flooring. It is prized for bonsai because of that distinctive bark.
​Tree Name: Chinese Hackberry (celtis sinensis)
Display Height: 28"
Pot Maker: Ron Lang

Although native to the Korean peninsula and northern China, this tree has become popular for urban plantings in the United States.
​Tree Name: Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo)
Display Height: 19"
Pot Maker: Dick Ryerson
​Tree Name: Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra)
Display Height: 16"

The flamboyant bracts of the showy bougainvillea are not the flowers, but surround three simple waxy flowers. 
​Tree Name: Ficus (Ficus benjamina var. variegata)
Display Height: 25"
Pot Maker: Jim Barrett
​Tree Name: Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)
Display Height: 19"
​Tree Name: Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)
Display Height: 14"
PotMaker: Jim Barrett
​Tree Name: Silverberry (Elaeagnus)
Display Height:15"
Pot Maker: Dick Ryerson
​Tree Name: Indian Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica)
Display Height: 8”
Age: 25 years (yamadori), 2 years as a bonsai
​Tree Name: Banyan (Ficus benghalensis)

The banyan is the national tree of India with the largest tree found there having a canopy covering almost 5 acres. 

(You may need a bigger pot!)
​Tree name: Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Display height: 27”
Pot: Sara Rayner
Accent plant: Western Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
​Tree name: Sweet gum (Liquidambar orientalis)
Tree height: 38”
Age: 42 years
​Tree name: Palmer Oak (Quercus palmeri)
Tree height: 22”
Age: 136 years








​
Who dares to wake me as I nap?
​Who breaks my noon time slumber?
I've rested here beneath my shade
For years I cannot number.
​Tree name: Pomegranate (Punica granatum ‘nana’)
Tree height: 22”
Age: 40 years
​Tree name: Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
Tree height: 25 ½”
Age: 50 years
​Tree name: Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)
Tree height: 10”
Age: 36 years
​Tree name: Trident Maple over rock (Acer buergerianum)
Tree height: 29”
Age: 42 years
​Tree name: Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Chickasaw')
Tree height: 6”
Age: 10 years
​Tree name: Procumbens Nana Juniper
Tree height: 5 ½”
​Tree name: Cork Oak (Quercus suber)
Tree height: 37”
Age: 41 years
​Tree name: Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)
Tree Height: 22”
​Tree name: Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis)
Tree Height: 16”
Age: 36 years
​Tree name: Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)
Tree Height: 6”
Age: 11 years
​Tree name: Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) 
Tree Height: 9”
Age: 13 years
Tree Name: Olive
Height: 20”
Japanese Friendship Garden
​Donor: Dave Woodall

The San Diego Bonsai Club maintains a permenant display in this garden at Balboa Park.
​Tree Name: Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)
Style: Semi cascade
Tree Name: Azalea
Tree height: 16”
​Tree Name: Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)
Display Height: 24”
Age: 39 years from seedling

​A bonsai is living art, its design always evolving! In 1983, I began a journey with a 2-3 year old Chinese elm seedling.  Its open branches gave it great potential to be trained as a “broom” or "umbrella" style bonsai. In nature, Chinese elms grow in a broom style - a factor contributing to the design. Over the years, San Diego Bonsai Club members often said, “your bonsai looks like the umbrella trees in Africa”. So, I decided to create a scene that would mimic an African landscape. I changed the overall composition of my tree by moving it out of the original bonsai pot on to a large slate, adding more undulating ground around the tree for more depth and covering the ground with moss. As a final touch, I added a statuette of a giraffe drinking water. The result, a Chinese Elm, trained in umbrella style, depicting an African acacia tree that takes the viewer into the heart of Africa.
Thank you for visiting our show. If you would like to learn more, take a peek behind the curtain to see some of the techniques used to craft these trees. To return to the exhibit gates, choose the exit.