By Thomas J.

I thought I would pick up where I left off last month, by doing a book review on The Best Bonsai in Europe #4. This is a hard copy edition with nothing but pictures of some of the best bonsai in Europe, and certainly in the world also. This book rivals the famous Kokufu and Taikanten books, but with a price tag that makes it affordable for almost any bonsai enthusiast.

The picture quality is supreme. By that I mean each picture seems to reach out and grab the viewer in an almost fluorescent manner.

Let me show you a few examples of some of the quality of the trees used in this picture book. Take for example these two pictures of the same species of tree known as Chamaecyparis obtusa found on pages 16 and 53.

In my opinion these two pictures show the epotime of a miniature tree.

Notice the root flare on the one, and the huge branch spread and trunk, all in proportion with each other, on the second one. Sort of takes your breath away doesn't it?

On page 22 you'll see a picture of a Pinus Sylvestris matched up with the perfect pot to compliment it. But what I would also like to point out is the jin protruding out from the left side. To me this is the perfect highlight to the whole tree, as it counter balances the tree perfectly from its rightward leaning position.

Page 32 shows what appears to be a classic picture of the chinese penjing style of bonsai. Now whether the artist is calling it that style, I'm not sure, but it has the classic look of the clip and grow method which is highly taught in chinese penjing, and of course the very radical movement of the twisted trunk also.

And how's this for a forest in miniature. It almost makes you want to go out and start work on your own forest. Again the perfect pot was used for this bonsai. Since a slab was not used, the artist knew that a very shallow pot would be the perfect choice for this bonsai.

And finally, the last few pages are filled with many thumbnail sized pictures of bonsai, some shohin bonsai, and even some great pictures of suiseki. A great finale to a great bonsai picture book.

Something else to make note of, is that each page has the artists name and country beside each picture, and in most cases, the origin of the pot also.

Dallas Bonsai Gardens now carries this wonderful bonsai picture book in volumes 1 thru 4.

Here is the link: http://www.dallasbonsai.com/store/bonsai_books_english.html

Thanks to Bonsai Europe - The Netherlands for giving us expesssed permission to use the above images to illustrate this Book Review.