Ok, I've got a question. Is there a proper name (and I know there will
be disagreement on this) for trees in a more naturalistic style, such as
those championed by Walter Pall and others? Is "naturalistic" an
appropriate category? I'll step back and let the fur fly.

Thanks.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a

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Ok, I've got a question. Is there a proper name (and I know
there will
be disagreement on this) for trees in a more naturalistic
style, such as
those championed by Walter Pall and others? Is "naturalistic"
an
appropriate category? I'll step back and let the fur fly.

Well, it's what Walter calls it in his writings about the style,
so that should be definitive. But I don't know why the
discussion needs to get furry.

The "istic" is, of course, unnecessary. The suffix, of quite
recent origin, is beloved by bureaucrats, and means "almost like"
whatever it is appended to -- which, I suppose, is fairly
appropriate when used here.

"Natural style" is (IMHO) more appropriate. The word "style" is
sufficient to indicate that what one is attempting is not a
carbon copy of whatever "natural" is for that tree.

It is, a heckuva lot more definitive (in the sense of defining
what the style resembles) than some of the existing terms, such
as "broom" style, which to me should more readily be called
"cauliflower style."

HOWEVER (there's always one of these, isn't there?), a
"naturalistic" tree can be shaped in almost any of the more
traditional styles; there could well be a slanting tree that is
also "naturalistic," or an informal upright. Some shapes --
informal upright and windswept come to mind -- are naturally
naturalistic g in many of their permutations. Others, formal
upright Cryptomeria come to mind soonest, but most formal upright
can qualify, are nearly "anti-naturalistic" as are most of the
densely impenetrable, triangle-shaped, "cookie-cutter" Japanese
maples that proliferate on bonsai shelves.

So, to bring this blather to a close, I'd use "naturalistic" (or
natural) as a modifier of the modifier -- as in a natural-style
windswept tree.

There are those, of course, for whom the natural style only means
carelessly groomed.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Cowing"
Ok, I've got a question. Is there a proper name (and I know there will
be disagreement on this) for trees in a more naturalistic style, such as
those championed by Walter Pall and others? Is "naturalistic" an
appropriate category? I'll step back and let the fur fly.
Thanks.
Craig Cowing
--------------------

Well, if you're going to follow the distinctions made by Walter, you'll have
to distinguish between style and form. The trees may have an upright form
or a cascading form or a twin-trunk form, but it can still be naturalistic
style (or not).

Back when the Japanese most commonly followed this styling, there was no
name for it, it was just the natural way the tree grew. To an extent, at
this time bonsai were just trees planted in pots. Now Walter has championed
the resurgence of this kind of styling (or lack of it ;-)))) and has given
it the label, naturalistic style. I would have to say that since he is the
only one to label it, "naturalistic style" would have to be the proper name.
BTW, have you read his treatise on Styles and Forms?

FWIW

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

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Craig Cowing wrote:
Ok, I've got a question. Is there a proper name (and I know there will
be disagreement on this) for trees in a more naturalistic style, such as
those championed by Walter Pall and others? Is "naturalistic" an
appropriate category? I'll step back and let the fur fly.

`Naturalistic' is a good name for the style... if you're wanting a
name for the form, i.e. an analogue to `formal upright' and the rest, many
of these trees are `informal brooms' (another one I think was coined by
Walter Pall), though of course naturalistic trees could be of other forms
as well, depending on the tendencies of the tree--though here in southern
Indiana, almost all of the native trees are informal brooms.

Patrick Alexander