Forest Group "Yose-ue"
The forest style of bonsai, also known as Yose-ue in Japanese, is a popular and creative way of displaying multiple trees in a single pot. The trees are arranged to create the illusion of a natural forest, with varying distances, heights and thicknesses of the trunks. The forest style can be applied to different types of trees, such as pines, maples or satsuki, but they should be of the same species to maintain harmony. The number of trees in a forest bonsai should be odd, unless there are more than 15 trees, in which case it is not so important. The forest style bonsai captures the beauty and diversity of nature in a miniature landscape.
This Korean Hornbeam tree was acquired by the Krohn Conservatory in 2017 when it was donated by Bonsai Society member D. Brown.
It is a three-tree grouping style. The pot is hand made by Sara Rayner and is round, unglazed, brown in color and is 5 inches deep.
This Ginko Biloba bonsai was donated by Bonsai Society member John Carroll in 1996.
It is a grove-style group planting. The pot is oval, unglazed, brown in color and is 2 inches deep.
This kusamono is a sequoia “nurse log” planted in ferns from a forest floor environment. It was created and donated by Bonsai Society member Judy Fister in 2022.
This grove of weeping fig trees was created by Ben Oki at Brussels Bonsai Nursery in 1992. It was donated by Jim Hagan in 1998.
The pot for this grove style is a man-made slab (fiberglass and ferro cement). There were originally 21 trees and there are several Korean rock ferns along with some common ferns in this planting.