Hi Leigh,
Thank you for the pictures
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Hi Antonia and Jon,
94 is not a Jackaranda. It is "tamarindus indica", it belongs to the family "caesalpiniaceae".
Its everyday name is "tamarind".
Its leaves look very much alike Jackaranda, but it is smaller and softer. And... edible, very
sour though.
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From my understanding, there exists two different types on tree-styling practices
in Vietnam: in the North, they do big trees like we have seen. From the historical
texts that I have been able to access, this practice dates back centuries ago.
In Vietnam, they do have native tropical pine(s?), but the last Nguyen dynasty actually
passed laws to prohibit commoners to style pines, only high-ranking officials of the
court were allow to grow pines. As a result, the people turned to mostly ficuses and
other species. Most of the Nguyen kings were said to have low intelligence.
In the South, the artists there tend to follow the bonsai conventions of Japan. One
of a successful company is Thanh Tam Bonsai. They have a few photos here:
http://www.thanhtambonsai.com/en/products.php?cid=3
I think some of the Wrightia religiosa they have there are of good quality.
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The Communist government over there has only come out of the stone-age recently.
Copied the Chinese Cultural Revolution, they once classified art-practice such as
tree-styling, composing musics for one's own liking are corrupted social pratices --
they can be jailed without trial, possibly for life... Artistic creativity was prohibited!
The people over there now embrace tree styling with ferocious energies.
