Thanks to friends who were able to attend, here are a few shots of the display.
Loaded up in the van in TN…
A few photos of my US National Bonsai Exhibition display
Author: Brian VF
I have been studying bonsai since 1994, in an ever-increasing obsessive fashion. In our last 5 years prior to moving from Iowa to Alabama pursuing a career in the foodservice industry, my bonsai collection was limited to a few varieties that could survive brutal winters outside, or winters under dim light in the dank basement of our humble duplex...my wife puts up with a lot. Including the trailer hitch I put on our brown 1983 Chrysler New Yorker to pull a U-Haul full of trees to Nashville for a 3-month stop along the career path that led us to Alabama. 12 years later, we no longer have the New Yorker; and not a single one of those trees remain on my bench, having given the last holdout to a new club member this summer. I prefer collecting native trees and buying the classical species used in Japan, feeding organic, and reading everything I can get my hands on.
Shohin Crabapple
For the first time since it’s been in a bonsai pot, this shohin crabapple, Malus sargentii has set a couple fruits. Very exciting, and thought I’d better get a few photos while they’re still on the tree. It’s been a nearly 5-year wait, and the red fruits look really nice against the blue glaze drop on the Roy Minarai pot.
I will be taking a few weeks away from posting, but plan to get back to it in late September.
Wish me luck…
I candle-cut this pine on 7/1 hoping it would finish the new flush of growth in time for the September show. With 50 days behind and 20 days ahead, it’s going to be close. Typically it takes 100 days for JBP to grow and harden off a second flush after candle cutting. I’m banking on short needles, and not completely hardened off by show time.
Here is a shot from earlier this month:
And a close up from today:
It’s gonna have to hurry. We have had blazing heat in July, followed by cloudy days and intense rain in August, which hasn’t helped. Had it been the other way around, it may be different. I moved the tree to the sunniest place I have, and loaded up the soil with fertilizer.
I’ll know in a couple weeks if I blew the timing or not. Once the candles start showing needles, photosynthesis picks up, and growth accelerates. But, wish me luck.
