37th ANNUAL MID-AMERICA BONSAI EXHIBIT Photos

Hey All,
Here's a the two first prize trees from the Exhibit. Go to the blog to see all the trees: midwestbonsaisociety.wordpress.com

I enjoyed the show too.
The Japanese Maple that won Best in Show Amateur was impressive. The bark and leaf looks like variety 'Arakawa', though it was only labeled Acer palmatum, with no variety listed. Very nice mature bark. The tree was exhibited by Matt Berenberger, congratulations.

Dready,
Not trying to hijack your thread, just trying to generate some discussion. Hope you don't mind.
Your pictures on the Midwest Bonsai Society Blog are great, thank you.
http://midwestbonsaisociety.wordpress.com/

The show will be up through Sunday, so for those of you that are able to get to the Chicago Botanic Garden, there is one day left of the show. It is worth seeing.

I did see, live and in person, for the first time in my experience a bonsai using Pinus virginiana, which really looked pretty good. I do not know the history of the tree, so I don't know how long it was in training, but I would guess 5 or 10 years, and it looked good. It had nice bark forming on the trunk and branches. The tree was likely over 20 years old. Very comparable to Japanese black pine. Definitely is a good demonstration that Virginia pine is a good bonsai candidate. Does anyone know more about the history of this tree? Am I guessing right on age? Is it from nursery stock, or a yamadori?

Hey Leo,
Feel free to hijack away. I was in a bit of a rush when I put up this thread. Yes, the Japanese maple was very nice. When I took my photos they had not yet put out ribbons and such. I also really like the pinus virginiana which was very nicely done. I don't know more info about it though. As always it was a very nice show.

Todd

The forum is a bit on the sleepy side this week, no comments. I suspect everyone is busy with end of summer chores, vacations and back to school stuff. Being retired is nice.

Another species at the show you don't see used much was Bristlecone pine. Pinus aristata. It was exhibited by Dick Ruemmele, I don't know the history of the tree, it has mature bark forming on the trunk, so it could be collected, or it could be fairly old nursery material. Dick, if you are a member of the forum, could you let us know a little about the tree?

I like seeing native species being used.

Another aspect of the show I enjoyed was the accent plants. The quality of accents seems to have improved over the last 5 or so years. There were a few really nice accents. My favorites were the bamboo.

Plieoblastus viridi-striata frma chrysophylla - shown by Mike from Indianapolis - I couldn't read my notes for his full name.



Exhibited by Mark Fields, Plieoblastus species - possibly pygmaea, the pot is fabulous, I think made by a north American potter.





and there was an interesting crown of thorns for a flowering accent. The pot was about 2 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall. Quite small for this type of Euphorbia.



and a bamboo by Steve Jetzer - I think it is Plieoblastus variegata though it could be a nicely reduced Sasaella masamuniana albovariegata. Telling one bamboo from another is a bit tricky.

it was another great show, though i wish i would have had a bit more time there...
next year i will just take the whole day off...

leo - you must have some pull to have come up with all those exhibitors names, as i didnt see them displayed...
hope they dont mind the liberty being taken...   

beer city snake wrote:it was another great show, though i wish i would have had a bit more time there...
next year i will just take the whole day off...

leo - you must have some pull to have come up with all those exhibitors names, as i didnt see them displayed...
hope they dont mind the liberty being taken...   

My notes were simply photographing the exhibition tags. Judging was finished Friday morning. On Friday, when you were there the tags were set so the exhibitor's name didn't show. On Saturday, the other half of the tag was placed forward, and it includes the exhibitor's name, exhibition category, and where they hail from, no "pull" required. I did go back to the show on Saturday, because I really wanted to take some time and study the trees that were exhibited. Friday was for shopping, Saturday was for photos. On Friday, I spent $200 more than I had planned to, and for the first time in 10 or 15 years did not buy a Sara Rayner pot, only because I ran out of money. Every year, I buy at least one of her pots, sometimes a big one, often a small one for kusamono or shohin. I have a nice collection of her pots now.

Next year, you should plan at least 2 hours to just look at the trees. They are worth the study. If I see a tree I like, I try to figure out what techniques they used. If I see a tree I don't like, I try to spend a little time figuring out why, so I don't make that mistake myself. (so far, that part hasn't worked as well as I would have thought, my own trees show a lot of mistakes). Also, if you hang out, beyond just shopping, you can often chat with the exhibitors, as they are usually hanging out too. I've learned all kinds of things that way.

@ Dready - what is the acceptable courtesy, should I mention the names of the exhibitors, or should I leave it anonymous? My thought was to give credit to the artist, but I know some are concerned about privacy, though the names are on public display with the trees (on Saturday and Sunday anyway).

As the names are displayed after judging I see no problem mentioning them here.

I was just bustin' yer chops leo   

and yeah, next year more time...

i wish i could afford a raynor...
but for the price of 1 raynor, i got 3 dasu that i am super stoked on !!!

and i still somehow ended up spending about 200 less than i had planned to