FELAB 2010 International Bonsai Congress - Mérida, México

Hello to all IBC folks! After a couple of weeks spent in Caribean area I returned to a freezing central european weather . In past days I finally managed to sort all the photos and made some reports from the International Bonsai Congress FELAB 2010 which I assisted to along with other IBC members – Rob Kempinski, Robert Stevens and Min Hsuan Lo.
The event was held during four days (25th – 26th November) in the city of Mérida, Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, by the Bonsai Club Mérida presided by the renowned bonsai artist Enrique Castaño.
As the IX. Congress of Latinoamerican Bonsai, it counted with many international bonsai masters – besides the above mentioned, Mauro Stemberger (Italy), Václav Novák (Czech Rep.), Guillermo Castaño (Mexico), Erik Wigert (USA), Hugo Zamora (Mexico) and others as guests.

First some pictures and observations regarding the exhibited trees:




The exhibition took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mérida hence the venue was very decent. Many of the trees started its bonsai journey just a few years ago as a most outstanding pieces of raw material, but inspite of tremendous growing speed of local species many of them needed time to get more maturity.
Quite problematic was also a lack of good pots – some trees could be improved considerably by planting them in propper containers.





On the other hand, the use of background with natural themes and complementary objects (sculptures, paintings) typical for mexican culture brought a very refreshing feeling to the concept of displaying bonsais.









Refering to the most common exhibited species - there were plenty of Avicenas, Bucidas, some Hematoxyliums, Bouganvileas, Ceibas and other tropical stuff whose name I could not remember

More photos from the exhibiton in the gallery on my website - http://www.bonsairoznov.cz/fotoalbum/vystavy-_-bonsai-akce/mexiko-2010---1_-cast_-vystava-kongresu-felab .

Impressive I like almost all pictures. Specially the root over rock with the dryad. Not so much the accents. And perhaps it is me and a lazy eye, but the one above that I keep looking at a blank space between tree and rock

Jonas

Pictures from demos
Friday - Erik Wigert, Hugo Zamora, Enrique Castaño

The quality of the raw material was just amazing - many demonstrators were given Bucidas o Avicenas. The czech group (Václav Novák & me), as "experts" on coniferous tree, worked on junipers which are very delicate in mexican climate.

Erik Wigert (USA) - Bucida




Hugo Zamora (Mexico) - Avicena



Enrique Castaño (Mexico) - ?


This was unbeliavable, at least for all european folks - you bring a bareroot tree, then you put it in a pot, then you stuff the pot with polystyrene because the tree does not care about a soil and then you make a complete styling...wow...something incredlibe to do with a juniper, pine...

Saturday - Mauro Stemberger, Václav Novák, me
Sorry, some before photos missing because of my very hard work during demo .

Mauro Stemberger (Italy) - Hematoxylium
This most crazy italian guy picked his demo tree right at the Enrique´s place. He focused mainly on deadwood which turned out awesome! This tree will certainly make a masterpiece in the future.




Václav Novák (Czech Republic) - Juniper


Lukáš Sirotný (Czech Republic) - Juniper


Working junipers in Mexico differs very much from what we are used to do in Europe - they consider them very delicate plants, so you are not supposed to reduce much foliage at once or style and make extense deadwood, simply work step by step. Therefore, we decided to keep more branches and make just a rough placement of pads. There were no fine wire, so we could not do this anyway .

Lukas wrote:

"This was unbeliavable, at least for all european folks - you bring a bareroot tree, then you put it in a pot, then you stuff the pot with polystyrene because the tree does not care about a soil and then you make a complete styling...wow...something incredlibe to do with a juniper, pine..."

I have never heard of this. Bucidas are particularly sensitive to root pruning. They do care

Sunday - Min Hsuan Lo, Robert Stevens, Rob Kempinski

Min Hsuan Lo (Taiwan) - Bucida
Didn´t see this demo because of our workshop, anyway, another perfect example of "Lo style".




Robert Stevens (Indonesia) - Bucida
As always, Robert was rather speaking than working , Nacho Martín from Venezuela and José Luis Frigerio from Brasil helped him with planting trees and wiring.




Rob Kempinski (USA) - Bucida
Rob worked so hard that he even forgot about the lunch break, so the result must have been amazing .



More photos from all demos in my second report here - http://www.bonsairoznov.cz/fotoalbum/vystavy-_-bonsai-akce/mexiko-2010---2_-cast_-kongres-felab---dema .

Bucidas are particularly sensitive to root pruning. They do care

Yes, as I understood, Bucidas are maybe the only exception that proves the rule - when we went collecting to the mangroves, we did care about not to damage roots a lot.
But the tree worked by Enrique was not a Bucida. Someone help to identify the species?

Lukas,

thank you. It will take a while to digest all of that !!!
Really large trees.
Khaimraj

Alot of great trees there.
When it comes to the first images of the exhibitions I felt that some of the background pictures were more distracting than favourable.
Still, seemed like a good show!

Lucas,

It seems to me that the tree you refer to is a Logwood (Haematoxylon campechianum). Although they are fairly drought tolerant, they do best in a fairly humid (not wet) soil medium. I doubt that foam or any related material, by itself and in Mexico's hellish sun will provide enough moisture for recuperation. As a tropical bonsai grower, I share your thoughts.

Anyhow, thanks for posting this very informative report.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Lukas, thanks for posting some images. I have none due to circumstances. It was a fun time.

The tree Enrique Castano worked on is a Enriquebeltriana cretinifolia (no common English name). Here is a photo of one in the exhibition.

http://www.femexbo.com/joomla4/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=93&func=view&catid=3&id=74

The tree Mauro worked on is a Logwood or Campeche as Jose mentioned.

I didn't know bonsai grew in space

(:

~NS

Lukas Sirotny wrote:Sunday - Min Hsuan Lo, Robert Stevens, Rob Kempinski
Rob Kempinski (USA) - Bucida
Rob worked so hard that he even forgot about the lunch break, so the result must have been amazing .

Thanks Lukas, the demo tree was huge so I skipped lunch in order to keep working. A man has to have priorities.

As for the end result of the demo. The tall apex did not have any flexible branches to bend so I left that thicker branch on, however explained that it should be trimmed way back once the tree has recovered from it uprooting and demo. The spindly lower left branches are left long to fatten up in a few years but should be cut short to be counterpoint branches.

I have to thank Enrique Castano for letting me work on such a massive and impressive Black Olive, Bucida spinosa.

Lukas,
Thanks for sharing pics.
That's a great trip for all of us in Mexico.
Lo

Here is the virtual design for the large Black Olive Bucida spinosa in the demo.
Recall the Black Olive makes flat pads naturally but can also make a nice tropical dome on the apex.

Thanks for your insight, Rob. Also my thanks to Enrique for all he organized for us and other bonsai people. My last report will show some pictures from his extense garden.

Some quite big trees in frontyard - many of Enrique´s trees went to the exhibition, so some stands were left unoccupied.






The biggest yamadori in Mexico - Ficus


In backyard Enrique stores and cultivates yamadori trees - many of them of an exceptional quality.

The core of the garden - fenced area with calcareous cave-like structure ground. After the rain, small lakes appear and the magic of the place is just wonderful .












Much more photos on my website - http://www.bonsairoznov.cz/fotoalbum/vystavy-_-bonsai-akce/mexiko-2010---3_-cast_-zahrada-enrique-castana

Hi All, nice to see so many pictures. I have recovered know, and of course full of work ahead. I hope to see all of you soon. cheers
Enrique

by the way all the trees from the demos did recover very well. And just from a different point of view, Bucidas can handle a lot of root prunning it is not that what kills them for most people but lack of knowing what to do after the work. Also Enriquebeltriana cretinifolia, the species I work with can handle 100% root damage, it is a great species you can cut a branch several inches thick and it can root fine. Cheers. Enrique

Unique presentation of these trees with the backgrounds.
Appreciate your showing us the show and demos.
Jerry

Thanks Jerry, I will try to post more pictures soon, its just been difficult with all the grant aplications that I need to submit. But soon