Mind Blowing Bonsai Exhibition

500 magnificient bonsai on display at the ASPAC in Taiwan. What a show - the quality, size and variety of species has really been fantastic. The show dwarfs any other bonsai show I have been to and I have been to many around the world. You have to see it to believe it - it would take days to post photos of all the trees,
Here are a couple for your enjoyment.

Semi-cascade Hackberry.


Juniper (nursery grown)



I forgot the exact species - I believe it's a desmodium sp.


A dwarf Hibisucs (the flower is a dwarf - the tree is large.) A very rare species. The variety of trees at this show in incredible. Taiwan has the good fortune fo growing many many different species.

beautiful trees and a beautiful setting love the juniper and the semi cascade.

Come on Rob.... Stop teasing!!! Show us some more.

it would take days to post photos of all the trees,

Why, have you got something better to do?

Harleyrider wrote:Why, have you got something better to do?

I believe its has 18 holes and involves a handicap of sorts.

Hi Rob Looking forward to when you finally get out of the 19th hole and post some more pix.

Tony

Heya Rob,

Do you happen to know who won the logo competition? The aspac2009.tw website seems to be down...

Regards
Emil

The cascade Hackberry is great!

COME ON ROB!!!

Patience grasshopper!

Hi Rob: It is exciting for us when these shots come up on the screen. One outdoes the other. You are right. When more of these photos are posted it will expand interest on all the websites. Bonsai is growing like crazy world-wide but especially in SE Asia. Collecting old material that grows so quickly is mind blowing. It challenges old ideas/myths. Thank you. Dustin Mann

Here are a couple more to add to the excitement. These photos were taken with my iphone. I have hunderds more photos on my camera but will not be able to post those until I get home. Most likely I'll put most on my blog.

The vast majority of the trees on display were large - much larger than you'd find at most other shows. Two-man, four-man and perhaps hydraulic crane size trees.

This tree won the Top Award, the President's Award. The President of Taiwain attended the exhibition.
A Chinese Juniper.



This Chinese Hackberry won the Vice President's award.


A Taiwanese 5 needle pine

Emil Brannstrom wrote:Heya Rob,

Do you happen to know who won the logo competition? The aspac2009.tw website seems to be down...

Regards
Emil

Sorry I do not. There was no mention of it.

These photos were taken with my iphone

Namedropper!

Seriously though, how scary is it that a relatively small island like Taiwan can produce 500 trees of such class!
The President's award winning Juniper is absolutely stunning. I want one.

Thanks for sharing these pics with us, Rob.

Now get your finger out!!!

Hi Rob, no other way to describe them the ramification on the Hackberry,s
is truly awesome,thanks for sharing.

best regards Alex e

Harleyrider wrote:

These photos were taken with my iphone

Namedropper!

The point was the iphone isn't as good as my SLR camera but I have no way to ge the photos from my camera to my laptop until I get home.

Harleyrider wrote:
Seriously though, how scary is it that a relatively small island like Taiwan can produce 500 trees of such class!
The President's award winning Juniper is absolutely stunning. I want one.

Thanks for sharing these pics with us, Rob.

You're welcome. Interestingly 500 master piece bonsai only scratches the surface of the quality of the trees in Taiwan. For example Mr. Lo, my friend, only had 2 trees on display. Not all top Taiwanese artists had trees in this show. The personal collections and nurseries have probably tens of thousands more trees available for display. I heard one gentelmen say there are 10,000 registered bonsai growers in Taiwan, still a small portion of the general population but many more times what most countries have. More importantly there is a whole industry devoted to developing bonsai material. Collecting trees from the wild is just no longer done. This industry feeds a pipeline with top notch starter material - the real key to bonsai success. The trees have been bonsai many years and Taiwan also has a long growing season, so the work they can do outpaces trees in temperate climates. This where Taiwan has all other countries beat. Most of these trees were displayed without wire or with very little wire. The level of development and expertise is top notch. .

There were 72 Japanese bonsai artists attending this show and they were duly impressed. Japan will have the next ASPAC in Takamatsu and I suspectg national rivalry will spur them to put on one heck of a show. I have to highlight my calendar.

Rob: Interesting post about bonsai industry. I am sure the bonsai nurseries don't make an "S" then sell to Walmart/Home Depot to degrade our hobby. Are they buying anything imported(because cheaper) rather than take the time to grow in ground/shade house like done in U.S.A. Many people in my club think tropicals is something put on a window sill to pass winter blues. Look forward to your blog post. Dust

Awesome event! Thanks for covering it, Rob! How about more pics..

-dorothy

This was a boxwood from the Taiwan ASPAC exhibition. It proves that patience, time and skill will make the best bonsai. Look at the nebari, bark, taper and no chop mark anywhere. No wire on the tree - a sure sign of long term refinement. What a tree!!!

An inspiration to us all. Thanks Rob.

What an inspirational tree and event can't wait till you post the rest of the pics.

Rob: Thanks. Stunning. The tree looks like Buxus Harlandi(corky bark) Amy Liang had a number of photos in her book(if that is the species). A place long gone called Indoor Bonsai of Cincy. Ohio had huge speciums imported in there greenhouse in horrible soil.(1990-1996ish) Dustin

Great show with excellent trees, thanks for sharing Bob. BTW can you post the pictures of some Ficus, it seems that Taiwan has the best Ficus bonsai in the world. Waiting to see more pictures when you get home.

Xuan

Very nice! They sure have the science of nebari down to the very best. The pots, well that is another story. Branch on inside of curve doesn't bother me at all.

Ciao.......Leonardo

xuan le wrote:Great show with excellent trees, thanks for sharing Rob. BTW can you post the pictures of some Ficus, it seems that Taiwan has the best Ficus bonsai in the world. Waiting to see more pictures when you get home.

Xuan

Hi Xuan, ask and you shall receive. I agree that Taiwanese Ficus Microcarpa (as seen below) are ichi ban. But guess what - I saw a Willow Leaf ficus bonsai in Taiwan. Only one and while it was good, I have seen better in the US. Now how did that get to Taiwan? The mystery deepens. I did not see any Ficus benjamina bonsai in Taiwan and I know there are good ones in Thailand and Vietnam. So perhaps we need to be specific. But there is no doubt the Taiwan Ficus microcarpa are some of the best bonsai in the world - ficus or otherwise.




BTW - check out this detail in the top rim of the pot. I liked it quite a bit and would like to see more in pots available in the USA.




Actually I'm in Japan right now. Taking advantage of the internet access to catch up. International data roaming was real expensive!!

Dustin Mann wrote:Rob: Thanks. Stunning. The tree looks like Buxus Harlandi(corky bark) Amy Liang had a number of photos in her book(if that is the species). A place long gone called Indoor Bonsai of Cincy. Ohio had huge speciums imported in there greenhouse in horrible soil.(1990-1996ish) Dustin

Dustin, you are correct. It is a Buxus Harlandi.