Capel Manor (UK) exhibition photos

Here are some pictures of some of the trees that were exhibited last Sunday at the show organised by Steve McKee and his team of the The Bonsai Group at Capel Manor. This was held at the Capel Manor horticultural college located in Enfield (on the outskirts of London), UK.
This show has a strong tradition of excellence in display, and The Bonsai Group at Capel Manor personally invited bonsai enthusiasts from all over the UK to display their trees.

To explain a little further how the exhibition was organised: the organisers supply pre-prepared individual display areas, and each exhibitor draws lots for the numbered exhibition spaces. The exhibitor can then utilise that space with whatever or however they choose. Most exhibitors, with one or two notable exceptions, went for traditional displays. The standard was very high, yet again.

There were 3 prizes for: Best Display, Best tree in show, and then each person attending/visiting the show had a vote for their favourite display.
The prizes were beautiful limited edition Gordon Duffett (Shohin size) pots.

Needless to say there were several bonsai traders in attendance, as well as some well known UK bonsai pot makers.
Also, there was a Shohin bonsai display organized by the British Shohin Association and some of it's members. So there was plenty to see and buy!

Best Display award: Japanese White Pine (in a Dan Barton pot) with a suiseki as accent item



Best Tree award :



Bob B's mini sized "Tokonoma" with a Mame sized Itoigawa Juniper:



Guelder Rose (in a Duffett pot):



Pyracantha (in Walsall Ceramics pot):



More pictures to come later.

Mark

Hi Mark... great pix. again Loved the Pyracantha

Hi Mark,
It was a great day, here is some more pics

Jerrys display

Close up of accent

My Larch forest

Congrats on a great looking exhibition.

And more pics

And more

This was a strange exhibit every now and again it moved !!!!!!

Chris' Larch group (made in 3 sections for transport) :



Juniper on rock:



Shohin Red Pine and Trident Maple



Close up of the small accent :



More to come

Mark

Now for some accents :







Still more to come .....

Mark

My first visit to this event, well worth the trip down the M1,
the quality of the trees and displays was excellent, as can be seen from the many photos.

The judges must have had real trouble deciding the winners, all were worthy of an award.

The pyracantha stood out for colour, and Chris's forest was very beautiful and natural.

The shohin were outstanding, and some of the accents were breathtaking.

Some shohin from the BSA's display, organised by John Armitage using member's trees :-





Les' Fuschia from the above display :



White Pine (in Walsall Ceramic's pot) :



Mark

thanks for posting pictures i was so busy and i forgot to take some myself, we aim to expand and change each year , next year we would like to invite 10 groups or societies to go up against each other
And the prizes will be- best display, best tree in show and new next year will be best accent plant, then there will be the spectators choice of best display too. there will be more room for the British shohin society and their display was fantastic thank you ladies and gentlemen, you were all great. I really appreciate the effort you all put in to support our club

Bloody typical. I held off posting any pictures as mine were not great and blow me if we don't post within 3 mins of each other. What are the chances of that?. Good to see you Mark and Rita.

Hi Steve and Will,

Thanks for a great show guys and good to see you both again. Thanks Steve for inviting Ritta and I; it was well worth the trip from Wales !
That lovely Duffett pot we won for our our display will come in very handy for one of our shohin.

Uncanny that we were both posting pix at the same time too Will (it's that well known universal law operating that politness inhbits me from naming here LOL !) ...especially uncanny too as I don't post that often. I must say I got a lot of ribald comments about that big flash gun diffuser that I was using on the day too !

NB If any exhibitor would like a "hi-res" photo of their tree from my photos posted here, just pm me.

Mark & Ritta

I would also like to post my thanks to Steve and all the guys who make this event happen. I had a fab time meeting bonsai friends old & new and the trees on display were outstanding. It really got my Bonsai Buds flowing and I can't wait top get some freetime to get back to working my trees.

Thanks to everyone I met for making me feel so welcome and I look forward to seeing some of you guys again soon,

LP&B,
Simon

PS
I hope that you had a good trip home Mark ALMOST sans a scroll!! It was lovely to meet you & Ritta, see you at Wilowbog.

Thanks Steve and crew for another great show,the quality of the trees seems to improve each year and I didn,t envy you and Will judgeing,but the general opinion of the people I spoke to all seemed to think you had it just about right .
I would like to take this oportunity to thank Reg Bolton who with his carpentry skills interpreted my very rough sketches into the finished Tokonoma I exhibited on Sunday (it was only finished late Saturday night) Also thanks to Paul Goff for making the scaled down scroll and inserts and also Ritta Cooper for her unending supply of beautiful accents
Bob Bailey

Here is a picture of the Korean Hornbeam from Geoff Crowe of Phoenix.

Ah Geoff Crowe......What a character. Had a few conversations with Geoff and a funny and passionate man he is. Had a great time chatting with the West country "lads".