Bonsai Trip

Sunday Evening

We returned late this afternoon from a weekend trip to Pennsylvania to a Bonsai Show put on by the Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Societies (MABS).  This is the second year the show has been held in Grantville, PA as well as the second year I have attended.  There are two main exhibits of bonsai (pronounced bone-zigh not bon-sigh)specimens, and I went and lingered over the exhibit of trees styled by the members of the various local societies that make up the MABS.  To me, this exhibit is the more interesting of the two.  The trees are styled by non-professionals and range from trees exhibited by rank beginners to those of amateurs-who-might-as-well-be-professionals.  In addition, those trees tend to be younger and usually have been under the care of bonsai enthusiasts for a shorter period of time than those of the professionals.  Finally, there are more of them to see so there are more varieties of trees styled in nearly all of the traditional forms of bonsai.  This year I didn't take any photos, but here is a photo from last year's show of a tree styled by an amateur:

It's a knockout, isn't it?  Few trees were in bloom this year, and I learned from the Japanese translator (a Japanese woman from California who is a bonsai artist herself and who doesn't let the fact that she's in her 80's stop her from doing what she wants to do) that this is a good thing.  She said that the message of bonsai is to show "what can be, the promise of what is to come" so buds are preferred for a show, not full bloom.  I can understand that because looking at the azalea, all one focuses on is the bloom.  The tree itself is wonderful, but it was overlooked - paled in comparison with the dramatic, intense color.  Here's a cropped version the same photo:

Can you see how the flowers show through from behind?  Look at how some dead branches (jins)  have had the bark carved off so one can see the beauty of the shape that is left.  It's definitely not a good photo to show a particular style of bonsai, but it is lovely.

I did go to the professional show because their trees are beyond drop-dead-wonderful, but this year I spent more time looking at the scrolls and the companion plants shown with some of the trees.  Oh, I should explain that bonsai trees are sometimes, but not always exhibited with a scroll, or a companion plant (hosta, for example, in a 2-inch pot), or a special rock.  Working together these additions should help present a finished piece of art for the viewer.  This is what I would like to learn more about.  Even though I, as a member, have been to many of our local bonsai club's meetings, demonstrations, and classes, I haven't heard this part of bonsai discussed.  It could be that it is discussed as part of show preparation or something like that which I may not have listened to as carefully as I should have.

I'll have to ask about it.