Maples!
The Bay Area Bonsai Associates (BABA) held their 28th annual show at Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California, this past weekend. The show included a good number of maples. Some of my favorites belonged to local bonsai enthusiast Jay McDonald.
Jay is active in a number of clubs and has contributed greatly to the local scene. He acquired the maple below some time ago and has done a great job developing the ramification.
Japanese maple
If only there were more big maples around. They are a striking variety in every season and are relatively easy to care for.
From below
Maple roots and moss
All of Jay’s trees featured bright green moss as a top-dressing. He claims a secret source for the stuff – a valuable vein somewhere in Marin County.
I missed the opportunity to get a shot of a second large maple Jay had on display, but I caught his trident maple, again displayed with the great moss.
Trident maple
All told there were plenty of attractive maples at the show, including the following.
Japanese maple
Japanese maple
Japanese maple ‘kiyohime’
I recently learned that Kiyohime is a mythic Japanese character who, once driven to a mighty rage, transforms into a fiery serpent. It didn’t end well for her paramour, the priest Anjin.
I don’t know that the variety is named for her, but I can’t say the name is inappropriate due to its fiery spring colors.
Shohin pot display
The exhibit at the recent Shohin Seminar in Santa Nella, CA, featured a wonderful selection shohin-sized pots. Decorations ranged from the pictorial to the abstract. Best of all, many were displayed on box stands without trees. It was a great way to show off some great pots.
Landscape
Abstract
Monkey and bird
Landscape
Flowers
Box display
Box display
Open box display
See more photos from the exhibit here.
California Shohin Seminar
It’s hard to create a good shohin display. With larger trees, we work to find trees, pots, stands, and accents that work well together. With shohin, the same is true but the number of trees can jump to 6 or more. When done well, shohin displays create truly unique experiences. Here are more photos from this year’s California Shohin Seminar, the biennial event held in Santa Nella, CA.
Shohin display
Even in smaller displays it’s hard to get trees that point the right way and complement each other well. The display below does a good job of mixing broadleaf, deciduous, and coniferous bonsai.
Shohin display
Shohin olive bonsai
Root over rock shohin trident maple
The tree above points clearly to the right making it a good fit for the left side of the display. But beyond that, the tree’s silhouette provides a bit of dissonance. It’s well done and very well ramified, but there’s little transition between the trunk and fine branches. I’ve thought about how I might develop it differently and can’t say that I’ve come up with much. It’s an interesting little tree.
Shohin bonsai display
Shohin bonsai display
More simple than the traditional box stands, single tree stands are a great way to show off a tree. I like this stand’s curved support and the way it creates an asymmetrical display.
Shohin juniper with accent
A few trees fell into the large shohin or chuhin categories. These larger trees were excellent.
Mendocino cypress
In sharp contrast to many of the antique pots featured in the exhibit, at least one contemporary pot made a colorful statement. It would be fun to see how these pots are received when they too become antiques.
Shohin ume bonsai in Bunzan pot
Another well-done chuhin bonsai.
Needle juniper bonsai
From what I can tell, the Hotel de Oro really gets into hosting the seminar. Even the front desk provides an excellent, albeit unorthodox, bonsai display.
Ilex serrata with service bell and Missions in California
Accenting itself
Last month’s California Shohin Seminar was a delight. Plenty of workshops, demonstrations, and vendors, plus a great exhibit of shohin bonsai. One display element that caught my attention was an accent plant – a wonderful mix of overflowing foliage on a relatively large slab.
Accent plant
I believe this accent would make a great compliment to many bonsai displays. I was curious which tree the accent was paired with when I noticed that the accent complemented not a tree but a scroll. Or the scroll complemented the accent – it’s hard to say which. Needless to say, the two work well together.
Accent/scroll display
I appreciate that the exhibit featured several less traditional displays like the one above and I look forward to seeing more of the like in the future.
leave a comment