The Sacramento Bonsai Club held their 64th annual show this past weekend at the Sacramento Buddhist Church. The event left quite an impression. The exhibit showed how fun a spring show can be. The suiseki displays were a super addition to the show. And the 40 or so happi-coated club members were one of the nicest bonsai groups I’ve run into. Sacramento Bonsai Club is doing great after 64 years.

Boon Manakitivipart provided demonstrations both days and the event was well-attended. As the Sunday demonstration cleared most of  the exhibit, I had a chance to to take some pictures.

The juniper below is one of two Members’ Choice Award winners at the show.

Members’ Choice Award – Juniper

The trident maple bonsai display below is a good example of some of the well-thought out displays. I like the addition of the pale-blue – almost Kokufu-felt blue – screen behind the display. It’s a nice way to highlight the relationships among display elements and it does a good job of obscuring the backdrop support.

Trident maple

A number of trees were in full-bloom for the show. The satsuki azalea below was the brightest.

Satsuki azalea

As I walked into the exhibit, I met Greg McDonald, a club member that contributed several trees to the show. Like his brother Jay, Greg has some great deciduous trees, including the hawthorn below.

Hawthorn

Greg’s unsure about the variety of this hawthorn – not a big surprise considering the size of the crataegus genus, but an anomalie for a hawthorn enthusiast like Greg. He’s also doing a great job with the oaks below.

Coast live oak

Interior live oak

More highlights from the show.

Japanese maple and Japanese black pine

Shimpaku – itoigawa

White pine

Japanese flowering apricot – Prunus mume, commonly known as ume

Ginkgo

Juniper

White pine

California juniper

Boston Ivy

Japanese maple

Coming soon – more highlights from the show including some uncommon varieties for bonsai, suiseki displays, and spring accent plants.

Balance is one of my favorite topics for bonsai discussions. The term can be used broadly – I recently mentioned a few of the possibilities in relation to trees exhibited this year by the Bay Area Bonsai Associates.

One of the more primary considerations is whether a tree points left or right. Getting direction right has a big effect on a tree’s overall balance and is key to setting up formal displays. Just this week I’ve had several discussions about the direction of the tree below. It’s a Japanese black pine.

Black pine silhouette

It’s a great case study. Looking at it brings up a number of questions for me.

• Does the tree point left or right?
• What makes you think so?
• Does the tree have good balance?
• Would the tree look better if it pointed the other direction?
• Are there areas for improvement?

I’m curious to hear what you think about it: feel free to share your ideas – even if it’s your tree!

Bay Island Bonsai maintains a tradition of putting its newest members in the spotlight. Since the organization got its start back in 1998, new members have been subjected to the bonsai “stand exercise.” A group of stands are placed on a table and new members are given the instruction to “arrange them from least formal to most formal.” No other explanation is given.

At a recent meeting, one of our new members included John Thompson, one of the more talented and experienced bonsai artists among us. Here he gets “help” from Jeff and Peter.

John, Jeff and Peter arrange stands

The exercise usually brings up two questions: 1) What makes one stand more formal than another; and 2) What’s the point of the exercise?

Having watched the exercise unfold for over ten years, it’s clear that most people can supply a pretty good definition of what passes for “formal” without formal bonsai training. Flat bamboo “stands” commonly used for accent plants are usually found to be less formal than taller rectangular stands. Slabs are usually found to be less formal than natural root stands.

Rigid, concrete guidelines can be hard to come by. In general, straight lines are more formal than curved; tall – to a point – is more formal than short; and dark colors are more formal than light. How do tall stands with strong curves and dark colors compare with short, powerful stands with ornate detail? That’s where things get interesting.

Both stands are dark and make use of curves – which is more “formal”?

Where does the tall, octagonal stand with intricate details and strong lines fit in?

After getting a feel for gauging formality, one commonly asks why it matters. The answer I’ve held onto the longest begins with an extreme case.

In formal or semi-formal bonsai displays – for these purposes, bonsai displays with trees, stands and accent plants – the stands used can have a big effect on the display’s esthetic. Imagine placing a Japanese black pine with a thick trunk on a ceramic disc next to a tall stand with heavy legs supporting a delicate accent plant. Such an arrangement could put a lot of focus on the accent while downplaying the pine. If the goal is to engage viewers with the pine, one needs to select a stand appropriate to the purpose. This is one reason why I like this exercise – it helps us create the effects we are looking for when we assemble a display.

It also causes us to look at stands closely. The best are beautiful objects on their own. For being quite simple, the sweeping curves on the stand below create a lively, almost playful effect for such a strong and squat stand.

Great curved legs

The stand below is an interesting contrast – it is short and strong with powerful legs that quickly taper to delicate feet. It’s hard to find a good tree for this stand, but well worth the challenge.

Such tiny feet!

The stands below share several characteristics. They are taller than they are wide and they fit in the general square/round category. In other words, these stands serve well for trees with square, round, or other pots that aren’t rectangular. Which is more formal? I’d vote the stand on the left. It’s taller, darker, heavier – it appears sturdy – and predominantly features straight lines.

More formal and less formal bonsai stands

Good root stands are a pleasure. They’re super for cascade and semi-cascade bonsai in bonsai exhibits, and good for all sorts of things around the house the rest of the year.

Root stand

Bay Island Bonsai’s annual exhibit is held in January each year. It’s a great time to show bonsai, but it’s not always the most colorful time of year. At a recent BIB monthly meeting, we worked on a display that included a Japanese black pine and a Japanese maple. In winter, the maple would be bare. In spring, the foliage is bright green.

Boon setting up a display at a BIB monthly meeting

Or bright red. Boon brought two maples to try with the display, one green and one red.

Green and red Japanese maples

Matching these maples with the appropriate accent plant made for an interesting exercise. For example, no one liked the two green elements together.

Maple with grass

Contrasting red and green helped with the color, but in the example below, the accent struck many as quite large compared with the tree it complemented.

Maple with succulent

Swapping the red succulent for a smaller green accent solved the size problem, but reintroduced the green-with-green problem.

Maple with small accent

This became a good opportunity to try the red maple. The red maple looked pretty good with the pale green grass.

Red maple with grass

Swapping the grass for the red succulent worked better than expected as the white flowers and green leaves stood out well against the red maple foliage. Overall, however, the accent struck many as large for the small maple.

Red maple with succulent

The small green and yellow accent made the maple look relatively large and provided good color contrast. Which is lucky, because this combination provided nice balance to the main tree, a Japanese black pine.

Red maple and accent

Black pines look great with red maples. With the first and second tree set, the goal is to find appropriate stands and accents.

Color-wise, the accent below is a good fit for the display. But it position strikes me as funny – it’s not clear whether it is meant to complement the maple or the pine. A small matter, really, when we consider the stand for the pine.

The pine has a very powerful trunk with deeply furrowed bark. It has strong movement and a heavy pot. The stand, in sharp contrast, is delicate and feminine – more delicate than the stand for the maple.

Getting closer – a good mix of colors

The shot below reveals the combination that best pleased the crowd. The stand for the pine is taller and stronger. The red maple foliage contrasts well with the green pine foliage and the white accent pot provides nice punch.

Final display

Were more elements available, we feel we could further improve the display. This a good reason for testing out displays so far in advance of the exhibit – finding missing display elements isn’t always easy. For this display, we’re off to a good start.

There are few concepts more central to bonsai than “balance.” The California buckeye below strikes me as a well-balanced composition. The foliage, ramification, trunk, pot and stand all work well together.

California Buckeye – Aesculus californica

The photos here are from the Bay Area Bonsai Associates’ 28th annual show. Like so many good exhibits, it provides ample opportunities for thinking about balance.

The cryptomeria below is a favorite of mine. There are few good examples of the variety around, and only a fraction of these are shohin. The tree is well-developed and sports dense foliage – a real trick for cryptomeria. When I squint my eyes and focus on the tree’s silhouette, however, I notice that the trunk is surprisingly thin. For the foliage to be balanced with the trunk, I would expect either a thicker trunk or thinner foliage – a subtle point for such a nice specimen.

Cryptomeria japonica

I’ve always been fascinated by the study of “direction” in bonsai. Apart from formal upright bonsai, most specimens “point” or lean to one side or the other. If a tree leans too far to one side, it lacks a form of balance.

The trunk of the zelkova below points to the right, as does the tree’s apex. Most of the tree’s branches, however, emerge from the left side of the tree. Is the tree balanced? I think a case could be made for either answer – a revealing statement in itself.

Grey-bark elm – Zelkova serrata

Flowering quince in bloom makes for eye-popping bonsai. The reddish/pink flowers below are well complemented by the light blue pot – a Jim Gremel pot for a Jim Gremel tree – and the thin branches are well complemented by the thin legs of the stand. While I may not use the term balance here, the concept is the same – elements of the composition are considered together.

Flowering quince – Chaenomeles speciosa ‘contorta’

Formal displays are rife with questions of balance. Are elements properly spaced up and down, left and right; big and small, light and dark; course and fine, feminine and masculine?

The tree below is one of several dwarf Asian pears Jim Gremel has grown from seed. Brent Walston tells a funny story about them (see entry for “Gremel’s Pear”). In short, Jim grew a batch of “crabapples” that turned out to be pears. In Brent’s words: “Eventually it dawned on us that the reason the ‘apples’ didn’t turn red was because they were pears! Jim offered everyone their money back, but no one took him up on it, we all love our little Gremel Pears.” In Jim’s words: “When I finally concluded that they are pears (mame nashi – ‘bean pear’), I told Brent that they are much more rare than crab apples, so I wanted another $50 for the one he bought!”

Dwarf Asian pear – pyrus calleryana

Developing collected bonsai entails a constant struggle with balance. The Korean hornbeam below looks to be mid-way through its development from collected material. Often starting with little more than a trunk with sprouts, artists must grow primary, secondary and tertiary, etc., branches from scratch. When the transitions between these are abrupt or in any way unnatural, the ramification appears unbalanced. When they are smooth, the balance is good.

Korean hornbeam – Carpinus turczaninovii

Then there is the matter of size. Is the pot well-sized for the tree, the trunk for the foliage, the stand for the whole?

Dwarf Japanese pear – pyrus pyrifolia

On a more subtle note, we can consider the effect a tree’s key branch. The key branch, or sashi-no-eda, the lean of the trunk, and the direction of the apex have a big effect on a tree’s balance. The apex of the larch below may point left or right. The trunk leans left, the key branch points right. Does the combination produce harmony?

Japanese larch – larix kaempferi

The ilex below has a striking pot. Is the size, shape, and color well-suited to the tree? To the stand?

Yaupon Holly – Ilex vomitoria

I can ask the same of this olive’s greenish-tan pot.

Olive – Olea europaea

Then there’s silhouette. Are branch pads balanced from top to bottom? Do branches become thinner from the nebari to the apex? Is this transition smooth and appealing? Yes, I’d answer, in each of these cases.

Hokkaido Elm – ulmus parvifolia ‘hokkaido’

Getting balance right in bonsai is a life-long quest. Good balance may not make a tree great, but it’s hard for a tree to be great without it.

Here are some links to other posts from BABA’s 28th annual show:

• Accent plants
• Bay Area Bonsai Associates 28th Annual Show
• Bonsai stories
• Maples!

More from Bay Area Bonsai Associates’ 28th annual show – accent plants!

Ajuga, fern, sedum

I’ll note the varieties I recognize – corrections welcome.

Rabbit foot fern in antique roof tile

Grass in hand-made pot

Fern and moss

Fern-ish

Sedum and fern

Quince and moss

Sedum and fern

Lamium et al.

See more accent plants here.

This year’s BABA show (Bay Area Bonsai Associates) focused on bonsai display. Great care was taken with trees, stands, scrolls, and accents, and the results were quite pleasing. And because the show took place later in the year than last year’s show, there was plenty of color in the room, best typified by the wisteria display below.

Wisteria bonsai

Other varieties included standbys like Japanese black pine. The tree below belongs to Dr. Seiji Shiba. I was impressed by the tree’s story. Originally nursery material, Seiji cut the tree down to its lowest branches to make a bonsai. After years of development and some grafting, the tree was able to make its debut at this year’s BABA show. Seiji still thinks it’s on the early side to show the tree – a reflection of his high standards. It’s not easy to make pines from nothing and it’s great to see the results so far.

Japanese black pine bonsai

Many of the displays included scrolls featuring kanji or nature scenes.

Satsuki azalea bonsai

A silverberry bonsai made an appearance with an accent planted in what looked to be an antique roof tile. Eleagnus is a great variety for bonsai that’s not often seen in Northern California bonsai exhibits, but I’m hopeful more will crop up in time. It’s also nice to see trees with fruit in March.

Eleagnus (Silverberry) bonsai

Silverberry fruit

One of my favorite displays caught my attention from across the room. I couldn’t tell at first if the show set-up included stand-out wines or if something more was at work. It was some time before I noticed the redwood, planted on a rock, rested on a pillow for a stand.

California coast redwood with 1973 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon

Tim Kong did a great job with the display. Photographs featuring several generations of his family provided a personal touch not often found in bonsai exhibits.

Memories of good times

Which made me think how 2010 is off to an interesting start. Already I’ve seen blue people, pots without trees, and wine bottles in somewhat formal bonsai displays. And why not?

Landscape

Abstract

Monkey and bird

Landscape

Flowers

Box display

Box display

Open box display

See more photos from the exhibit here.

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

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.