Bonsai Tonight

California Suiseki Society 15th Annual Show

The California Suiseki Society held its 15th Annual Show at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California on June 12-13, 2010. Typically members display stones new to their collections – this year President & Founder Felix Rivera encouraged members to display their very best stones. The result was a wonderful collection of close to 100 suiseki.

Most of the stones on display were “mountain stones” from Northern California. I was a bit surprised by this – either most engaging stones in California make good representations of mountains, or the mountain style speaks to members. A core of over a dozen are from the Bay Area – most of the rest are located across the country. Worldwide, the active membership is about 50.

I was also surprised by the diversity of rock geology. Northern California is clearly home to diverse collections of rock making it a great place for collecting.

Here’s a sampling of the suiseki on display. I’ll post more later this week.

Mountain & arch stone – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Near mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Waterfall – Northern California

Distant mountain – Northern California

Waterfall – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Lake – Northern California

Mountain range – Northern California

Nearby mountain – Northern California

Island – Northern California

Island detail – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Plateau – Northern California

Waterfall – Northern California

Distant mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Kinzan-seki – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Distant mountain with river – Northern California

Mountain – Northern California

Mountain range – Northern California