Learning the art of bonsai display

Two things define Bay Island Bonsai’s monthly meetings for me – Boon’s talks and practice displays. Sure, we get to see videos and slide shows, practice evaluating trees and complete various bonsai-related exercises, but the core of our bonsai theory is expressed through the talks and practice displays.

We end each meeting by providing BIB members with an opportunity to test out displays for our annual exhibit. Everything on the table is a candidate for comment, from branch placement to accent plant stands. Here Morten is taking a picture of a candidate accent plant from this July’s meeting (see his photo and write-up on the topic).

Shooting the accent

Martian accent plant

The group decided this accent wasn’t appropriate for the shore pine, and was split over whether or not it was even appropriate for bonsai. I was all for it.

This shore pine it was intended to complement is somewhat between sizes. As such, it can be shown as part of a two or three point display. I liked this tree in a three-point setting. The next question was what to do with the accent. Although the pine looks good with the accent nearby, the shimpaku appears lonely without it. Better, we thought, to accent the second tree (see Boon’s reasons for preferring this alternative).

Accenting the pine

Accenting the shimpaku

Although there were several other stands to consider, time was short so we called this setup the winner. A new evaluation will take place after the tree is wired to see what it takes to get the tree-pot-stand ratio just right. And with a mere six months before our next exhibit, the timing should be just about right.