Highlights from the 2025 REBS bonsai show

The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society held their annual exhibit last month at the Rohnert Park Community Center in Rohnert Park, California.

This year’s event featured a demonstration from Mike Pistello, member tree sales, and a good mix of vendors. It also included a trees-in-training display with bonsai presented by members who are relatively new to the hobby. It was a well-executed display with different species at different stages of development. Some trees were in plastic pots and some had yet to be wired, but all were arranged carefully and accompanied by accent plants. I hope to see more displays like this in the future!

As for the main exhibit, some of the first trees to greet visitors were large coast redwoods.

Coast redwood

Another tall coast redwood

Conifers are a common choice for summer shows, but there were a few deciduous bonsai in the exhibit and a pyracantha loaded with fruit that was just starting to turn color.

Pyracantha

Japanese maple

It was fun to see two atlas cedars in the exhibit, one green and one blue. Cedars are a good fit for summer shows as most of the spring growth has hardened off and the trees are covered with a fresh flush of foliage.

Atlas cedar

Blue atlas cedar

California privet

Garden juniper

Coast redwood

One of the junipers in the show was a “tanuki,” a bonsai created by training a young tree around a piece of deadwood to make it look like a much older composition. When tanuki are well excecuted, they can be hard to discern from much older trees.

Tanuki – a young shimpaku, in this case, trained on a much older piece of deadwood

I’m often asked if it’s OK to show tanuki. In general, I think it’s fine to display tanuki at exhibits, and it’s up to the organizers to determine whether or not to disclose that a given tree is a tanuki. That said, it’s far less common for tanuki to show up in regional exhibits. As more selective events by their nature, regional shows typically focus on bonsai with the most prized characteristics which include the age of the tree.

Is it OK to display tanuki in your club’s show? Let us know in the comments below.

News & Updates

[Seattle Area Workshops]

• If you’re in the Seattle area, I’ll be leading workshops on Friday, October 31 and Saturday November 1 at Bonsai Northwest. Friday’s class will focus on trees in early or middle stages of development. Saturday’s session will focus on fall work for black pine bonsai. Learn more and sign up at the Bonsai Northwest website.

[Regional Events]

• The 9th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, New York, September 13-14. Presenters include Toru Suzuki from Japan’s famous Daiju-en garden in central Japan, Juan Andrade from Costa Rica, and Tony Bebb from Australia, among others. Learn more at the event website.
• The American Bonsai Society’s 2025 Learning Seminars in Rochester, New York, September 12-13. This year’s line-up features Bjorn Bjorholm and Todd Schlafer plus 13 additional presenters. Pot contest new this year! Learn more at the event website.
• Bonsai on the Bay: the LSBF annual convention in Corpus Cristi featuring guest artists Mike Lane, Jennifer Price and me. September 18-21. Learn more and register at the LSBF Convention website.