Last month, William N. Valavanis hosted the 9th US National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, New York. The event brought bonsai enthusiasts together from across the US and around the world to enjoy an awesome exhibition, a superb collection of vendors, and a weekend of bonsai programs.

This year’s judges, Toru Suzuki from Japan, Tony Bebb from Australia, and Pedro Morales from Puerto Rico, selected the twelve award-winners shown below.

Rounding out the weekend, the American Bonsai Society hosted their annual Learning Seminar at a nearby hotel. The event featured workshops, lectures, and demonstrations plus a huge bonsai pot competition (more on that in an upcoming post).

As part of the Learning Seminars, I led two sessions at the National Exhibition itself: a bonsai critique focusing on design and display, and a guide to shopping in the vendor area.

Here are photos of the award winners. I’ll share more photos from the event next week.

The National Award – Finest Bonsai Masterpiece
Black pine

Joshua Roth Award – Finest Evergreen Bonsai
Juniper

Michael Blanton Award – Finest Deciduous Bonsai
Japanese maple

Bonsai By Fields Award – Finest Medium Size Bonsai
White pine

Joshua Roth Award – Finest Individual Shohin Bonsai
Black pine

Custom Oriental Woodcraft Award – Finest Shohin Bonsai Composition
White pine, black pine, oriental bittersweet, dwarf Asian jasmine, Chinese hackberry, trident maple

New England Bonsai Gardens Award – Finest Classical Literati Bonsai
Black pine

Bonsai Travel Award – Finest Companion Combination

Award-winning tree/accent combination
Hinoki

Futago Bonsai Award – Finest Tropical Species
Ficus

American Bonsai Society North American Award – Finest North American Species
Bald cypress

National Bonsai Foundation All American Award – Finest American Species, In An American Container
Lodge pole pine

Judges’ Special Award – Excellence In Bonsai
Pine

Next up, a look at more trees from the 9th US National Bonsai Exhibition.

Attending regional events like the US National Bonsai Exhibition is a good way to gain an understanding of the work happening within a given community. At the National, the community showing trees represents a big swath of the US. As a result, it features a lot of great trees.

I don’t tire of visiting events like these because there are always opportunities to learn about new trees or see trees in person that I’ve seen in photos for years. The latter is true for the dwarf corkbark elm by Sergio Cuan below.

Yatsabusa corkbark elm

It’s a big tree, and the craggy bark and fine twigs give it extraordinary character. If you’re curious to learn more about the tree’s history, check out Sergio’s account at Bonsai Nut.

Regional events like the National also tend to feature a mix of exotic species as well as natives. The former are often well-developed specimens that took shape over many years.

Japanese black pine

Korean hornbeam

The native trees in regional events are often in earlier stages of development but offer huge potential for future development.

Eastern white cedar

Ponderosa pine

Engelmann spruce

When it comes to shohin displays, it’s simply fun to see well-executed displays. It takes a lot of effort to create a six-tree display so it’s great when you can enjoy them in person.

Shohin display

Shohin display

It’s also fun to see different takes on similar material, whether species or size and style. There were a number of white pines, for example, at this year’s event. By comparing the branch work on each we can get ideas for how to style similar trees and refine our sense of which approaches we like best.

White pine

White pine that flows to the left

White pine ‘Zuisho’ that flows to the right

I expect a show book will be available next year featuring the photos from the exhibition – I’ll post a link when pre-orders open.

News & Updates

[San Diego Area Event]

• This Sunday the San Diego Bonsai Club is hosting their second Bonsai Blast – a one-day affair featuring vendors, workshops, and demonstrations. Japanese bonsai professional Hiroyoshi Yamaji and I will be doing demonstrations at 8:30am (me) and 1:30pm (Yamaji).
  
  I’m really looking forward to the demonstration as it’s a departure from the regular format. Instead of completely styling a single tree, I’ll be working with two trees in earlier stages of development for each of the following species: black pine, cork oak, silverberry, lavender star flower, and Chinese quince.
  
  Learn more and see the complete schedule at the San Diego Bonsai Club website.
  

[California Regional Event}

• The Golden State Bonsai Federation Rendezvous is coming up next weekend! Visitors coming for the day are welcome. Learn more at the Rendezvous website.