2025 National Bonsai Exhibition photos

[Wood]

I still think the double-apex larch better exemplifies the character of a literati than the winner of the literati category does. I have never seen anything quite like it.

I've seen that larch before and I've never liked it. The deadwood along the trunk has wonderful texture and age to it and the movement in the upper branch is expressive, with wonderful turns that are sudden and unexpected but the lower branch feels like the exact opposite -- it's gradual and seems very artificial. Both the canopies are fairly disconnected. There aren't any lines continued or contrasted between them. The two branches are the same size, and both canopies are the same size and rough shape. By the time I'm looking at the apexes, I feel like I've completely forgotten about the trunk and deadwood, which feels like the main attraction of the tree. The oval pot for a highly asymmetric tree feels odd to me but I can't specify why. Maybe winter silhouette would bring more interesting branch movement

 

[hemmy]

The needles were all cut on the pitch pine, but I did really like that display as well.

My initial reaction on seeing the photo was to not like the vertical line of the scroll stopping the movement of my eye through the display. But staring at it more has me intrigued. I’m still not sure I like it.

 

[badatusernames]

Man where do people even find the material for some of these

They def ain't growing it themselves

 

[rockm]

Man where do people even find the material for some of these

They def ain't growing it themselves

Sources for trees like this are all over the place. Some are indeed grown by their owners. Others are collected from the wild(by owners or bought from collectors) some are redesigned or reclaimed older bonsai.

 

[badatusernames]

Sources for trees like this are all over the place. Some are indeed grown by their owners. Others are collected from the wild(by owners or bought from collectors) some are redesigned or reclaimed older bonsai.

Yamadori makes sense

 

[pandacular]

They def ain't growing it themselves

I got the chance to meet the legendary Adair Martin at Nationals. One thing he impressed on me: to insist on doing everything from scratch is to insist on never having great trees.

 

[rockm]

I got the chance to meet the legendary Adair Martin at Nationals. One thing he impressed on me: to insist on doing everything from scratch is to insist on never having great trees.

Ditto what Adair said.

 

[Hartinez]

I got the chance to meet the legendary Adair Martin at Nationals. One thing he impressed on me: to insist on doing everything from scratch is to insist on never having great trees.

Spoken like a true…. errr person with a rather large disposable income.

 

[badatusernames]

I got the chance to meet the legendary Adair Martin at Nationals. One thing he impressed on me: to insist on doing everything from scratch is to insist on never having great trees.

Yeah

I mean beyond other channels the yamadori thing makes a lot of sense, I should probably get into that

RIP Telperion, gone before I could really take advantage