Wisteria and Pot Contest

Tachigi

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In the thread Some Previews I suggested a friendly contest for some winter time fun. So as promised here it is.

The idea of this contest is to try and match a pot with this wisteria. The best match of pot and tree as decided by the judges will win a hand built Erin pot. The judges decision is final so make sure your submission has some thought behind it. Feel free to play with branch structure if you like. However, this will not effect the judging. Contest will run till midnight (EST) Sunday January 20, 2008. Submissions after midnight (EST) will be excluded....although appreciated.

The Prize as mentioned above, is a hand built Erin primitive pot donated by Shady Side Bonsai. It can be viewed here. It is Item #ROUH108. As mentioned in the thread "Some Previews" the contest winner is responsible for pick-up and/or shipping.

OK that is basically it. Simple and straight forward have some fun with it. For those people that are a little rusty with photo shop or paint, you have a reason to sharpen your skills.:) For those that are wondering, I will not participate nor judge. I have recruited some long time friends that are well qualified. In the following post are pictures of the wisteria. The first picture is the one for you to work off of. I have included other photos to give you a little flavor of this tree.

With your contest entry you agree to abide by the judges final decision. Remember this is a friendly contest among Bnut community members.
 
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Tachigi

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Below is the subject for the contest, a Wisteria. The following post contains additional pictures to give you some flavor of the tree. I should mention in full disclosure that I Photoshoped the rebar brace and guy wires out to make it a little less cumbersome for those working with this picture.
 

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Tachigi

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The flavor shots
 

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Tachigi

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One entry per person or multiple?
Good question wish I had thought of it. :eek: You may have two submissions.
 

Tachigi

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Who are the judges?
I will disclose the judges at the end of the contest. I will say they all have been practicing bonsai for better than 10 years. Two of them are members here. Sorry if thats just a tease Rich ;)
 
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Great initiative, Tom!

Here's my first suggestion. A bit hysterical in color, but might look nice when in full bloom...

edit: I forgot to mention that I "borrowed" the image og the pot from Horst Heinzlreiter at www.hhpots.com
 

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johng

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wisteria virtual

Always difficult to put something together like this. I decided that a round pot would compliment the character of the trunk. I choose a Dale Cochoy pot from here.
I liked that the pot had a little bit of texture...not so much to take away from the tree but enough to provide a little interest. I added a couple of flowers to hopefully demonstrate the complimentary color of the pot.

My virtual skills are limited but here is about one hours worth of work. I have some other pots that I may try for my second entry.
John
 

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cantstopsmilin

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Great initiative, Tom!

Here's my first suggestion. A bit hysterical in color, but might look nice when in full bloom...

edit: I forgot to mention that I "borrowed" the image og the pot from Horst Heinzlreiter at www.hhpots.com

that's cause they're complimentary colors! the blue violets will compliment with yellow oranges... just in case you were wondering...
 
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Interesting contest, I'll enjoy seeing the entries.




Will
 
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This is a container contest. But before I can select a container, the Wisteria should be planted at a different angle. Slanting and the cascade style are the best for Wisteria and other species which have hanging flowers in order to appreciate their long elegant form.

Just my idea....

Bill

PS: Very nice Wisteria! Good job!
 

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rlist

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I will disclose the judges at the end of the contest. I will say they all have been practicing bonsai for better than 10 years. Two of them are members here. Sorry if thats just a tease Rich ;)


I was hoping you were going to say Taylor...
 

Tachigi

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I was hoping you were going to say Taylor...

LOL...you really want to stir the pot! I'll tell you what, in the highly unlikely event that there is a tie. I'll let Taylor be the tie breaker if you like. :)

This spurs on a thought that I should mention. All judges will be judging each submission independently. They will be doing it on a 1 to 10 point basis. At the end of the contest the person with the highest average number of points wins.
 

Rick Moquin

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Although I agree with Bill somewhat, not all Wisterias should cascade.
 

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Attila Soos

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Tom, you did an excellent job cleaning up the design. It's a gorgeous tree.

It is also hard to find the perfect pot for the following reason:

Wisteria is one of those species that have a split personality (just like the azalea). The traditional "personality" is the one that is shown first and foremost, for it's flowers. This comes out best if planted in a deep and symmetrical (round, hexagonal, etc) pot, as Bill V. suggested. Bill is showing us the traditional presentation, and if you prefer to show the tree for the flowers, nothing beats this style of presentation. The downside is that after the flowers are gone, you are not going to show it in a deep pot like that until next year.

On the other hand, a shallower pot gives the wisterial the traditional "tree" image, one that can be shown during the winter, in a leafless stage. This tree has the advantage that it has an interesting design even without the flowers. A shallow pot is the approach where you are trying to have it both ways, both as a tree and as a flowering plant. But unfortunately, a shallow pot is not nearly as effective in showing off the flowers as a deep one. Those deep pots designed for flowering bonsai are very decorative, and thus create a striking and luxuriant picture that a bland shallow pot will never do.

So, having it both ways doesn't really work here. Also one has to remember that the leaves of wisteria are almost impossible to reduce to a resonable scale, so showing it as a "tree" during the growing season doesn't work either, it's too shaggy for that.

Tom has to decide whether it wants to show the tree as a winter silhouette (in a shallow pot), or as a flowering bonsai (in a deep pot). After 2000 years worth of experimenting, the bonsai tradition came up with the latter. It's really hard to beat that, although one can always try.
 

Tachigi

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On the other hand, a shallower pot gives the wisterial the traditional "tree" image, one that can be shown during the winter, in a leafless stage. This tree has the advantage that it has an interesting design even without the flowers. A shallow pot is the approach where you are trying to have it both ways, both as a tree and as a flowering plant. But unfortunately, a shallow pot is not nearly as effective in showing off the flowers as a deep one. Those deep pots designed for flowering bonsai are very decorative, and thus create a striking and luxuriant picture that a bland shallow pot will never do.

So, having it both ways doesn't really work here. Also one has to remember that the leaves of wisteria are almost impossible to reduce to a resonable scale, so showing it as a "tree" during the growing season doesn't work either, it's too shaggy for that.

Tom has to decide whether it wants to show the tree as a winter silhouette (in a shallow pot), or as a flowering bonsai (in a deep pot). After 2000 years worth of experimenting, the bonsai tradition came up with the latter. It's really hard to beat that, although one can always try.

First let me say thank you for the comments on the lastest state of this tree Attila they are appreciated.

Your quote above is quite true. A true dilemma for me with this particular tree, as the trunk and skeletal structure has come along nicely in my opinion. Also that this tree has flowered consistently for the past 10 years.... decisions, decisions.

As far as this contest goes. This particular idea sprang to mind when Will asked if multiple submissions would be allowed. Hence the decision to allow two. I was hoping someone would pick up on this idea. A bit dicey in a contest scenario, but loads of fun.
 

Tachigi

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One further note. The judges have put themselves into self exile from Bnut till the contest is over. I will compile the photos anonymously and submit them for judging.
 

Dale Cochoy

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Hi Tom,
Before I give a couple choices I guess I better ask.
Is this just a "wisteria and best pot contest" or is it a "virtualizing" contest?
I'm trying to decide if I should bother:D
Dale
 
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