Potomac Bonsai Association Festival 2017

[Redwood Ryan]

This weekend was the PBA festival at the National Arboretum in D.C. I went yesterday since today is Mom's Day.

Let's just say this...it was ugly. The vendors typically setup under a big tent next to the national collection and sell their trees, pots, etc., but this year they weren't able to do that. They had set up, but then chased out from the tent due to structural issues, or something of that nature.

They basically made the vendors take everything down and setup in random places. This unfortunately chased away quite a few of the vendors including Hank Miller, who I was looking forward to greatly. He may be up there today, but I'm not in town so I'll miss that.

Long story short: it was an embarrassment on behalf of the arboretum and many vendors just left. Very poorly executed.

I did grab some shots of the national collection for those interested.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Who can forget the breathtaking Hiroshima tree?


And of course, the tropicals...

 

[CWTurner]

I feel bad for the PBA. I don't know details about the tent, but it looked a little funky to me on Friday (the sides didn't seem straight).

This is the first show that I ever attended, so I didn't know what to expect. PBA had some nice bonsai on display.
I was a little disappointed in the pre-bonsai stock. A lot of seedlings, and a lot of sticks in pots, but I didn't see anything that said "buy me". Least not in my cheapo price range.

The national collection was awesome. To stand in front of the Hiroshima tree and see Goshin in person was worth the trip to D.C.

The Hiroshima tree surprised me a bit at the top of the trunk. The trunk is basically a barrel, then it suddenly thins and branches out as if it were grafted there long ago. (have I just angered the bonsai gods and doomed my own plants?).

I really enjoyed looking through the arboretum's conifer collection. Would have loved to collect some cones and seedlings out there. I'm surprised the arboretum doesn't sell these.
I missed the azalea area and state tree area though.
CW

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I feel bad for the PBA. I don't know details about the tent, but it looked a little funky to me on Friday (the sides didn't seem straight).

This is the first show that I ever attended, so I didn't know what to expect. PBA had some nice bonsai on display.
I was a little disappointed in the pre-bonsai stock. A lot of seedlings, and a lot of sticks in pots, but I didn't see anything that said "buy me". Least not in my cheapo price range.

The national collection was awesome. To stand in front of the Hiroshima tree and see Goshin in person was worth the trip to D.C.

The Hiroshima tree surprised me a bit at the top of the trunk. The trunk is basically a barrel, then it suddenly thins and branches out as if it were grafted there long ago. (have I just angered the bonsai gods and doomed my own plants?).

I really enjoyed looking through the arboretum's conifer collection. Would have loved to collect some cones and seedlings out there. I'm surprised the arboretum doesn't sell these.
I missed the azalea area and state tree area though.
CW

First time?! Man you got screwed. There's usually twice as many vendors than what you saw. Lots of great stock. Hank Miller was one of the ones I was looking forward to buying from but he left after the whole fiasco with the tent.

Give it a try again next year, you'll love it a whole lot more.

 

[lieuz]

@Redwood Ryan I know this is up for debate but I found it a bit problematic to plan this festival around mother's day. It was a great turn out on that Sunday compared to Saturday aside from the weather; however, I felt it could have been more, attendance was sparse.

 

[lieuz]

@CWTurner Ryan said it best, ugly, on that Thursday when they were setting up the tents, it was raining indiscriminately. Those tents were set in pudding I felt like.

 

[mcpesq817]

Unfortunately this show has really gone downhill in recent years. There used to be great professionals that were brought in to do workshops and demos - this year it seemed to just be club "pros". The vendor tent used to be a lot bigger - not to take anything away from the vendors that were there this year, but it was great years back when you had Lang, Dale, Gardens Unlimited, Adams, Nature's Way, etc. etc.