The 2015 Shohin UK event was a resounding success at the weekend and delivered clear evidence that the standard of the smaller sizes of bonsai has yet again run itself further up  the bonsai flagpole in the past twelve months.

The village hall at Failand near Bristol attracted nearly 200 visitors from as far afield as Paris and Paisley to see this quietly understated but nevertheless highly professional exhibition. This throng (which had significantly increased since two years ago) were augmented by ten traders all offering visitors a fine range of trees, pots and other bonsai items.

The stars of the show were of course the bonsai. A total of eighty trees were on show, spread among twenty six displays.

And what superb displays they were too.

It was interesting to read the “mission statement” on the BSA’s banner which states that we intended to push the standard of shohin…

Part 2 of Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition was held on February 10-13, 2015 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan, following a day closed where 181 bonsai displays were replaced with all new bonsai, except for the four special displays. The Japan Suiseki Exhibition opened on the closed day and the Ueno Green Club sales area was also open for visitors.

These two views may quickly seem similar to Part 1, however all the trees are new. However under close examination a few of the companion plantings were identical, but slightly rotated. I’m not certain because my personal study of Part 2 has not been completed yet, but I think I remember seeing a few display tables from Part 1.

Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora

Gardenia, Gardenia jasmoindes

Zuisho Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora ‘Zuisjo.’ Perhaps the reason for the increased number of this choice cultivar is because most…

After the fun of the Noelanders weekend we left on the Monday morning for Jean-Paul Polmans garden just a 15 minute drive from Gent. Not knowing what to expect from the garden we entered through the car port and faced with a bueautiful garden layout very much in the japanese theme. The whole layout and attention to detail is so well done.



The garden is divided in half and the display benches are in the second half along with a huge work room and a covered section with large pot rack behind.







So many outstanding trees that I would love to have taken home. A huge thank…

Do you guys remember the tool from this post?
Well, I got some advice as to how to get rid of the rust on it from a reddit reader (/u/TotaLibertarian) using an uncommon (and when I say that I mean totally common) substance.
It is suffice to say that my curiosity was piqued.
I did some investerating and research.
I combed over blogs and forums.
I wiki’d and googled until my eyes were crossed.

Then I experimented. First I sanded all the rust….



…. Both off the knife and also on a pair of root cutters.



Knife above, cutters below.

The rust on the cutters wasn’t too bad, it just kept coming back no matter how much I oiled it.



Next, the chemical….



After making a salad (with a little oil, salt and pepper) I put the two tools into a…

No words of mine could add to this Portland bonsai event dreamt up by my colleague Ryan Neil. If you’ve not yet seen Ryan’s new website for the Artisans Cup, definitely do. There’s a cool short movie there, too:

http://www.theartisanscup.com/

Also, since I have your attention, please do get your trees photographed for the Cup soon! Details are on the website about what is needed to enter a tree. (Particularly those interested in entering deciduous trees, note that leafless photos are required. Winter is ending…and leaves will shortly end hopes of entering those trees, so dust off your cameras. See the Submission Form for details).

This is going to be a really inspirational, exciting, and one-of-a-kind bonsai event—and truly not one to miss. The Artisans Cup will be held in the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA, September 25-27, 2015.

The 85th Meifu-ten exhibit was on earlier this month and I’ve just got round to sorting through the Photo’s. It is a local show but, is one of the biggest in Japan and it is on at the same time as Gafu-ten so often people will visit both in the weekend. I didn’t take pictures of all the tree’s but, the one’s I thought were worth taking a picture of.