Fresh off the hill, potting a rather large Yamadori Yew
Bonsai Potter Showcase #2 John Pitt Video
I have been collecting Prunus Spinosa and Crateagus.
How to reduce the Yamadori rootball to fit in a Bonsai Pot
Creating an ancient look on a nursery tree that is only 15 years old
Collecting the BIGGEST, OLDEST, MOST DIFFICULT Yamadori Yew
The Noelanders Trophy 2012 winners report
Collecting a Huge Yamadori Hawthorn
Escallonia Bonsai created over 5 years dug from an Urban garden
Gingko Award Winner Beech Raft created over 7 years from Poor Material
One room, 15 demonstrators and I imagine quite a few egos! working on amazing yamadori trees… it was quite a feast for the eyes. It was actually more the 15 because some artists had UP TO 5 assistants all working frantically to complete their projects in the allotted time. Here was an opportunity to showcase your talent/bonsai school to a very large audience.
Was it worth driving for 21 hours and 1122 miles (1805 km) one way to participate in a bonsai show? The answer on this occasion is a resounding YES as THIS was no ordinary show. Arco Bonsai Club and UBI invited the cream of Italian (and invited guest… ME!) to the XVI° CONGRESSO UBI and XXVII° ARCOBONSAI.
Almost 100 trees were exhibited with sixty selected to be featured in the annual book. There were a few trees familiar to me but most were new trees that I had not seen before. As you would expect the majority of bonsai were Mediterranean species, Olives, Pines, Junipers and Myrtles however in the show were a few oaks, hawthorns (including mine) and beech. The exhibition was made up of many large and VERY large trees. I counted only 10 trees that were Chuhin or smaller. There was only one display of Shohin. The judging of the trees took EIGHT HOURS and was headed up by Enrico Savini, great care was taken as the previous year a lot of controversy surrounded the selection of prizes.
The venue is the Casinò Municipale (it’s NOT a Casino) in Arco, Trentino which is in the far north just south of the Austrian Border… and what a great venue! The exhibition halls are baroque and very ornate the demo rooms (15 Italian artists all working at the same time) were large and well lit. A huge bonus was a café/bar on site (Superb Coffee 1€) that was the meeting and chilling place for the event. When the sun did shine everyone sat out on the veranda.
Over 45 traders selling all things Bonsai filled the outdoor and the entrance to the show. Noticeably there was the very large amount of Yamadori sellers however the stock on sale was surprisingly poor…any real quality was over 2500€. There was a great selection of potters but NONE from the UK (see my opening sentence) Next year the show is in the south of Italy, this will add a further 800 miles to my journey! But when good coffee is only 1€ I’m not complaining.
It is 6am and I cannot sleep as I am recovering from a gastronomic extravaganza that was the Saturday night Arco Bonsai Party. We know that the bonsai in Italy is amongst the best in the western world but bonsai came a close second to food last night. If a nation can be defined by one thing then for Italy it has to be food. Clubs from the four corners of Italy brought their regional delicacies, Cheeses, salami’s, drinks, bread… great pride was shown when cheese or ham was offered… Yes there was beer and wine as you would expect at a good party but here is a list of what I remember!
Lemons, beans, mozzarella (large and small), breads of all shapes and sizes, HOT pancakes cooked on a table stove filled with Nutella, over 20 different sausages and Salami, biscuits, olives, olives in Grappa, anchovies, so many different cheeses, a hot chilli paste?, dried meats carved at the table, homemade wine and spirits… and finally (my favourite) a spirit made from the fruit of the Myrtle tree. A large group from Austria got in on the act and brought Snapps (excellent). There was an ‘official’ meal included in the ticket but this was upstaged by all the gifted delights.
It WAS a party, and boy do the Italians know how to party; Adriano Bonini dressed as a Padre with a friend dressed as a nun (with beard) gave blessings to the assembled. The band played ‘O sole Mio’ and the roof lifted as everyone sang along (me too) and the wine flowed.
The formalities included announcing the winner of the new talent and the presentation of UBI prizes. The speeches totalled LESS than 5 minutes for the whole evening… hosted by a senior (I am being kind here) gentleman in a long multi coloured WIG! Such was the atmosphere of the night, these guys were there to have a good time… there was even dancing.
These two tables are for sale at Arco Bonsai in Italy. The first is very rough wood with barbed wire as featured. The second table was competed and then burned to create the effect you can see here. Beautiful… yes I think so. The maker told me that this was ‘Italian style’
I started my European Tour at 6.00am on Wednesday, made it to the Eurotunnel on time after meeting up with Stone Monkey (this is another blog post to follow). The gods were not looking favourably as the weather for driving was terrible and the ring road around Brussels at rush hour is NOT the best at any time! I arrived at the Noelanders’ Club at 7.25pm only 5 minutes before the start.
Bad weather in Belgium
A ‘friendly’ crowd at The Noelanders Club
It was a good turnout of 60 members considering the weather. I stayed the night with Stéphane Van Lind and his family and the next day held a workshop for six guys. Some nice trees were worked! Then it was a six hour drive to my overnight in Stuttgart.
My GOD the Germans drive fast! So I had to join them. My AVERAGE speed being 105mph sometimes driving at 120mph! At 5.15 am I set off for Arco, I had six hours FAST driving ahead of me, through some beautiful countries.
I had no time to soak in the beauty
Italian Police want to what is in my car
Getting into Italy was ‘interesting’ the Border police wanted to know what I had in my car. As you can imagine they were fascinated… they held me up for 25 minutes, and I was already on a tight schedule. I arrived in at 11.00 with one hour to spare to have my tree registered for the event, and it is from here that I am posting.
Outside the venue at Arco Bonsai
Arco is a beautiful town about 2 miles from Lake Garda in Italy. The venue is in the Municipal Casino (it’s not a casino) I will be posting a full report about the event soon.
Juniper on a rock at Arco
I am travelling through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia over the next couple of weeks. I will be filming, blogging and recording my tour. I f I have time and a good internet connection I will put some content here on this site. I am hoping to add a lot of new Potters to my showcase series and will feature them here also. So if you see me, say ‘Hi’
Wednesday 2nd Set off at 7.30am
Travel to: Noelanders club Demo, Heusden-Zolder, België 7.30 start
Thursday 3rd
All day Workshop with Stéphane Van Lints:
Leave at 6.00pm Travel to Stuttgart Airport hotel overnight
Friday 4th
Travel to: Arco, Italy Ubi event: Arrive approx: 12.00
Saturday 5th
All day at UBI conference in Arco Exhibit Hawthorn
Sunday 6th
All day at UBI conference in Arco
Monday 6th –Friday 10th Stay with friends in Italy and Slovenia
Friday 10th Visit EBA event and set up: Hotel and congress centre Mons, Ljubljana, Slovenija
Saturday 11th EBA event with Demo, Exhibit Hawthorn
Sunday 12th EBA event
Monday 14th Leave Lunch with Walter Pall
Overnight Idstein, Germany
Tuesday 15th
Visit to: Christian Przybylsk, Essen
Visit to: Jean Paul Polmas, Belgium.
Travel Calais Euro Tunnel
Travel to and stay Stone Monkeys, Kent, Overnight
Wednesday 16th Arrive Home approx 2.00pm
Total driving time 47.5 hours
Miles: 2697 miles
Walsall Studio Ceramics was formed by David Jones in 1986 with the aide of the Princes Youth Business Trust, after a short period he was joined by Ian Smith and this partnership lasted for 12 years in which time they built a good reputation for their work throughout the bonsai world not just in Britain but Europe and the rest of the World.
David’s dad was a potter and David grew up around clay. Never happy with his work, Walsall are always striving for perfection, in this video we get a real insight into what excites David. I have quite a few pots from Walsall Ceramics, visit their website.
I love Hawthorns and especially at this time of year. I call hawthorns a four season tree, they are great all year! BUT I love springtime where the foliage appears and it is vibrant green, the leaves are fresh and new.
I was quite excited this morning as I took receipt of a beautiful book from the Japan Shohin Bonsai Association. My teenage son thought it was something for him when he saw the package as all the stamps were Manga Cartoon Characters. Even my Cat wanted to get in on the action when I was photographing for the blog!
I buy about 10 books a year most are from Japan and a few exhibition books from European events. My knowledge of the Japanese language is limited, confined to Bonsai terms along with “Hello” and “Thank you” so this limits my enjoyment to browsing the photos. But this publication differs as it has ENGLISH subtitles!
This book is more than a celebration of Shohin Bonsai, it’s an encyclopaedia of Shohin Bonsai pots and a real addition to any personal bonsai book library. The high quality photography and print are up there with famous ‘Kokofu’ Exhibition Catalogues. Perhaps the most ‘fun’ part of the book is that most photos of trees and pots appear to be ‘life’ size which is great because you can see the work done with the trees and fine detail in the pots, especially those with ‘scenes’ painted on the sides (and sometimes inside).
The book is published in Japan by the All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association as a celebration of their 30th anniversary. There are 363 Shohin Bonsai and antique pots which were registered as master piece of “Yuuga Bonsai, Bonki” 12 years in a row by the All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association.
I believe that this is only book published in Japan which explains in detail Japanese Shohin trees and antique pots with English subtitles.
This is where my book was purchased and it arrived in less than a week from when it was ordered
I am working on some revolutionary methods for establishing newly collected Yamadori. I started back in November with five trees using different techniques, two failed but three have delivered spectacular results. Prunus Spinosa and Crataegus producing roots from the whole tree, these photos were taken in February. With this knowledge I set out and collected over 100 trees and these are now thriving. I am busy collecting Yews up to the end of April in the UK then over to mainland Europe for Pines and Picea. This year’s stock will be available for reserve for a deposit of 50% from Mid June onwards.
I have uploaded these photos in hi resolution so you can take a closer look if you ‘click’ on them!
New roots direct from the trunk
The white specks are the start of new roots, two weeks after this photo was take the roots were 2cm long!
A small section of the recently collected Prunus Spinosa and Crataegus, they are triving.
