REBS Show 2007

The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society's annual show is always the fourth Saturday and Sunday in August. It is without a doubt one of the best shows in the US. Each year I try to photograph the new trees, and even many of the impressive trees that appear year after year. It's remarkable to follow the changes. Following are this year's selection in no particular order. Following some photos you will find comments and critique. Enjoy!

A collected California juniper. There are many collected junipers at this show, many of them stunning like the one above. These are difficult trees to collect and the survival rate is quite low. This tree has exquisite branch detailing, a result of Kathy Shaner's workshops for club members, and the influence of Boon on members and others in California. More on this later. Interesting jin at the very top. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on here. The foliage of the tree creates a flow opposite that set by the deadwood, but the jin returns the flow set by the base. A very clever device.

This is Jim Gremel's signature cedar, Cedrus atlantica. I have photographed this tree many times over the years, and consider it the best cedar in the world. This year, there was a distinct difference in the foliage pads. They are much more refined and separated. The larger, lower branches carry unbelievably thin manicured pads which really gives you a feeling for a large mature tree in nature. Due to the scale of a large natural tree, the aspect ratio of limbs and foliage is very thin just like Jim has captured here.

Crape myrtle raft, Lagerstroemia indica. A very unusual composition but befitting of the growth habit of crape myrtle which has a tendency often to lose the main trunk and sucker from the base. You can see the remains of the trunk in the center. Excellent wiring of the smaller trunks. I think it could be improved by a fuller look of the middle trees to give a slightly stronger triangular outline, but this is probably coming since the branch work throughout is not very detailed yet.

This is an enormous olive, Olea europaea. It's hard to get the scale of the tree from the photograph; it is  about 18 inches wide. It literally makes a mountain scene with the branches reminiscent of trees growing on the mountain rather than branches of a tree. Observe how thin the root pad of this tree is compared to the mass of the trunk. This is accomplished by literally sawing off the base. Olives can withstand this kind of massive rootwork, but still, work on this scale shouldn't be tried at home.

Hawthorn,  Crataegus laevigata(?). This is a landscape collected hawthorn about thirty five years old, I should know, I collected it about twenty five years ago and sold it to its present owner. I notice this year it has berries. I don't remember seeing berries before, although this seedling tree is old enough to flower and fruit (20+ years). Frank told me the trick of getting it to berry, and of course I immediately forgot it! I just love getting old.

Japanese winterberry, Ilex serrata. This is a magnificent winterberry. All those little tan balls are berries and will be bright red in winter. Why is it leafless in August? I talked to the owner about it, and he defoliated it for effect, to show off those berries. This should not really affect the health of the tree since this is a very mild climate, but it's not something that you would want to do on a regular basis. The trunk is truly massive, and these are very slow growing shrubby trees, so this tree is ancient. I believe it is a collected tree from Japan. Flowering and fruiting trees are usually grown and styled for flower and fruit display, but this tree has a wonderful trunk and branches as well, something you don't see very often.

Japanese black pine, Pinus thunbergii. The trunk has been massively contorted and the wiring of the branches mirrors the contortions. It is full, but you can still see every branch of the entire structure, a not so easy feat. In a tree like this you want to see all the structure.

Another Japanese black pine,  Pinus thunbergii.  This one is a completely different composition with a completely different feel. Where the first one is knotted and bound up, this one is soft and sweeping. The crown work is very fine, making what would be a rather boring trunk, a peaceful illusion. The front branch is not quite right for me. It fills the space under the trunk a little too much and has a counter motion feel to it, but this is a minor complaint.

Japanese white pine, Pinus parviflora. I looked at this tree for a long time. If it was in the show before, I can't remember it. Technically, this tree if very off balance, but the fact that I can't stop looking at it says something else. It really has very strong dynamic movement. I think what saves it and makes it work is the upper part of the tree. Follow this analysis with me. Starting at the base of the tree, there is a very strong right to left flow set by the severe angle of the trunk to the 'ground'. This sweep moves into and down the well placed first branch. But the eye doesn't stop there, it moves up the trunk nearly vertically in a couple of dizzying curves. The nearly vertical section is too long, but this is a minor complaint since you often get what you get. Then the trunk moves back again, strongly against the flow set by the base. This countermove creates great interest and also tension. Now if that angle into the section beyond the vertical section had been anymore to the right, it would have been spoiled, creating the dreaded 'C' curve that is the flow killer. But it doesn't do this, the apex comes back mirroring the same angle of the low trunk and preserving the original flow. A great composition.

Sierra Juniper, collected. This juniper has kept its wild native look except for a fairly well defined outline. The straight thick middle section of the trunk is a bit annoying, but again, with collected trees, you get what you get. I think some sort of deadwood treatment in this area could solve this problem. The thing you should notice about this tree (and most of the other junipers here) is that it is not styled with foliage pads at all. You can see right through all parts of the tree. This imparts a very natural look because this is exactly how they look in the wild. Maintaining this type of foliage pattern is difficult to do, but the result is so much better than the 'School of Green Donuts' that you so often see in classical Japanese styling. I have discussed this in length with Jim Gremel who is learning it from Boon, although Kathy Shaner is styling trees like this too, and I wouldn't be surprise if she has influenced the design of this tree.

I have written about this technique several times in the forums without much in the way of response. I don't know if this is going right over people's heads or they just think I am crazy. Briefly, pinching foliage pads to make 'clouds' results in unnatural dense clusters of foliage with a completely dead center. The pads themselves are opaque. The negative space comes from the open areas between the pads. This form of styling requires constant 'pinching' of the foliage and results in an ever increasing thickness of the pad. At some point, the process must be started over and the pad reduced. This means that the pad will only be in its prime for maybe one year in three or four. The open style of foliage formation (I don't even think it has a name yet) is accomplished just like the ramification of deciduous branching. It is done with sharp shears cutting small 'branches' that are just becoming woody. They are removed in a pattern. You lay out the foliage in your hand so you can see the joints close to the growing ends. There will be many points of growth forming the beginnings of small woody branches. You prune with your shears to achieve a pattern similar to deciduous pruning such as left, right, left, right, up, left, right, left, right, up, etc. Downward facing branchlets are removed. It takes a tremendous amount of work to do this throughout a juniper, but the results are spectacular.

Below is a closeup of the foliage in a branch of this juniper showing the kind of detail work that I am talking about. You can clearly see the pattern of the fine branching. If done properly, this tree will always look like this and never have pads. As the foliage areas get too long, you just work your way back into inside buds and branches to replace the outer areas.

Another collected Sierra juniper showing the same kind of foliage treatment as the one above. This is an ever 'wilder' tree than the other. Many junipers in nature form this kind of natural raft after the main stem dies. The multiple trunk treatment here is very good resulting in in excellent perspective. The left side needs more work to mirror the 'refined' wildness of the right side. The foliage is a little too heavy on the left, and the branches need to come down a bit. With just a little more work, this tree will be a real stunner.

Pinus parviflora 'Zuisho', Japanese white pine. Not quite the classic formal upright of 'Zuisho' but close. The informal upright and the 'bend' in the branches make it more pleasing than the 'stiff arm' look of the the formal upright, at least in my opinion.

Collected  California  juniper. This tree has a very beautiful trunk, but as you can see it is just in the beginning stages of foliage and branch development. In a few years it will be a very beautiful tree. Not sure  about the jin in the apex. It's a bit long and distracting at this point, but without the full foliage pattern it's hard  to say  how it will work out in the end.

Ficus retusa. I'm not a tropical guy, but I really love this fig and have photographed it many times over the years. It's strongest attraction is of course the trunk. The branches could use a little refinement.

Yet still another  California juniper. Wonderful trunk with an incredible live vein. The straightness in the live vein near the top is a little disconcerting, but again, this is another case of you get what you get in a collected tree.  The movement in the branches is very nice in the  lower part of the tree, but becomes a little confused  in the apex area. This could be easily corrected.

And finally, some shots of the show floor. Hope you enjoyed the photos. If there is any way you can attend this show, you should. There is also a fabulous vendor's area and free munchies. How can you beat that? For more information on the club and the show, here is their website: http://www.rebsbonsai.org/