Bonsai Central, Collinsville, IL (near St. Louis) USA, May 3-5, 2024

[Kanorin]

In person, the amount of patina on that pot is very noticeable - perhaps in pictures it doesn't come through. For a ~120 year old bonsai it seems fitting to me to have a suitably old pot to go under it. (Not to say I dislike that original cream pot, but this new pairing just feels and looks very old)

 

[NaoTK]

At Nationals in 2021 I saw the Zelkova in a shiny new chinese or japanese pot and it was a bad match:



the new-old pot is a much better pairing. And now I see the front was changed too

 

[Carol 83]

Yes I wish I had made it to the show for sure. I have a couple photos of Adairs tree on his bench 3 years ago.
I like the cream coloured pot it was in, better than the one he has it in now. Moss looks better now though. What pot do you like?
View attachment 544916

View attachment 544915

As @HardBall said, Adair said he thought it deserved an antique pot.

 

[Kanorin]

Also, I finally got my hands on a @NaoTK forest pot!

 

[Shogun610]

Yeah where is @adair

 

[Kanorin]

Yeah where is @adair

At the big shows, apparently!

 

[namnhi]

Yeah where is @adair

He can't stand me batching about buying high quality trees to get award at shows.

 

[Japonicus]

it seems fitting to me to have a suitably old pot to go under it.

As @HardBall said, Adair said he thought it deserved an antique pot.

You're right. I must have been feeling younger when I posted that
Now that I'm feeling my age this evening, you're right

Also, I finally got my hands on a @NaoTK forest pot!
View attachment 544954

I guess it's the colour, not the finish I was attracted to IDK.
That's a fine looking pot there Now I can't help but imagining that pot in an oval for the Zelkova, for a minute...

 

[Canada Bonsai]

At Nationals in 2021 I saw the Zelkova in a shiny new chinese or japanese pot and it was a bad match:
View attachment 544924


the new-old pot is a much better pairing. And now I see the front was changed too
View attachment 544925

Do you know if the owner deliberately chose a pot with so many scuffs and scratches in the patina? And it looks like the patina was cleaned and removed only on the lip?

It’s unfortunate that such a good tree was put in a pot in such poor condition, and that the judges also overlooked this

 

[HardBall]

As @HardBall said, Adair said he thought it deserved an antique pot.

I think maybe my friend and I were standing there while you were talking to him...after the fire alarm?

I also got a @NaoTK pot..always wanted one! Of course I still want more...it was so hard to decide!

 

[Carol 83]

I think maybe my friend and I were standing there while you were talking to him...after the fire alarm?

I also got a @NaoTK pot..always wanted one! Of course I still want more...it was so hard to decide!

I didn't hear the fire alarm but there were two people standing there when we were talking. I thought you wanted to talk to him also so I let him go. I had a pink shirt on.

 

[Carol 83]

Do you know if the owner deliberately chose a pot with so many scuffs and scratches in the patina? And it looks like the patina was cleaned and removed only on the lip?

It’s unfortunate that such a good tree was put in a pot in such poor condition, and that the judges also overlooked this

He said since it was an old tree it deserved an antique pot.

 

[NaoTK]

For folks who don't know the fire alarm went off and everyone evacuated for ~30min. I caught this moment when Young Choe finished a kusamono with a young student in the parking lot

 

[KikurageOtomo]

Do you know if the owner deliberately chose a pot with so many scuffs and scratches in the patina? And it looks like the patina was cleaned and removed only on the lip?

It’s unfortunate that such a good tree was put in a pot in such poor condition, and that the judges also overlooked this

I want to say during my exhibition walk with Tyler that he mentioned buying it for his client online and that he was under the impression that the patina was less disturbed in photos he looked at. I think the lip is a trick of the lighting, the pot still has a semi-reflective surface so I believe its simply capturing the overhead light, I don't remember it being cleaned off in person.

 

[Kanorin]

@Wood @ForrestW and others who are interested, here is a recording of the professional roundtable on collecting trees, their aftercare and their transition to bonsai. One thing that struck me was how there were some things like fertilizer strategy, that every single professional did slightly differently.

 

[Kanorin]

And John Kim, owner of Joshua Roth tools took this video of the exhibit hall, vendor area, and some of the Friday night simultaneous demo