Ed Laurers Ginkgo tree

[Cadillactaste]

The only thing I can think of, and this is coming from someone who never entered a show so take it with a grain of salt, is that the branches don't look as old as the trunk does.
Pollarded trees have a similar growth pattern and show a similar age difference between young and old branching, and basically everyone in the northern hemisphere has seen pollarded trees. So it might be our frame of reference getting in our way.
I wonder if scarring the branches would have made a difference.

The willows we have in this country can be considered ancient; some of them are 180+ years old. But their new growth is smooth as butter.

Ummm...no...just no. Ginkgo don't heal scars at all. You would only bloody massacre the thing.

 

[Colorado]

This won best deciduous, i think the story was that the artist collected it on the side of the road, i think its a carolina hornbeam. I didn't even take a picture of the winner but i heard it was a scots pine


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Just goes to show that these “awards” don’t really mean much of anything.

The trees speak for themselves.

 

[BJJ&Bonsai]

Some further details and anecdotes about this tree:
The first time I visited Ed at his garden, this was the tree he was working on; I took a photo of him working on it and its become his contact ID. He was visibly excited to explain to me why it’s called a “Chichi” Ginkgo -and it’s estimated to be at least 80 years old. Along with a cork bark JBP he has, it is my favorite of his trees. In person and in the photography done by Joe Noga, the pot and tree simply glow together. Imagine my delight that the single tree I’ve probably spent the most time staring at, was being sung praises of on BN!

Nothing has been said about the companion tree but it’s just as good when seen in detail- an incredible densely ramified imported silverberry semi cascade.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Now...I love ginkgo...I'll also say this. Not all trees can win. Deserving or not. End of the day...I think ginkgo one must truly appreciate them. Not all do.

My own ginkgo has great ramification going for it now. But can always be better. That said...sit it beside a whispy dormant deciduous. And I question it gets the attention the other one would.

My ginkgo...In the greenhouse...with the maples around it...and the chunk of an olive. It still shines... but you can't help be drawn to whispy deciduous. Two different breeds for dormant image.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Gingkos are nice and all(great fall color) but will never be as dynamic as other trees. I'd be interested to know if one has ever won a best in show anywhere.

They are typically all grown in the same flame style, don't have the interesting trunk or branch movements that other trees have. Gingkos are supporting actors... not leads.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Gingkos are nice and all(great fall color) but will never be as dynamic as other trees. I'd be interested to know if one has ever won a best in show anywhere.

They are typically all grown in the same flame style, don't have the interesting trunk or branch movements that other trees have. Gingkos are supporting actors... not leads.

They are a breed all their own. Yes...and not all can appreciate them.

Mine...I think for a Ginkgo,has nice movement typically not seen in a trunk. I might me partial.

This link typically is viewable for anyone. You don't need an account. I start off to the side to show depth and ramification. But clearly my trunk is what I actually bought the tree for. The bones was more unique than most. But it still needs years of development. But it's getting there.

Cadillactaste on Instagram: "Well, there it is...winter silhouette. Took a step to the side to show a bit more of the ramification on this Ginkgo. I'm very pleased having this tree on my bench. When...I had no idea of the species... until I reached

47 likes, 4 comments - cadillactaste on November 4, 2023: "Well, there it is...winter silhouette. Took a step to the side to show a bit more of the ramific..."

www.instagram.com

 

[namnhi]

It's a definitely a tree on my wish list.

Oh no

 

[namnhi]

The stand and pot combo are troubling for me. They draw too much attention and are too matchy-matchy in terms of interesting arcs and legs and the stand is very heavy and Bonzai. If you want to use a more interesting pot it should be paired with a simpler stand. In this case a lower rectangular slab or table would have worked.

The whole display could be what the creator trying to show.... the flame....

 

[rockm]

Don't really know what the judging criteria was. If it was about the display, I can understand why it didn't win. There's a lot of things going on there that aren't really great--stand is too small, four display elements that aren't really all that coherent...etc.

The tree itself is great though.

 

[pandacular]

I’m hopefully that some of innovation in judging of west coast shows—Artisan’s Cup and Pacific Bonsai Expo—are explored more fully. Having a single judge, no matter how well respected, and private scoring criteria is simply outdated.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Ummm...no...just no. Ginkgo don't heal scars at all. You would only bloody massacre the thing.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[Cadillactaste]

Good to know, thanks!

Welcome !

Oh geesh my time with people in the UK showed itself in my reply. Lol

 

[SouthernMaple]

Judging in this show is rarely about the best tree...unfortunately politics and relationships always play a significant role. I'm sure that is the case with most shows. There were multiple years at the Carolina Bonsai Expo when I was told both privately and publicly (announced to the audience at the awards presentation) that our display/trees should have been the winner but because of politics the awards would go else where. It is just the nature of beast when people are involved. Nothing in life that involves subjective opinions will ever be "fair" from everyone's perspective.

I wish we could have some shows where politics weren't at play. I have judged a few local shows at my club and tried to be as impartial as possible but when you know the people behind their trees and the inequality of their incomes and one tree being checkbook and the other diy, it makes it really complicated.

I usually end up giving more points to the artist that does more of the work themself than having a pro do 90% of the work. But most of the time its the collector with the fatter checkbook that wins because its a better, older tree.

How could we have better voting? Do you think if we had 10 judges all judge the trees and then do a random draw of three of the judges scores and those would be used to judge the show?

 

[SouthernMaple]

Some further details and anecdotes about this tree:
The first time I visited Ed at his garden, this was the tree he was working on; I took a photo of him working on it and its become his contact ID. He was visibly excited to explain to me why it’s called a “Chichi” Ginkgo -and it’s estimated to be at least 80 years old. Along with a cork bark JBP he has, it is my favorite of his trees. In person and in the photography done by Joe Noga, the pot and tree simply glow together. Imagine my delight that the single tree I’ve probably spent the most time staring at, was being sung praises of on BN!

Nothing has been said about the companion tree but it’s just as good when seen in detail- an incredible densely ramified imported silverberry semi cascade.

Unluckily I am still an acquaintance to Ed, I know who he is but he doesn't know who I am kind of thing. His trees have been stellar last few Winter Silhouette shows, the silverberry and pot he sold Tyler in the last Silhouette show was mouth watering to say the least.

If you have a picture of this ginkgo in leaf or fall color and could upload it to this thread that would be greatly appreciated

 

[pandacular]

I usually end up giving more points to the artist that does more of the work themself than having a pro do 90% of the work. But most of the time its the collector with the fatter checkbook that wins because its a better, older tree.

This is interesting to me; it seems that this is a "political" approach to judging, no? I think it would be really interesting to have multiple awards for different criteria, but if the award is "best in show", then there shouldn't be outside factors that come into play.

I think that's the thing that makes this sort of judging so challenging; to the judge, their reasoning may be fair and internally consistent, but it may results in cases that are do not seem fair to others.

 

[NaoTK]

We need to reframe how we think about bonsai awards, since we all know cases where someone bought a tree, did little work, and won a prize. To me, a prize doesn't mean "you are good at bonsai!" it means "nice tree!"

The PBE folks are doing God's work trying to make the voting process data-driven and unambiguous. They publish the scores and weight individual people's scoring tendencies. There are lots of podcasts and blogs etc about their process.

Playing devil's advocate, but the old style of favoritism judging has some advantages. Bill V may know the history and work someone put into an ugly tree, so they get a prize vs "I imported this last year from Korea."

 

[Mike Westervelt]

I love ginko too, but after seeing pix of most of the trees there were plenty of better deciduous trees, like the clump style JM or the Informal upright Korean hornbeam, IMO.

 

[SouthernMaple]

I love ginko too, but after seeing pix of most of the trees there were plenty of better deciduous trees, like the clump style JM or the Informal upright Korean hornbeam, IMO.

the clump style kotohime was Bill V's, I thought it was hands down the best tree there but he would win best in show every year if his trees were allowed to be considered.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The stand doesn’t work with the pot, in my opinion; too bad, since it’s a nice pot that does work well with the ginkgo. The accent is too big; it wasn’t clear if it was a 3-point or the accent belonged to the cascade tree.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

My two cents is probably more like half a penny as I do not own a Ginko and know nothing about growing/training/judging them. The only thought I have is that where the branches emerge from the trunk there is a marked difference in age, color, and possibly taper. But I don't know enough about them to determine if that is always the case or not a factor. I think it looks AWESOME though.