Thank you to the judges, Steve McKee, Mark Cooper, Ritta Cooper, Andy Jordan, Bill Baker, John Brocklehurst, Andrew Hardman and Robert Stewart.
It was no easy task to judge the show given the range of such stunning and such a diverse range of trees on display but they did an excellent job, so thank you again.
Chris not only put on an individual exhibit this year but he was also one of the traders at our show. He presented a yamadori Larch (Larix decidua) that was collected 14 years ago, which he has been working on, and styling and developing since then and it was in a Gordon Duffett pot.
Robert from Solent and Eastleigh Bonsai Society put on a mame display show casing nearly 20 years of his bonsai passion as he has produced the majority of these mame from cuttings since 2000.
Mark and Ritta’s shohin display was very stylish with a Juniper and Zelkova accompanied by an accent and scroll. Both trees were superb in quality and
condition and the image presented was simple and effective.
Great to have Les exhibiting his mame trees this year, a great diversity of species on display and well presented. He used a very interesting mame display case, which really enhanced the setting of the mame trees. He had some lovely jittas underneath each tree and his crane accent was fabulous and fun.
This year Bill Baker from Wessex Bonsai Society exhibited his Kiyohime maple (Acer palmatum kiyohime). This is an imported tree, which he has owned and developed for the past 19 years and it was in a Chinese pot.
Gary put on a beautiful display of mame trees that included a White Pine in a Juko pot. A Chojubai in a Arimoto pot. A Larch in a Benda pot, with a Forsythia in a Taizan pot.
Together with an Iboto in a Bushuab shiozru / masuhi pot. Combined with a Juniper in a Bigei pot and a Rosebush in a Hikosansin pot.
Tracy exhibited a 20-year-old yamadori Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) in a Gordon Duffett pot.
This was a first at the Swindon Winter Image show to have a bonsai tree on display by Gordon Duffett. He exhibited his yamadori Dunkeld Larch (Larix x marschlinsii) that has owned since 1994, 25 years now.
It was presented in none other than a Gordon Duffett pot with an unusual environmental accent. Gordon was also trading at our show and you have to be quick as his pots sell out very quickly.
This year we have started off another Chinese Elm project to include any new members and existing members and see what they can achieve with these sightly larger Elms this year. Swindon Bonsai Club sourced around 25 Chinese Elms from Lodder Bonsai and are offering them to club members at a subsidised rate. For those members wanting to take part they need to purchase a raffle ticket and it links to a corresponding ticket on an Elm and that will be their tree to develop going forward.