This year I went to the annual exhibition in Czech republic organize by my friend Vaclav Novak and CSB. The event was grand with great trees and lots of really nice people. Here are a few of the trees presented at the exhibition.

Many readers are familiar with the gold award pejing of the world, the Idea was made by two brothers in china and did a really good job getting people from all over the world to send them pictures of their award bonsai. They have a new web site where you can see much more. Thanks Alan, hope to see you again in the future

http://www.fsqwy.com/

I had the opportunity some time back to travel to different parts of china, from Guangzhou to Peking. I was lucky to go together with the group of IC Su. and see the best collections found in china. It was a great trip. I will warn those traveling by them selves going to Peking or shanghai. If you are looking for bonsai they will be hard to find. You need to know just who to ask and how to find them. And as you can see for your selves there are great bonsai and some great species yet to be used in the rest of the world of bonsai.

Well some people think I’m a bit crazy but this year it seems I’m really trying to prove such thing. The long awaited KOB contest was a great opportunity to actually do some work on a selected tree, I usually have my hands full just colleting yamadori and cultivating them and from time to time I get the chance to work on them a bit more. And of course what better way than a contest, that is always a great motivation to get the job done. Of course there was the thing about going to another continent for a year which on the other hand was consuming some of my time planting all my trees in the ground and hoping for the best . Can you imagine leaving your collection of several hundred trees for one year!!! Sure I get night mares just thinking about it. But well, I had to make a choice so I decided to go full way and choose one of my oldest bucidas. Bucidas are not just any tree. They are almost impossible to find and they are very sensitive and to get a tree like the one in the picture let me tell you it aint goig to be cheap or easy. So I took the tree out, I got a great pot from my father and my cat was just thought it was great bed, so after a bit of convincing I got to use the pot. Ummm then I took the tree out, and memories of collecting this tree came back, this thing weights over 40 kilograms and then I was glad it was not my biggest Bucida which I could hardly put on my truck two years ago at 80+ kilograms. Anyway after cutting some big roots I was happy everything fitted ok and most of the fine roots were in. Of course the protocol would damage any tree and bucidas are particularly needy so I knew if I wanted to do some work this tree had to be placed back into the ground. After a month I was happy more than 10 cm growth had taken place in all directions, which meant the trees roots were quite happily growing. Then of course I had forgotten all about it, as I had decided to built a section of my house an not just a little but a whole new roof, of course know I had only a few days before I would depart and one of my pH.D students got her paper accepted and she decided it was possible for her to defend her thesis before my departure, of course the bureaucracy would take a month on the best case scenario so to do it in 5 days was just mad, so we had to practice and then I was running between getting people material and stuff for the construction and taking care of things from my lab and yes taking some pots and stuff from my house to my office. As my house was going to be occupied by some friends, so in all that mess I decided to do some carving of the bucida, actually I had about half an hour one afternoon, so I got my tools and started on the spot. The tree with pot and all is very heavy and I decided I need it some help to get it out and for half an hour it would not be worth it. Besides I wanted to see if the tree would have any negative effect on my electric carving. Well the days passed and everything was set to get the cement into my roof, not just a little and two big truck with a huge hose came in, which hardly fit through the garden came in, 6 tons of cement where town in a few minutes, but of course for this there were helpers, and sure instead of building while they were parking that truck I ask them to help me lift a tree. No problem we got it on a table and I was happy to begin carving as the truck and all were getting into place. Sure every 15 min I would go and see what was happening. I then had to wire the tree and let me tell you this trees are not just call spinosa for no reason. But well a little blood could be lost for the sake of art. The workers left and everything was calm, of course that lasted 5 minutes as I got a call from my students that they wanted to celebrate. Ummm I thought but the exam is tomorrow. And they say yes but this is for your departure, I say ok. So I got back into my truck and sure I saw that the main electrical earth cable from the house was broken, actually stolen. Got dam lousy time for this and this is a especial cable not sold so easily so I had to make a stop downtown. Of course I got to the store and the guy look like he had no Idea how to sell something, I was quick, knew what type of cable I wanted, and of course they were out of it, that took 10 min! for them to find out. Considering that I had to be at my own farewell party already I look the guy and say what type of cables he actually had, and I chose another, so he said he had to go to the back and cut it after I pay for it, so I pay for it, and he told me it would take 10 more minutes. I say fine, so I when to the bank since I was running out of money and I had to depart within 30 hours. I got back and the guy to me that the wire that I wanted had a plastic covering and it he did no new if it would cost more so he did not cut it. So I went to the cashier and she told me it was the same price. I could not understand why being 4 meters apart he could not ask this. Obviously my students were calling every 5 min. I told them to start. By the time this guy finish I just got to my office told every student what they had to do for the rest of the year while eating a pizza and then I had obviously a meeting for a national scientific congress, by the time that was done I was dead tired and it was quite dark. I got home and figure out I had to actually pack something for my trip. After all I was leaving the house for one year. Ummm and of course I had to plan for gifts for my family from Mexico and little things and such. Ufff well soon it was 4 am so I guess it was time to get the final things packed and light would come out soon, after breakfast I had to move to my lab then my student defended her thesis she did a good job but maybe I was just happy that the roof had not come down during the night. Then there was this sort of short celebration, and I had to run quickly after that as I need it sun light to take the final pictures of the tree. Thank fully my friend Jorge came so we could move the tree. I just took 6 pictures and decided it was ok, of course this is by looking at the little screen from the camera. I decided to take a couple more pictures of two trees for Certre and AOB . So we planted again the tree, and actually the other trees as well. I was happy I had half an hour rest before going to the airport. So I walk around check everything was ok. Say good by to all and got on my way. Of course a few days later I check the pictures and yes some branches could have been moved to a better place and of course the center of the tree need it much more carving for light to pass trough from a 2 dimensional perspective, especially the jin at the center of the trunk in 2D it looks like it is fused with the other trunk making it look like an inverse growth. Something you don’t see in 3D. But well this is the actual story for this year KOB tree.

Well its been a year since I started working this tree. Hard to believe that a year ago this tree was just a trunk without leaves or branches. I finally manage to get the basic structure to form the clouds, and know only a bit more time and lots of pinching will be needed to reduce the leafs and to improve ramification. I think it will become a good bonsai soon. Let me know what you think. By the way you can see how I started this tree by clicking this site
http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=2263
hope you enjoy it and do let me know what you think or what would you change.
Best regards.
Enrique

I was lucky to make a demo in czech republic next to Mark Noelanders a very nice guy that I meet long ago in UK. He made a terrific job of his juniper.

Estas son unas de varias pinturas que realizan y que estan accesibles a la compra aquellos interesados favor de contactar a zuzana621@yahoo.com yo creo que realizan muy buen trabajo y pueden pintar aquellos arboles de sus coleciones, solo envienles una foto.

I had a great time at this event, which was quite well coordinated and very elegant. Hope you like some of the pictures
Aqui les muestro algunas fotos del evento de Praga, fue muy divertido y muy elegante, espero que les guste.

historialc.jpgI collected this bucida three years ago, it has been a great tree to work on, althoug I´m still thinking of making some changes in the lower part of the trunk, but I think the tree is developing quite well. The last tree pictures show diferent angles of the tree as it looks today. Bucidas have a bad reputation of being very weak and touchy. I have found that I can remove alot of the roots, and do a lot of work on very old trees and they respond great as long as sea sand is used and its keept with a high level of humidity. I hope you enjoy this tree, more coming soon. to see the image just klick on the red letters!