The Trophy 2025 - 22/23 February 2025 - Genk Belgium

I snapped a picture too, but the 'no pictures' policy was ignored by so many that navigating the show was extremely difficult.
Lecture hall was insanely full.

Jelle did a great job at leading the podium and keeping Ryan from making it a one man show. Hats off to Jelle!

I think it's time to make this a four or five day event. Just to spread the audience a little.

Great displays, great sales area, I've spent a little bit too much money. Only double what I intended to!

To the organizers and all the people showing up: thanks for a wonderful event!

Sorry I didn't catch any of you, well done @leatherback on stage! I'm back again tomorrow all day. I got some pots and bits and bobs, but tree importation to the UK is complicated these days... I thought the demos were really cool and some good insights from all the pros, Ryan had a superfan in the crowd that enabled his long monologues but if either are reading its all love and no judgement, made for a cool discussion and Ryan has a lot of knowledge to impart now for some Grimbergen!

it was my first time at a bonsai show but man that was spectacular! The vendors, the show, THE DEMO! It was so cool and mesmerizing to see Ryan Mauro and Koji work in real life and the end results were so cool. Although I’m a big mirai fanboy I think Koji’s tree was the best of them all. It was really fun meeting @leatherback in real life for the first time and what a job you did presenting. Petje af.

Like @Wires_Guy_wires said, spend waaaayy too much but it was definetly worth it.

Dutch bonsai chef said:

Although I’m a big mirai fanboy I think Koji’s tree was the best of them all.

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I think all things considered, all three artists did what they do naturally. And I think there's nothing wrong with that.
Y'all know I'm not a big fan of Ryan, but I think he had the biggest challenge and tackled it perfectly.
When I saw that tree it was the only one I couldn't wrap my head around on where to take the design.

Wires_Guy_wires said:

I think all things considered, all three artists did what they do naturally. And I think there's nothing wrong with that.
Y'all know I'm not a big fan of Ryan, but I think he had the biggest challenge and tackled it perfectly.
When I saw that tree it was the only one I couldn't wrap my head around on where to take the design.

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The tree he had was from an older bonsai focus article/video right? Somebody maybe knows where to find it?

Wires_Guy_wires said:

I think all things considered, all three artists did what they do naturally. And I think there's nothing wrong with that.
Y'all know I'm not a big fan of Ryan, but I think he had the biggest challenge and tackled it perfectly.
When I saw that tree it was the only one I couldn't wrap my head around on where to take the design.

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Do you reckon? I think the 2nd styling is maybe not as hard as the first on Mauro's pine, he just had to refine and remember his vision from 5yrs ago however he was alone, the others had a team, and Mauro has stared at his material for 7yrs to this point and cleaned it up before arrival haha!

The show was amazing and I had a great time looking at all the sales booths and the show trees from 9am till 5pm. I didn't go to the demos because it saves time and I got YouTube for that (and I'm not a fan of Ryan Neal).

I bought the special jin tool from Mauro Stemberger, 1 large Syozan nanban pot, 1 small Reiho nanban pot, 2 old square Yamaaki pots, 1 pine needle tweezers, 1 small bonsai jack, 1 small Takagi watering wand, 1 Kikuwa stainless jin pliers180mm and 1 Pinus Sylvestris yamadori from Spain.

i picked up a friend on the way that didn't had transport to go there so a 15 min detour and we were both at the trophy was well worth the 6hour total drive haha
i did enjoy the tree's on display and there were plenty of vendors, some ask ridiculous amounts of money for what they offer tough but if you took the time and checked them all there were also some real decent priced gems to be found!
I did not have a big budget but still i got two small trees a euonymus europeus and a punica granatum three pots from the tjech guys and some cut paste as i ran out of that recently
it was very crowded if you want to avoid that sunday is often more quiet but ofcourse the tree's or pots that are sold on saturday wont be there anymore... i watched a little bit of the demo's but also there it was kinda full and i had to stand in the back so i didnt watch for long.

I have an album here of photos (largely of the extensive sales areas and just a handful of the exhibition itself:

You need a bigger car Jerry!
Thanks for sharing looks like a great time.

defra said:

i picked up a friend on the way that didn't had transport to go there so a 15 min detour and we were both at the trophy was well worth the 6hour total drive haha
i did enjoy the tree's on display and there were plenty of vendors, some ask ridiculous amounts of money for what they offer tough but if you took the time and checked them all there were also some real decent priced gems to be found!
I did not have a big budget but still i got two small trees a euonymus europeus and a punica granatum three pots from the tjech guys and some cut paste as i ran out of that recently
it was very crowded if you want to avoid that sunday is often more quiet but ofcourse the tree's or pots that are sold on saturday wont be there anymore... i watched a little bit of the demo's but also there it was kinda full and i had to stand in the back so i didnt watch for long.

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Yeah i think some sellers were definitely on the high end, whereas some are probably too cheap! I think most of the raw yamadori sellers are good prices, a few hundred for trunks that could be super trees in a few years - shouts to the Portuguese and Spanish guys and a couple of others. There is not much for the cheaper end of the market, casual fans and beginners, though the beginners' prebonsai junipers and other things like that in the 100eur region are way better and cheaper than we get in the UK IMO

Danny Use's burlapped trees are a bloody steal, I saw insane maples in particular that are massive and very well developed for well under 1k - if I was in the EU and not on Eurostar I would have been v tempted. Those people selling close-to-finished trees (especially classic species - maple, pine, juniper, taxus) with decent nebaris and movement are asking A LOT, but still market rates i guess. Andrea Meriggioli, I'm a mega fan of his book and skills but couldn't really find anything under 1.5k on his benches? And even then with wounds healing, flaws etc.

What's the chances of some end of show discounting to avoid lugging stuff back across Europe? Lets find out

SgtPilko said:

What's the chances of some end of show discounting to avoid lugging stuff back across Europe? Lets find out

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discounting started already yesterday. Today prices in some stands will drop by 50%.

If you cannot be there:


And otherwise, maybe someone might decide.. Hey that looks like it is worth a 2 hours drive after all..

SgtPilko said:

Yeah i think some sellers were definitely on the high end, whereas some are probably too cheap! I think most of the raw yamadori sellers are good prices, a few hundred for trunks that could be super trees in a few years - shouts to the Portuguese and Spanish guys and a couple of others. There is not much for the cheaper end of the market, casual fans and beginners, though the beginners' prebonsai junipers and other things like that in the 100eur region are way better and cheaper than we get in the UK IMO

Danny Use's burlapped trees are a bloody steal, I saw insane maples in particular that are massive and very well developed for well under 1k - if I was in the EU and not on Eurostar I would have been v tempted. Those people selling close-to-finished trees (especially classic species - maple, pine, juniper, taxus) with decent nebari's and movement are asking A LOT, but still market rates i guess. Andrea Meriggioli, I'm a mega fan of his book and skills but couldn't really find anything under 1.5k on his benches? And even then with wounds healing, flaws etc.

What's the chances of some end of show discounting to avoid lugging stuff back across Europe? Lets find out

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yes ginko had really good stock at decent pricing but also ruud lagas had allot of nice larches in the 60-100 euro range and the stand behind that i don't recall the name had allot of different well priced tree's
but also there was bonsai holland landscaping blaricum from pieter van uden i knew the name but never visited their nursery but they had some real gems there and between the 50-250 range
i talked with pieter for a bit and he explained how they grow their tree's he focus on local species and most of his stock is ground grown with care and rootwork for about 12 years and then potted up for two years to grow some branching so they have no big wounds allot of usable branches and ready to be styled into very decent tree's if i had a higher budged i would have bought more trees from them probably but as they are located in the netherlands i already told them that one day ill come to see their nursery to get some more
ive also seen the junipers for 100 euro but i was not realy impressed to be honest and seen better ones for less at other places.. ill have to take some pictures today of my purchases to show what i found!

it was a fun day im sad i couldnt go the whole weekend but 1 day is better then not going at all, as i picked up a friend that didnt had transport to belgium we walked around there together and man that guy literaly knows everyone and because of that i ended up talking with quite a few wonderfull well known bonsai artitsts that had tree's on display at the exhibition or were there to sell their stock but also i ran into some other people i hadnt seen in some years so was good to have a talk and a laugh with them again !

I love walking around there - the exhibition isn't for me but the amount of material on sale is phenomenal.

Plenty of stuff I simply ignore due to the prices, but crawling through all true sales items is my idea of heaven.

I will do a bit of a photodump, I didn't take much until the very end of day 2 - a few (not exhaustive) exhibition and demo trees only sorry! Awesome knowledge and technique shared by all, from yamadori hunting to wiring technique, overall design and deadwood carving approach - loved it.



Koji Hiramatsu taxus cuspidata - as always doesn't really do it justice: Ryan Neil sabina juniper
Cosmique! Hehe

A bit more...

Y más

Mauro Stemberger mugo pine:

Does anybody know if we’re going to be able to watch back the demo’s?