2026 contest ideas?

[Lara_Ericacious]

Un-ethical yard-adori contest

 

[dbonsaiw]

Newbies allowed?

It’s really a great way to learn. You get to develop a tree as you watch everyone else’s progress and techniques towards similar goals. And this contest gives us a chance to develop something in a style that we may not have otherwise tried.

 

[DonielDoom]

The 2026 1yr Fukien Tea contest:

Whoever's tree looks best dead wins

Looks like I've got some digging in the compost/leaf litter pile... I bet mine has some sweet patina by this point; it's been dead and in the pile for at least a year.

At the end of this contest we all win a slightly used empty pot and more mental space to care for our other projects!

 

[Calnicky]

This was my sister's table-top Christmas tree a couple years back. When I went to repot it I realized it had a perfect 90 degree bend at the base that would not lend itself to anything other than the compost pile. It's an Italian Stone Pine. Anyway, not wanting to give up on it too easily, I put it in a cascade pot, thinking to split the trunk and liberally bend it into something reasonable. Then one day this spring I walked by it (thinking "what a monstrosity") when a lightbulb went off! IT'S A RAFT, DUMMY!

I promptly removed all the (now) lower branches, wired the trunk and planned to report it into a training pot - probably a plastic window box pot - spring 2026.

Is it too late (is the tree too far along in styling) to enter into the contest?

50-50 chance (or worse) it won't root anyway, right? Anyway, I'll give it a try whether or not it's in the contest.