Pictures of various things at Four Seasons 4th Annual Bonsai Show

[M. Frary]

I took a journey south last weekend. I headed out on Friday morning at 4:30 in the morning. It's a 3 hour drive but if you stop for gas (I drive a 1998 explorer with a 5.0 lite engine) which pretty much buying gas a regular thing. Coffee and the resulting rest area stops it is more like 3 1/2 hours.
The place the event was held is the largest nursery in Michigan. Every nursery I've ever been to all rolled into one would fit in this place with room to spare.
I'm now a member of a bonsai club. I think they let me in for my ability to move large objects. Because the whole morning I set up tables and helped bring in trees and set them on the display stands. Some of these things are heavy!
Also I brought down a few trees to give away and sell. Turns out I'm going to be a popular guy because I'm bringing a way for other members of the club to obtain wild collected material. I made some friends with everyone there and may be taking some on collecting trips up here. Who would have thunk it.
So anyways here's some pictures. I'll let you guess who that gentleman is tearing into that cryptomeria. Which by the way is a tree I've never seen before. They also somehow got a tapestry made with me in a samurai wig.

 

[M. Frary]

Next are pictures of a demo by guest bonsai pro Cyril Grum. It's a large Amur maple donated by the Flower Shop in Dundee Michigan. Kurt the owner is now a friend of mine. He found a bunch of these he has and is digging. It's around 5 to 6 inches at the dirt. I bought tickets for the raffle on this tree but no joy. Guess I'll be heading to Dundee in the spring.

 

[M. Frary]

Now for some trees. Sorry about the quality of the photos. Apparently my left leg is shorter than my right. Almost every picture has a little lean.
A giant ficus. A little shimpaku. A boxwood and a mugo pine. You can see Vance's influence in almost all of the conifers.

 

[M. Frary]

I'll get more up tomorrow. I just noticed I didn't take a picture of my all time favorite tree. Vance's quasi raft mugo known as the dragon. Dammit! I go there just to see this tree. Pictures are OK but seeing it in person is a whole different thing. Here's one from last year.