Who gets credit for a bonsai tree?

[Gabler]

I have always wondered why it's acceptable to buy a nearly-finished tree, style it, and enter it into a show under your name. If that's the convention, then fine, I'll go along with it, yet it's not what I would have chosen, nor others I've spoken with in meat space about this topic. I'm guessing it's an artifact of Japanese culture.

If the nebari and trunk are the most important part of a bonsai tree, then at least some credit should go to the original grower—listed somewhere under the owner's name on the show placard. Any intermediate owners should also appear, for that matter. I would love to see the full provenance of trees on display. I would hazard a guess that everyone here would also appreciate the additional information. Most displays I've seen already include the estimated age of a collected tree alongside the year training began, so we clearly have a problem taking credit for an act of God. Just list a couple of extra names on the display placard for completeness.

Thoughts?

 

[Dav4]

While I get extreme pleasure from showing a tree that has been all or almost all my work, I do have trees that have been worked on in the past by paid professionals, and I still really enjoy showing those as well. I also feel that attempting to list the full provenance of a tree wouldn't really be helpful. As an example, I have a Douglas Fir that I acquired from a hobbyist at the 2021 NBE. The story was that it was initially collected by Todd Schlafer who may or may not have done some initial work on it. It then ended up in Ryan Neil's hands at Mirai where it was worked/styled and ended up in a Horst pot. The hobbyist who sold it to me bought it at, I believe, the 2019 NBE. Since being on my bench, Tyler Sherrod has worked on it once or twice, but hasn't touched it in almost two years. Meanwhile, I have been working on it, repotted it two springs ago, and will be rewiring it next fall. Anyway, that's a lot of provenance to put on a placard. Ultimately, it's my tree, so keeping it simple makes sense imo. If someone were to ask me, I'll gladly let them know about the tree anyway.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Not who, what. It’s about the tree.

Ever watch a dog show? Notice how the attention is on the dog, the handler is visible from the knee down, and the owner is in the audience?

If you go to a bonsai exhibition, you want to see killer trees regardless of provenance. If a tree sucks, who cares if it’s one hack’s work for 30 years?

 

[Dav4]

Not who, what. It’s about the tree.

Ever watch a dog show? Notice how the attention is on the dog, the handler is visible from the knee down, and the owner is in the audience?

If you go to a bonsai exhibition, you want to see killer trees regardless of provenance. If a tree sucks, who cares if it’s one hack’s work for 30 years?

Your highlighted statement is so obvious, I didn't even think to bring it up, but I couldn't agree with you more.