2025 9th US National Bonsai Exhibition A Great Success!!

Written by: Published in: Rss Feeds On: 21 September 2025 Read: 252 times

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Thousands of people have visited some of our past nine US National Bonsai Exhibitions since 2008. Every two years visitors from around the world gather in Rochester, New York, to see the state of the art as practiced in America. The American Bonsai Society held their Learning Seminars at our official hotel about a 15 minute driver on the same weekend.

Set up began at 8:00 am on Tuesday, with a small army of valued volunteers. The backgrounds are kept in plastic tote tubs, over 30 of them. When it was time to hang the purple valance, complete with gold tassels, we noticed one tub was marked “wet.” Upon opening the surprise tub all the heavy purple valances were wet. I’m not certain how they got wet, but the tubs were kept in my dry basement for two years. Quickly we removed the purple velvet and spread them on cement paths to dry out. After drying, they were sprayed with Fabreze fabric freshness. They smelled like a spring rainy day…

Visitors began lining up at 6:30 am for the 9:00 opening. The line of patient people went around the building all the way to the street. Fortunately, we enjoyed good weather, but unfortunately could not sell tickets for Saturday admission. Although we have wide aisles (at least in the exhibition area) the fire Marshall will only allow 450 people in the building at a time. Some waited for two hours or more to enter. There was even an official with a counter carefully watching and counting the entering crowd. As soon as a group exited, another was allowed in. I think the entire building completely renewed about three times. We had over 1,000 special lanyards for the weekend passes and I was pleasantly surprised that only a few remain. We had visitors from Japan, Australia, England, Mexico, Guatemala, Alaska and even a few dedicated Canadians who dared to cross the border.

Personally, I’m quite proud that the aesthetic level of the displayed bonsai is increasing. Not only is the beauty of each specimen improving, but also in the way artists are preparing and presenting to the world to showcase their precious living sculpture.

The quality of the necessary containers is quite different than in the past. Now with established American potters producing some containers that rival those imported from Japan, China and throughout the world. There are a great number of unique native species to North America which have growth characteristics which often require custom-made containers, frequently in larger sizes as well.

Of course, display tables are required to showcase each bonsai according to the artist’s taste and how and if they want to “tell a story, or suggest a particular scenic view” which they have enjoyed in the past and would like to share with visitors. The number of skilled and artistic wood-makers is increasing, with some producing unique display table designs.

Finally, supplies and tools are necessary to shape the trees and also to keep the bonsai alive. A wide selection is always available in the adjoining sales area. In the past exhibitions I remember seeing a good number of vendors selling several different types of soil mixtures, but did not notice many this year. When formally displaying a bonsai, an accessory is often utilized to suggest a season or other event. A wide variety of suiseki, figurines and hanging scrolls were available as well as small perennials and appropriate containers for accent plants.

This year there were a large number of developed bonsai for sale for collectors and those who can’t wait 50 years to train their own specimens for immediate enjoyment.

Enjoy my photos and official list of award winners. Joe Noga photographed all 220 trees, except for the magnificent Dwarf cork-bark Chinese elm bonsai. They will all be in the forthcoming Commemorative Album. The drone photos are from one of our generous sponsors Virtuality 3-D Virtual Tours, Jason Henderberg.

Plans are already set for the 10th Anniversary US National Bonsai Exhibition on September 11-12, 2027. Thank you all for joining us to celebrate the state of bonsai in the United States.