Last month the Bay Area Bonsai Associates held their 42nd annual exhibit at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California. The event featured an exhibit, sales area, and Saturday evening demonstration by Adam Toth.

Japanese black pine

California juniper

I appreciated that the show included a good mix of deciduous, broadleaf evergreen, and coniferous bonsai. Trees ranged in size from large down to shohin with plenty of trees somewhere in the middle.

It was also fun to see different approaches to the same species. The two coast redwoods below, for example, feature different branch angles, different branch thickness, and different approaches to foliar development.

Coast redwood

Coast redwood

It was also fun to see so many deciduous bonsai in winter silhouette.

Cork elm

Elm and azalea

Jacqueline Hillier elm

Pomegranate

Several small-tree displays provided good contrast to the larger trees in the room.

Shimpaku

Shohin display

Shohin display

The show also featured native material including Sierra juniper and Coast live oak.

Coast live oak

Sierra juniper

Sierra juniper

Walking through a bonsai show has made me excited for the upcoming Kokufu exhibit in Japan. More on that in an upcoming post.