Last weekend the annual Noelanders Trophy took place again in Genk, Belgium. This year was the 20th edition and for this occasion the event was renamed “The Trophy XX”. All the show trees already had been at the Trophy before and the best where selected by Danny Use of Bonsai Center Ginkgo. The event was organised by Bonsai Association Belgium.

I went there on Saturday, And I was not alone…

I got there at 8:20am, doors opened at 9am

At 9am the line looked like this…

Luckely I was all the way at the beginning of the line.

The Vendors Section

Vendors Hall 1

Vendors Hall 2

Trees enough for sale

Pots enough too…

Boot of 1 of the 2 clubs that I’m in.

The Exhibition

Because it was prohibited to take pictures in the exhibition hall on Saturday I have no pics of the trees there. Or wait, maybe I did like everyone else and just broke some rules… (but I did wait to put the pics online until the show was over).

The entrance area of the exhibition, already amazing!

One of the isles.

An amazing Acer by Teunis Jan Klein

Pinus Parviflora

Larix

Just to give you an idea how big this tree is, the thing it’s standing on is a door…

I couldn’t figure out how the deadwood was mounted to the pot. Still a mistery.

Awesome deadwood!

Root over Rock Acer Buergerianum

Twirly cascade

Chamaecyparis

Nice nebari on this Acer Palmatum

One day I’ll have something like this in my garden, for now a picture on my computer screen will have to do.

The awards accompanied by a special creation from the hand of Huub Behets.

Demonstrations

This year the demo’s on Saturday where by the hands of Masayuki Fujikawa, Ryan Neil, Vaclav Novak and Gabriel R. Aguadé.

Demo time!

The demo stage

Masayuki Fujikawa at work.

Vaclav Novak talking about his demo tree.

Ryan Neil talking about the demo tree.

Ryan and some assistants tipping the tree over.

Ryan Neil and the Bonsai Mirai crew at work.

Ryan’s tree before the demo…

Right after the demo…

And repotted, what an amazing transformation…

Tokoname Potters Demo

This year there was a Tokoname potting demo area in the lobby. Tokoname masters Kouji Watanabe, Hidemi Kataoka and Katsushi Kataoka showed us how these expensive pots are made.

Kouji Watanabe doing mould work.

Katsushi Kataoka gives his approval

Hidemi Kataoka hand-forming a pot.

A father and son moment. Hidemy & Katsushi Kataoka.

Almost ready for the kiln.

Side activities



A mini lecture by Walter Pall at the Bonsaiempire.com boot.

Walter Pall, I love his bonsai filosophy.

Meeting up with some awesome guys of BonsaiNut.com

My Loot

Ofcourse I came home with an empty wallet. This is what I got.

Some new gear…

… a Thor Holvila T-shirt …

… and a small 200lbs Acer Campestre.

Conclusion: The show was magnificent, I saw a lot of amazing trees and met some great people. Will be there again next year for sure!