One thing that always happens to me when I have a tree on display is, when I get to looking at all the other beautiful trees, you begin to look at your own and think it not worthy.

I think it’s that old axiom, “Familiarity breeds contempt ” working on me.

I’ll start off with my tree, so we can get to the better ones.



There’s my tree as you will see it. A bit like a Monet, good from afar.



Here’s a close up.

It was a cold day (for the Floridians) and very windy.

Our intrepid leader, Paul.

Everyone, except for me, was bundled up.

We were all there (Thankfully! There were sone long hours of partying the night before and we had to be at Epcot at 7:30 am.) and all the trees were there (which was way more important).



Epcot has a fine install crew so mostly we stood around having a good time schmoozing and bragging-



while they were hard at work.

I wish I had gotten better pictures of the trees but the contrast with the background sucked; I tried my best and I had to play around with the photos a bit.

There were three cypress:







And they were all different.

Three podocarpus





The two above plus my tree.

Five ficus salicaria





I wish I had gotten a straight on picture of this fine tree (sorry Mike) you’ll just have to go see it in person. It’s one of the best in the show.



All five of the salicarias are different too; it’s amazing how bonsai artists can see something unique in every tree. The first is a standard styling. Mikes tree is a multilevel fantasy tree and the third is a giant deciduous tree style.



And that handsome devil is me. Trimming some errant shoots, or posing for a photo op, one of the two.



Speaking of posing, there’s Dave and his salicaria clump.

And one more salicaria that I am saving for the end. You’ll have to wait, no skipping ahead.

I felt sorry for the workers. Some of the bonsai artists were a bit fussy



This poor guy standing in the cold water on slime covered rocks with dog sized koi trying to knock him down kept looking at me like “do they really want me to turn this tree clockwise 4 1/2 degrees counterclockwise after just turning it clockwise 6 8/15th degrees?”

I feel for ya’ man. Sometimes we are prima-donnas.

But I digress.

Back to the trees.

There were three ficus microcarpas, all with different leaf shapes though



I wish I had something to show you the scale on this tree. The trunk at soil level is about 12inches.



My friend Tony’s tree. He collected this out of his front yard and built the whole tree from a stump.



And this massive tree above; it’s about 3-4 feet tall. The picture is really bad, sorry.

There were two bougainvillea

This neat one above and a tall sinuous one I did not seem to get a picture of.

Again, you’ll have to go in person. Sorry Julie.

This one:



is a tree I’ve never seen before as a bonsai.

Golden dewdrop (duranta)

It’s a stand out. The deadwood alone is beautiful



And he hand painted the pot himself. Nice.

Another cool tree is this nea buxifolia



One of the better pics I took. Very good wiring job, every branch is wired and placed in the right spot.

This tree I just could not get a good pic of



So I’ll post three bad ones



It’s a Simpson stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans) they call it a stopper because, if you’re going too much, and you drink a tea made from it, you will stop.

And I must say that this tree is a show stopper.

Sorry, bad pun.

Next tree



The obligatory juniper.

A stunning buttonwood:



I’d like to thank the crew for all the help



and heavy equipment.

Epcot and Disney do bonsai a great service in having a show like this, thank you.

I’d particularly like to thank Paul and the Epcot committee for allowing me to participate again this year.

The dates are March through May 19 2013. Try to make the trip.

Oh, one last tree!

The best in show, I think.

You may have seen this pic floating around Facebook already.



The story behind this ficus salicaria is amazing. But it’s not mine to tell.

It is probably one of the oldest salicaria bonsai in the world.

Nicely done my friend!

See you at Epcot!