Page 50 - BSAM 2015 Q1

Top; Crataegus sp.
Middle left; Overview of the
exhibition
Bottom left; Taxus sp.
Bottom right; Juniperus chinensis
National Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition 2014 in Germany
Strength in numbers
Text and photos by Gudrun Benz, Germany
Ajoint event, the annual general meetings and exhibition of the Bonsai Club Germany and the German Suiseki Society, was held in Mannheim on October 18 and 19, 2014. The host of the event was the Regional-Verband Rhein-Main, an umbrella-organization of five bon- sai work groups in the South-West of Germany. Each year another regional bonsai organization organizes the annual exhibition of the national bonsai and su- iseki clubs. It would be too hard for a local club (work group) to organize the event, set-up the exhibition and to carry out the convention alone. Since the exhibition is open to the general public it should be supervised during opening hours. At the entrance a fee (this year of 4 Euro) is collected from all who are not exhibitors or involved in the organization. At a welcome desk, interested people and bonsai newcomers can get in- formation about the club, bonsai care etc. Therefore a lot of volunteers are needed to fulfil all tasks.
About 90 bonsai and 11 Suiseki were on display. The bonsai exhibited were mostly indigenous speci- mens with a few trees imported from Japan, China and Indonesia. Most bonsai were labelled without the name of the owner because several thefts of bonsai
50 | BCI | January/February/March 2015