Page 66 - BSAM 2018 Q2

OLYMPIC COLD!
Top; Old, former Korean Residence
Inset; International delegates met in Seoul prior to travelling to the World Bonsai Festival Exhibition. Left to right: Michael Grace; Karen Harkaway, ABS President; Frank Mihalic, BCI Director USA; Kim Sae Won, ABFF President and our host; Lindsay Bebb, Chairman, WBFF; Herbert Obermyer, Germany; Glenis Bebb, BCI President; Piotr Czeniachowski with wife Malgorzata, Poland; Willy Evenepoel, Belgium. Not shown is Jorg Derlien from Bonsai Focus, Germany, who arrived later.
Facing page; Views of Beartree Park. A Secret Garden housed several collections, including a bonsai collection.
ABonsai Exhibition was held in Gangneung, South Korea in February commemorating the 2018 Winter Olympics.
A small group of International delegates, including BCI President Glen Bebb and Director Frank Mihalic, met in Seoul prior to travelling to Gangneung for the World Bonsai Festival Exhibition. Please understand that we have not gained weight. We are wearing at least four layers of clothing! Although I was born and spent my childhood in the
UK I have never experienced such cold weather!
We visited several privately-owned Bonsai Gardens
and collections on our way to Gangneung.
All the material for both bonsai creation and garden specimens are collected from the mountains. Unlike most countries collecting yamadori is not a problem in South Korea as seventy percent of the country is
mountains and covered in Pines!
The species that impressed me the most was the
World Bonsai Festival at the Winter Olympics, South Korea
By Glenis Bebb, Australia Photos by Glenis Bebb
South Korea. Whilst I have seen some very stunning old red pine as bonsai, and in famous garden in Japan, I have never seen such textured bark as seen on the Korean variety.
Ei Seok Chungcheong, the owner of these stunning pines, told me that he only uses aluminium wire to style his pines. This is contrary to most pine stylists who usually insist on copper wire!
One of the growers that we visited has been grafting black pine branches onto the red pine root stock for over 25 years.
In Sejong City we visited Beartree Park which encom- passes 82 acres of land featuring 1,000 species of trees, 400,000 species of flowers, and 150 Asiatic black bears! We visited a Secret Garden via a secret door which housed several collections, including a bonsai collection.
Our group attended the Exhibition Opening Ceremony followed by a dinner and video presentation hosted by the local Mayor. The Exhibition was housed in a outdoor marquee. It was interesting to see conifers
Pinus densiflora. This pine is native of both Japan and 64 | BCI | April/May/June 2018