National Bonsai Collection - England

[Watto]

I took the opportunity to have a look at the national collection when we were in England recently. I was decidedly underwhelmed. The national collection in Australia (NBPCA) is streets ahead in my view, however if you want to see my real thoughts you will need to have a look at my blog. I will have part 2 tomorrow or the next day, honest, trust me!
A couple of photos for you to digest.

[Beano]

Is that last tree the one where the pot got painted with the stand? Or do you mean the whole pot got painted? Hope it wasn’t an ancient gorgeous pot or anything...


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[Matthew]

I would agree considering both the population and access to both domestic and imported material but you got to be jealous of that Yew and I would not say no to that larch group either .

[melbrackstone]

It's a shame about the collection, but I guess it always needs a good quality group of enthusiasts to keep the interest going....plenty of volunteers who will be able to spend the time. Clearly we have that here in Oz. I guess they need someone to rally the troops in the UK.

Thanks again for the pics and the blog, Watto.

[KIRKY]

Thanks for sharing Watto,
Wow! the tree’s are doing time. I can honestly say looking at them made me sad.
The Larch is almost nice, except for the weeds. I wonder though is it back to front?
I have not personally seen our National Collection except on the net. I hope we never follow any of what was just posted.
Cheers
Kirky

[Waltron]

I bet there are some outstanding private collections in England. Who would donate a top quality tree to a collection like that - anyone?
They need to be rescued.

[Ryceman3]

Yeah, it would be hard to be motivated to donate a tree for display if the standard of care wasn’t all that flash, I think it’s a bit of a Catch22 now... they need some good trees to get things up to par but they need to show they can look after them if they do get good trees ... which requires good trees... you know what I mean!
Maybe if you had a tree that had misbehaved quite badly and needed some time in the “big house”, looks like this might be the place to send it for a few years to think about what it has done??!?

[Watto]

Beano, the "painted pot" will be on my blog, maybe tomorrow or the day after.

[Matt S]

Thanks for posting Watto.

I guess with so many opportunities for Bonsai artists in the UK to display their trees at a national and international level, the demand for a national collection is pretty low. But seeing neglected trees behind bars reinforces how good our national collection is and how important it is to the Australian Bonsai community.

Matt.

[MJL]

Thanks for posting Watto.

But seeing neglected trees behind bars reinforces how good our national collection is and how important it is to the Australian Bonsai community.

Matt.

Thanks for posting Watto and well said Matt, the NBPCA is a treasure and all the folk that work at, volunteer and support the NBPCA should be congratulated. It’s bloody good.

And Bonsai behind bars .... now there’s a thought .... so many layers

- I reckon much of my collection is bad enough to be ‘behind bars’!!
- on a semi-serious note it could well be the name program to help rehabilitate folk in the big house: Bonsai Behind Bars: life in a pot helping rehabilitate..:. There’s something in that...

Anyway - bummer for plants in the UK - I hope they find a way to escape their current plight!


Bonsai teaches me patience.
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