In preparation for our spring show I would like to remind everyone about show prep for your trees.  Speaking as the show-chair for BSSF I would just like to remind everyone that March is not as far away as you might think.  Now is the time to be doing critical clean up and wiring of trees that you plan to put in the spring show.

Show prep is a little bit maintenance and a little bit of putting off maintenance.  See my article previously about maintenance versus show prep the goal is to make the tree look as good as possible for the show, and sometime that means doing things that are not what you would normally be doing to the tree.  But it also means a little trickery and showmanship.

Take for example a branch or pad of foliage on a conifer, as a tree grows through the summer it will start to look messy: junipers get fluffy looking and start having downward growing foliage, year-old needles on pines go from all neatly pointing in the same direction to dangling down at an odd angle.  The underside of a pad of foliage has to be flat and clean for your eye to recognize it, so in both cases old needles have to be cleaned out from the bottom to bring the picture that you are painting into focus.    But at the same time you can leave some of the old needles if they are needed to keep the tree looking full and lush for the show.

Wiring and unwiring are another aspect that can be controlled.  While conifers are very often shown with wire on some or all of the branches, deciduous and broadleaf evergreen trees look better when the branches are shown free of wire so that bark and the subtle movement of the branching can be appreciated.  But what to do if you need to move a branch?  Wire it now and leave the wire on until the day of the show, then remove it just before the show, the branch may have set; and even if it hasn’t in many cases it will take a few days to spring back to it’s position, giving you enough time to show it.

Mossing should be done so that the tree looks nice for the show.  Many times moss that has been growing on the soil by itself looks untidy and should be removed and replaced with a more uniform covering.

Timing of flowers or new leaf opening is also critical to the show.  If you have a tree that you are showing in March, think back to when exactly it flowered or leafed out last year.  If the timing was perfect treat it the same as you did last year, but if it flowered too late bring it inside your house each night for a few weeks leading up to the show so that the flowers open during the show.  If it flowered too early last year try keeping it out of direct sunlight as spring approaches so that the opening of the buds is delayed slightly, or if you have a walk-in refrigerator put it in there for a couple nights (ha!)

Think ahead to the show and consider whether the tree that you have is in the best pot possible.  If not, start looking now for a better pot.  The same thing applies to display stands: if you don’t have a display stand that is appropriate for your tree (or you don’t know what is appropriate) start looking now.  Ask club members during workshop about what stand would be good for the tree.  If you don’t want to buy a stand try to borrow one from someone who is not using their stands (a member of another club or a member of our club not showing as many trees as in the past.)

Finally, consider which trees could be shown in conjuction with others.  BSSF members have many many junipers in their yards because junipers grown well in San Francisco and lend themselves to bonsai culture.  But for display purposes we need nearly equal numbers of Conifers and broadleaf trees.  If you plan to show 2 junipers consider bringing your favorite juniper and a broadleaf tree to go with it in the display.  Formal displays often contain only one tree if the tree is large, or contain one medium size tree and one smaller tree.  Running displays of trees need to have variety in both size and species.  Take a look through the photos on our website from last year’s show and think about how your tree will be displayed.   Plan to bring accent plants or stones or scrolls if you want them to go with your tree.

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