12 - EspritBonsaiInternational #••• The public also voted for a favourite
tree, and it was the Breton bonsaist Pierre-Yves
Le Lidec’s azalea that secured the most votes.An inter-club competition
The major innovation of this convention on
the FFB side was the Interclub challenge on the
Saturday, with six clubs competing: AFAB (Paris
region), Mitomo Team (Bas-Rhin department),
Club de la Charente, Club Lauragais (Haute-Ga-
ronne), L’Arbre en Pot (near Rouen) and Club
Palois (Pau). The idea was to promote teamwork,
and so each club had to plan a project beforehand
which was put into action on the day of the con-
vention. The main judgement criterion was the
relationship between the tree at the outset and
its new appearance afterwards, taking account
of how the result had been obtained. It was the
Arbre en Pot team, from Saint-Léger-du-Bourg-
Denis near Rouen, who won the judges over with
their work on an ishizuki. Freddy Filiot, the as-
sociation’s president, was presented with a hefty
trophy which, like the EBA one, will be brought
back each year to be placed in the hands of sub-
sequent winners.
An aspect not to be missed at FFB and EBA con-
ventions is the New Talent contests. The one for
France took place this time on the Saturday morn-The team of the association Arbre en Pot won the Interclub
challenge for their work on an ishizuki. Left to right: David Viger,
Fabien Thomas, Joël Bacenetti and Philippe Planquette.FFB “Outstanding Tree”: Acer palmatum “Deshojo”,
Danielle Grégoire. Height: 80 cm (31 in.).Nicolas Hubert (Provence-Alpes-Côte-
d’Azur region), New French Talent 2019.Enrico Masini (Italy), New European Talent 2019.�^ Exhibitions