Alpine ajuga, from the Alps no less

When I say small, I mean small.

This little guy is a souvenir from our trip to the 2008 EBA convention in Vienna, Austria. Wolfgang Putz was kind enough to point me in the direction of 2 fantastic Alpine nurseries on our way home, and it was an experience I will be talking about for years to come. (Wolfgang Putz is a cool dude.)

This is a green, very small-leafed ajuga in flower. I realise the picture doesn't give any idea of scale, but I have expressly forborne putting coins, matchbooks or any other object as a visual reference. Ruins the composition of the picture, that does. Drives me bonkers when people do it.

So, here are the stats. The pot is a Walsall, standing 1 in / 2.5 cm high. The total height of the planting is 2 in / 5 cm. Inlaid wooden table & red lacquer tray are Japanese. Green leafy ceramic thing is something I made at one of our club meetings. Bronze heron is also 1 in / 2.5 cm high.

This entire composition will go into the Open Competition later today (it's in the wee hours as I write this) but not with the little heron as this bronze is way too fragile (and nickable). This will be an entry in the Accent Plant class.

I don't really expect to be taking home any prizes, that's not the reason we enter competitions. I love the aspiration to perfection in the display of bonsai, I love challenging my brain to come up with different and radical things each time, and I love sharing my creations with people. Ratification from my peers is a plus, but not essential to either my well-being or good humour.

I think we will be in Salzburg for the 2013 EBA Convention, and no matter how big the detour, we will be going back to visit these 2 nurseries again. Anyone interested (I couldn't recommend them enough), let me know and I will dig up their details.

UPDATE: got a 3rd for this display and 2nd for another accent plant - a viola. That's nice... am knackered...