Newsletter – March 2015 – Santa Anita Bonsai Society

Bonsai Notebook

BRING ONE OF YOUR TREES!!
Join us at the March 14 meeting for a unique presentation by Uyen Truong. Besides being a great bonsai artist, Uyen is an accomplished artist in painting and drawing. He will use his drawing skills to design a tree for you using your material.

Do you have a juniper in a nursery pot growing wild, or a potted bonsai you would like to improve? Whatever it is, Uyen will give you his artistic vision, and you will take home a drawing of the potential future of your tree.

Uyen works fast, so he will be able to accommodate a number of people. He will work on drawings until it is time for the raffle.

Don’t be shy. It’s a special opportunity to see Uyen talk about and draw your tree. I’m sure everyone in attendance will enjoy the program.

2015-03-Img01 Photo by: P. Macasieb

Meeting Time And Place: March 14, 2015 at 7pm LAC Arboretum/Palm Room

President’s Corner

During the February meeting the membership voted to have “saikei” as our theme for this year’s club show over the Memorial Day weekend. It is an exciting choice, and one I hope will motivate members toward creating a saikei if you don’t already have one.

Saikei translated literally means “living landscape”. They are the creation, in miniature form, of a natural landscape composition. A very good book on the subject is “Saikei: Living Landscapes in Miniature” by Toshio Kawamoto. It is out of print but available at Amazon.com. You can also do a “Google” search for saikei and get ideas to create your own landscape.

Have fun with it. We have plenty of good bonsai artists in the club who will help you with ideas if you ask.

~Dave Miles

February Meeting Highlights

We are fortunate to have Peter Macasieb as our Program Chairman. Our scheduled guest was unable to attend the February meeting, and Peter stepped up and gave us a thorough presentation on grafting. He brought two prostrate junipers and grafted Itoigawa shimpaku scions on both trees.

Peter likes to do his grafting from January through March, during the dormant season. He prefers the foliage of itoigawa because of its compact needle formation. He maintains “mother” trees for harvesting scions for grafting. Peter started by picking the areas on the host tree to fit the design he envisioned for the tree. Then he trimmed off the foliage except on branches receiving the grafts. Original foliage on the end of grafted branches continues to draw water and nutrients necessary to keep the branch alive for the scion’s growth.

Peter emphasized the importance of having a sharp knife made for grafting. The correct knife makes it possible to make good, clean cuts to accept the scions and good cuts on the ends of scions to fit in the cuts. He demonstrated the proper trimming of a scion and the proper cut on a host tree. After inserting the scion into the cut, Peter tied it securely with grafting tape, sealed it with tree sealant, and covered the scion with a small 3” x 6” plastic bag. Isolating the scion in its own bag allows for normal watering and misting of the host tree while the scion takes hold.

Peter provided both newly grafted trees as well as an established shohin tree he previously grafted for the raffle. He also included two “mother” trees in the raffle for future scion harvesting. Thank you Peter for both the demonstration and your generous donations to the raffle. Linda Gonzalez and Emma Janza each won a newly grafted tree, and Emma also won the previously grafted shohin. Congratulations to them.

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