Newsletter January 2019

Bonsai Notebook

Santa Anita Bonsai Society
Holiday Potluck, Demo and Raffle
January 12, 2019



For Food: Club will provide main dish and drinks. Bring your favorite side, salad or dessert to share

The Raffle: Bring an item for the table

Our January 12 meeting will be a little different from our past holiday meetings. We will have our annual holiday potluck dinner and feature a guest speaker at the same time. Louis Camerota, a long-time club member, will do a presentation on azaleas. Lou’s beautiful azaleas have been awarded “best of show” in our club shows, so we know he is knowledgeable about their care.

Lou was raised as a 3rd generation landscaper. He started working with bonsai in 1990. He originally learned about training Satsuki azaleas from Dwight Goins, a former student of Khan Komai. He also studied with Marty Hagberry. Currently, Lou is in his fourth year of study with David Nguy, and he specializes in Satsuki azaleas.

Join us at 6pm as we start the new year, with a wonderful dinner, presentation, and fully-stocked raffle table.

5:30p Board Meeting Prior to Potluck

Meeting Time And Place:
January 12, 2019 at 6pm
LAC Arboretum/ Palm Room

President’s Corner

Welcome to a new year for enjoying the bonsai art. Our club was the recent recipient of a generous donation of bonsai items from the family of Edgar Fukutaki, a member of the club many years ago. Among others in the club, Edgar was a friend of Bruce and Yaeko Hisayasu. After Edgar and his wife passed, the family contacted me and offered to donate his bonsai pots, tables, and wire. I received over 50 pots, some display stands, and a large quantity of wire.

Special thanks to the Fukutaki family for their thoughtfulness and generosity. Edgar’s bonsai items will be available on our raffle tables throughout the year, and I am sure our members will enjoy making use of them.

The new year brings many bonsai shows with opportunities to both display and admire the bonsai art in our area. We look forward to the annual Baikoen Winter Silhouettes show, the Bonsai-A-Thon, the California Bonsai Society show, and of course, our Memorial Day weekend show. Many other events will be listed in the newsletter as the year progresses. We will have a year filled with great demonstrations and opportunities to socialize with people who enjoy the bonsai art form. ~Dave

November 2018 Meeting Highlights

We ended 2018 with a presentation by Dennis Makishima at the home of Peter and Marissa Macasieb. Dennis brought a trident maple that he used to demonstrate pruning techniques unique to tridents. The tree went to our raffle table at the end of the evening. Dennis explained that pruning branches or roots produces a callus at the cut, and new shoots will develop from the callus site. They can be removed or used to develop proportion in branch size working up the trunk.

Dennis said branches that are aligned going up the trunk share the same water line from the roots for feeding the tree. If you cut a trident branch back to the trunk above other in-line branches, lower branches may die back all the way down.


He suggested removing an unnecessary lower branch first and working up over time. Dennis also recommended keeping a tree in a larger container while branches are cut for styling so calluses heal faster.

He said you can expand the root base of a trident by fusing a rooted cutting at the base of the trunk where you need new roots. By cutting the bark from the cutting and the matching position on the trunk you can tie the cutting to the trunk and have it fuse over time. The fused cutting will blend with the trunk, and new roots will be established for the tree.

Thanks again to Peter and Marissa Macasieb for their hospitality.

Dennis was very entertaining and informative. Everyone appreciated the extent of his knowledge and experience with trident maples.

Vic Shelton was the winner of Dennis’s tree in the raffle

Thank You to everyone who donated to the November Meeting Raffle Table at Peter’s

New Members

Eunice Jee

Members Corner

This is just a gentle reminder that it’s now time to renew your 2019 membership for SABS. Our membership dues are vital to SABS remaining financially viable. The dues for each year are due in January. Past members who have not yet renewed are encouraged to do so at this time. If you joined SABS during Oct-Dec 2018 then your membership is current until Dec 2019. It has been exciting to see how SABS’s membership has grown during the past year. Thanks for your participation and support.

The SABS Newsletter is one of the “perks” of belonging to our club. When your membership is not renewed annually by the end of March 2019 the membership lapses and you are no longer eligible to receive this newsletter directly via email and/or US Mail. The newsletter will always be available on our website www.sabonsai.org

Upcoming Events

January 19-20
Baikoen Bonsai Kenkyukai 54 Annual Winter Silhouettes Show
LA Arboretum, 10a-4:30pm, Sat. night reception with entertainment, food, raffle and auction

February 23-24
Bonsai-A-Thon
7:30am – 5pm, vendors, demonstrations, exhibit, raffle, auction
Huntington Botanical Garden, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino

Come Join Us

Next Meeting
Date: January 12, 2019
Time: 6pm
Location: LAC Arboretum
Palm Room 301 N. Baldwin Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91007

Board Meeting Jan 12 Prior to Potluck 5:30p

2019 Monthly Meeting Dates

Jan 12 —- Holiday Potluck & Raffle Demo by Louis Camerota
Feb 9 —- Frank Goya
Mar 9 —- Lindsay Shiba

Refreshment Schedule

Jan 2019 — Annual Potluck Dinner, Club will provide main dish and drinks bring a favorite dish: a side, salad or dessert to share

2019 Refreshment Sign ups will be available at this Jan meeting