Bonsai Notebook
Meeting Time And Place:
Jan 8, 2022 at 7pm
Longo Toyota Meeting Room
El Monte, CA 91731
Directions to Longo Toyota: 3534 Peck Road, El Monte, CA 91731 take the Peck Road exit off the 10 fwy. just west of the 605 fwy, you will see the signage for Longo Toyota which is next to the 10 fwy. When you drive into the main lot facing the showroom, look for the round blue “AAA” sign on the building just left of the main showroom, enter the door below the sign and take the stairs down to the meeting room. Assistance will be available for anyone needing help with the stairs.
Our January 8, 2022 meeting will be held at Longo Toyota once again before we return to the Arboretum for a five month stand including our annual Memorial Day Weekend show. We will not have our usual potluck dinner in the interest of covid-19 safety, but we will have a demonstration, large raffle, and refreshments.
Louis Camerota will be our guest and will do a presentation on azaleas. The current plan is for everyone to have an azalea to take home, so we hope all our members will join us to start the new year. Lou has been with us before to present different stages of azalea development, and we will learn more as he continues. Lou’s beautiful azaleas have been awarded “Best of Show” in our club shows, and he is very knowledgeable about their care and development.
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 (one of our club founders). Lou also studied with Marty Hagbery. He has been studying with David Nguy for many years, and he specializes in Satsuki azaleas.
We look forward to seeing all our members to kick off an eventful new year.
President’s Corner
Happy New Year to all. We look forward to a full year of bonsai events, and hope we can continue to work around the additional covid-19 variants that arise. We are anticipating a year full of the bonsai events that have been traditional for us, beginning with the Baikoen Silhouettes Show. Keep an eye on “Upcoming Events” for dates.
As president, I want to thank our club officers and Board members for their commitment to the club. Without them we would not be able to operate as a club for our loyal members.
We have had some changes during the last year. Long-time member and devoted volunteer, Marge Blasingame, has asked to step down from her duties as Secretary. Her participation in the operation of our club has covered more years than I know of, and we will miss her hands-on involvement. We hope to see her and Ray Blasingame at our meetings just relaxing and socializing. Gabriel Gonzalez has taken a break from being our program chairman. He has done a great job arranging our demonstrations, and we hope to see him at our meetings also. Mike Kelly has graciously helped out with our program scheduling. He is always willing to help, and I appreciate his time and effort. Robert Sencer, our webmaster, has moved to Texas. He is keeping in touch and continuing to help with our internet services. His maintenance of our web page has been responsible for membership growth and numerous inquiries about our club, making him an invaluable asset to us.
I want to thank Steve and Judy Anthony and Jim Pelling who continue to serve us as treasurers and raffle chairman respectively. Again, our club could not function without their help.
Peter and Marissa Macasieb, Gonzalo Rodriquez & Wendy Tsai and Richerd Ryerson have been very supportive and helpful to our club for many years. I appreciate their continued participation and help.
I could not manage the meetings and produce the newsletter without my wife, Lorraine. She does a tremendous amount of work and provides unwavering support for me and the club. Thank you.
We would welcome volunteers from our membership to assist with our efforts to keep the club viable. My phone number is in the newsletter or you can see me in person at a meeting if you are interested.
~Dave
November 2021 Meeting Highlights
Mel Ikeda was our guest at the November meeting. His traditional raft-style demonstrations with procumbens nana junipers have evolved to include a rock formation in his design. Mel glued rocks together with anchoring cement to create a backdrop for his tree placement. He then used a masonry drill bit to drill holes in the rock positioned so branches from the nana-raft could be drawn through as his individual trees. The root ball of the juniper was behind the rock out of view in the wooden box Mel made to display the tree scene.
For his juniper material, Mel looks for p. nana junipers with a crown near the middle of the plant. This usually indicates a larger trunk, which works best in his designs.
Mel finishes by planting moss around the base of the rock and “trees”. His work resulted in a beautiful blending of a rock and multiple trees from a single source.
Ken Teh was the lucky raffle winner of Mel’s design, and happily took the finished product home.
Members Corner
6pm Board Meeting will be held before the general meeting on Jan 8. Open to all! Please join us if you are interested in 2022 planning. We will be also deciding on the “Show Theme” for our May 2022 Memorial Weekend Show.
Annual Membership for 2022 will be available beginning with the Jan 8 meeting. Dues remain the same: $20 per person and $25 for family. For those of you who joined in 2021 your membership will extend until Dec 2022.
For those of you still receiving the US mail version of this newsletter, better quality photos and club updates and resources are always available on our website. Check us out at www.sabonsai.org
Anytime you have any questions please contact Dave & Lorraine at [email protected]
Upcoming Events
Jan 22-23, 2022
Baikoen Kenkyukai 58th Annual Winter Sillouettes Show
L.A. County Arboretum, Ayres Hall, 10am-4pm
Feb 4,5 & 6, 2022
California Shohin Society Seminar 2022
Hotel de Oro, Santa Nella, CA
workshops, demonstrations, vendors, info at [email protected]
Feb. 26-27
GSBF Bonsai-A-Thon
Huntington Botanical Garden
1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino
8a-5p, vendors, demonstrations, auctions, raffles, exhibits
Thank You To our November Raffle Table Donors
Steve Anthony, Y.S.Farn, Mike Kelly, Dave Miles, Robert Sencer, Wendy Tsai & Frank Yee
And to all who so generously purchase tickets
Come Join Us
Next Meeting:
Date: January 8, 2022
Time: 7 pm
Location:
Longo Toyota Meeting Room
3534 Peck Road
El Monte, CA 91731
6pm Board Meeting before General Meeting Everyone Welcome
2022 Monthly Meeting Dates
Jan 8 – Longo Toyota– Lou Camerota
Feb 12 – Location: LAC Arborteum, demo TBA
Mar 12 – Location: LAC Arborteum, demo TBA
Refreshment Schedule
Jan 8, 2022 – Manuel Dizon, Judy Anthony
Feb 12 – Julio Martinez, Wendy Tsai, Mike Kelly
Mar 12 – Julio Martinez, Daniel Deephouse
Refreshment Sign ups will be available at the January meeting
*a yummy thanks to all who brought snacks in Nov– they were amazing!!! We may need to consider a recipe exchange in our future…
