Bonsai Notebook
Meeting Time and Place: July 9, 2022 at 6pm
At the Home of Peter & Marissa Macasieb
West Covina, CA
Join us July 9 for what has become an annual tradition. We will take a road trip from the Arboretum to the home of Peter and Marissa Macasieb for our meeting.
Peter will entertain us with a demonstration followed by raffle opportunities from a full table of member donated bonsai items.
The Macasiebs have graciously hosted one of our summer dates for many years, and the club looks forward to this great outdoor experience.
We will start the July meeting at 6:00pm, an hour early, to make good use of the daylight hours. Once again, we will have the opportunity to walk around Peter’s garden and admire his large and diverse bonsai collection and socialize with each other amid the beautiful trees. It will be a fun summer evening.
President’s Corner
Our summer has begun to heat up. The hot days and cool nights bring about tip growth and long internodes in our trees. Junipers are pushing hard and need cutting back to keep them from becoming overgrown bushes. If our trees get too dense, the lack of sunlight on the inside of branches can cause dieback and leave end foliage only, not a good look. Our tree designs depend on foliage close to the trunk to maintain a natural perspective. Cutting back tip growth will encourage shorter internodes and help secondary branching.
Most repotting is stopped before summer months, but some trees can still be transplanted. You can repot ficus material, pomegranates, cotoneasters, wisterias, and pyracantha.
Watch your tree soil, and don’t let it dry out completely in the summer heat and wind. You may have to water more than once a day, especially with shohin and shallow potted trees. It can be a delicate balancing act, but we learn from experience. Enjoy the summer and watch your trees thrive.
As a final point this month, I want to emphasize the importance of our monthly raffles. Besides our show sales table, the raffles are our primary source of funds to cover the costs of meetings and demonstrations. I am very proud of the raffle participation we have with our club members. It helps the club a great deal. Remember that just about anything bonsai related is welcome as a raffle item. I appreciate everyone who has regularly contributed to the raffle and especially those who buy raffle tickets. It all works to keep our tradition alive. ~Dave
Members Corner
- Welcome New Members: Anita & Emmett Downs
- Our summer meetings for July, August, and September at the Arboretum are preempted by summer concerts. We will have alternative meeting places for those months and post locations in the monthly newsletter and on the website .
- We are still in search of a hospitality chairperson and committee of 2-3 who would be interested in helping to manage our monthly meeting refreshment table. Please contact Lorraine if interested in volunteering and/or learning more.
- For those of you still receiving the US mail version of this newsletter, better quality photos, club updates and resources are always available on our website. Check us out at www.sabonsai.org
- Coming soon: the 2022 SABS Memorial Weekend Gallery of photos.
- Anytime you have any questions please contact Dave & Lorraine at LMiles6455@gmail.com
Directions to Peter’s
Many of you have already had the opportunity to visit Peter’s Garden and know the way to his home. For the purpose of privacy we are not including directions in this post. If you are a “first timer” and need directions please email Lorraine at LMiles6455@gmail.com Directions and street address will be emailed back to you
Thank You To our June Raffle Table Donors
Jim & Helen Barrett, Jerry Banuelos, Mike Kelly, Dave Miles,
Godwin Milner, Jim Pelling, Jason Saito, Vic Shelton
And to all who so generously purchase tickets
June 2022 Meeting Highlights
We received an interesting lesson in the development of saikei, landscape planting, from Jason Saito in June. We have had several artists demonstrate the styling of saikei for us over the years. Each one featured the individual style and interpretation of the artist, and Jason added a great deal to our understanding of the art.
Jason talked about the history of saikei, including the natural styling from bonsai influences and the “not always natural” from Penjing Influences. Jason said he tended to prefer the penjing style.
For his demonstration, Jason used a large rock as the focal point of his saikei and planted bert-davyi ficus material on the rock and at the rock base. He used tufa rock because of its light weight. He started with a shallow bonsai pot and positioned a tall tufa rock just off center. Using mortar and cyanoacrylate, he glued a smaller rock next to the base for stability. To complete the rock formation, he glued a small rock as a ledge part way up the face of the main rock. Jason planted the ficus trees so that the upper tree created depth in the scene with the larger tree at the rock base. He added moss and other smaller plants to accent the trees which, together, resulted in a beautiful landscape display.
David Melitz was the lucky raffle winner of Jason’s saikei.
Upcoming Events
July 2, 2022 Harley Newman’s Bonsai Sale, 1068 El Camino Dr, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
9-10a viewing time. Sale 10-2p
Oct 8-9, 2022 GSBF Bonsai Rendezvous, Hotel de Oro, Santa Nella, CA.
Check the GSBF website for details
Come Join Us
Next Meeting:
Date: July 9, 2022
Time: 6 pm
Location:
At the home of Peter & Marissa Macasieb, West Covina, Ca.
2022 Monthly Meeting Dates
July 9 — Peter Macasieb Location: West Covina
Aug 13 — Jason Chan Location: Longo Toyota, El Monte
Sept 10 — David & June Nguy Location: Chino, CA
Refreshment Schedule
July 9
Snacks & Appetizers
Judy Anthony, Anthony Aquirre, David & Debra Melitz, YS Farn
Desserts
Jackie Zinder, Peter Macasieb, Wendy Tsai
Aug 13 — Wendy Tsai, Judy Anthony, Manuel Dizon
