Newsletter – March 2018

Bonsai Notebook

Bring your tools, wire, and favorite tree to the March meeting. The meeting will feature Roy Nagatoshi who will host a workshop. Roy is a well known bonsai master who learned the art from his father, Shigeru Nagatoshi. Roy grew up working at his father’s nursery, Fuji Bonsai Nursery in Sylmar; now owned by Roy and where he teaches classes.

The March meeting will be special in a couple of ways. First, Roy will guide us through a bring-your-own-tree workshop. You will have the opportunity to have Roy help you take your own tree to the next level of development. Second, the club will provide five trees to current, paid members through a free raffle at the beginning of the meeting. Roy will help the raffle winners style their new trees.

Workshops are not done very often, and you usually have to pay a lot of money to participate in one at our conventions. This is a great chance to get free expert advice from a bonsai master. Bring a tree and join in.

*ATTENTION – All current paid members will be eligible to win a tree from Roy’s Nursery in a free raffle at the beginning of the March meeting. The 5 tree winners can then style their trees with the help of our guest, Roy Nagatoshi. If you have not yet renewed, you can do it on meeting night before the raffle to become eligible.

Meeting Time And Place:
March 10, 2018 at 7pm
LAC Arboretum/ Palm Room

President’s Corner

The members voted at the February meeting to have ginkgo as our show theme tree this year. Please plan to show a tree in our club’s show Memorial Day Weekend, and if you have a ginkgo, bring it.

It’s repotting time again. The Bonsai-A-Thon was the perfect source for supplies, so hopefully, you have what you need and are ready to go. You can start on junipers, and some deciduous trees are already popping buds. Most of us enjoy getting our hands dirty and giving our trees fresh life, so dig in and enjoy.

Once again I want to acknowledge the hard work and generosity of club member Kathy Boehme. Many of us volunteer our time for the annual Bonsai-A-Thon, but Kathy has again gone above and beyond. She donated more than 100 bonsai pots, made by her, to the Bonsai-A-Thon raffle. She made a wide variety of sizes and shapes; every one spectacular. A lot of raffle tickets were sold to people hoping for a chance to take one home. I know how much time goes into making each pot, and I am in awe of her work and generosity. She also donated one of her older trees in one of her pots that auctioned for a lot of money in addition to the raffle donation. Thank you Kathy!

I made a mistake and need your help. Did you win issues of Bonsai Today #26 or 27 at the February 2018 meeting raffle? I received a donation from Jay Packer that included a complete collection of the Bonsai Today magazine. I inadvertently put two issues of the magazine in the raffle at the Feb. meeting ( issues 26 and 27). If you won these issues in the raffle, I would appreciate it greatly if you would return them at the March meeting, and I will replace them with other magazines. The full collection has value, and I would like to try and sell it at our show in May.

~Dave

February Meeting Highlights

Fred Miyahara joined us in February and demonstrated the fine art of grafting. He used juniper and Italian cypress stock for his presentation, but also talked about grafting black pine.

Fred started with the question, why do we graft? He cited a few reasons including the propagation of hard to find sub-species, the need for foliage in open spaces on a branch, and the introduction of different foliage within a species. He said cork bark trees can be hard to find, so grafting a cork bark scion onto a tree of the same species is a good way to generate stock. Often, an otherwise fully developed tree may lack foliage at an important place in the tree styling. Grafting can fill the space. Finally, trees such as junipers have a wide variety of foliage patterns. Grafting makes it possible to put a more aesthetically pleasing foliage on a tree.

               

Fred stressed the importance of having a sharp grafting knife, saying it should be sharp enough to shave with. He makes three, layered cuts on the trunk or branch to expose the cambium that the scion must contact. The scion is cut at the same angle as the knife bevel on the side facing the cambium of the tree stock, and cut flat on the opposite side. After slipping the scion into the cut, the graft is wrapped tight with grafting tape so the graft does not move. Then he covers the graft with tree sealant to keep water out.

Fred then uses a small plastic bag to cover the scion and graft, and puts a small wet cotton ball in the bag to create a greenhouse effect. The tree must then be kept out of direct sunlight to avoid “cooking” the graft until new growth appears.

Fred did a great job explaining his technique. He passed around samples of each step so we could see his work up close. Grafting is not easy, but Fred put us on a path to success with his demonstration.

SABS Announcements

This is just a gentle reminder that it’s now time to renew your 2018 membership for SABS. A special thank you to all of you who have already renewed for this year. 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 2017 then your membership is current until Dec 2018 . 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 2018 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

Newsletter Update

If you have a knack for writing, a story to tell, a photo or something you would like to share in our newsletter please submit it to Lorraine & Dave prior to the 20th of any month at: [email protected]

Upcoming Events

March 24-25
61st Annual California Bonsai Society Exhibit, Huntington Botanical Center
9:30a – 4:30p each day, reception Sat. night 7P

Thank You to our February Meeting Raffle Donors:

Jerry Banuelos, Gabriel Gonzalez Marty Hagbery, Dave Miles

New Members
Soung Shin

Come Join Us

Next Meeting
Date: March 10, 2018
Time: 7 pm
Location:
LAC Arboretum, Palm Room
301 N. Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, Ca 91007

2018 Monthly Meeting Dates

March 10 — Roy Nagatoshi
April 14 — Tom Voung
May 12 — Bob Pressler

2018 Refreshment Schedule

March — J. Anthony, M. Bullington, M. Kelly, D. Miles
April — M. Blasingame, O&W Chin, Y.S.Farn
May — J. Gibbs, E. Janza, D Miles, A. Sigimura