Bonsai Notebook

We have a unique dual demonstration planned for the March 14 meeting at the Arboretum. Jason Saito and Jaime Chavarria will be talking about and demonstrating the differences and similarities between two distinct styles of landscape plantings; a rock planting (ishitsuki) , and a Chinese landscape (penjing). They will discuss the skills and techniques used to create naturalistic landscape plantings. Both pieces will be in the raffle for members.
Jason and Jaime are students of saikei and bonsai master Frank Goya. Jason has been studying bonsai for about 9 years and is primarily focused on landscape planting and ceramics. Besides master Goya, Jason has studied with Al Nelson, Mel Ikeda, and John Wang.

Jaime started studying bonsai in 1991. He worked in a gas station near the Yamaguchi Nursery and met many bonsai masters while picking up their cars for oil changes from the nursery. Sam Nakano gave him his first tree, which he still has, and a few lessons. Jaime joined an all Japanese bonsai club, Bay Cities, as the first non-Japanese member and learned a lot. Later he joined Marina Bonsai Club and met Frank Goya, who he still studies with.

Don’t miss a chance to see this dual demonstration and maybe win a great landscape piece.

Meeting Time And Place:
March 14, 2020 at 7pm
LAC Arboretum/ Palm Room

President’s Corner

Members voted at the February meeting and selected “conifers” as our 2020 show theme. This choice provides us with many tree options including pine, juniper, cypress, and spruce, to name a few. Now is the time to pick a tree or two and prepare them for the May show. You can always enter multiple trees and also trees other than theme trees. The important part is sharing our work with the public who pass through Ayres Hall and always enjoy the show.

We are in the middle of repotting season. Most trees don’t need repotting every year, but the timing can vary. Some say every three or four years, but trees will often tell us when it is time. If water stands on top of the soil and doesn’t drain steadily, it is time for root pruning and new soil. If a tree isn’t quite as healthy looking as it has been over time, repotting may bring back its vitality. If the roots are pushing a tree out of its pot, it is definitely time for a repot. A healthy tree that drains readily should be fine for another season. Keep track of repotting dates, and let the trees tell you when it is time to repot.

~Dave

February 2020 Meeting Highlights

Louis Camerota joined us in February to share his second lesson on the care of azalea bonsai. This year Lou talked about repotting. He said, as a general rule, to start repotting narrow-leaf azalea varieties in February and larger leaf varieties in March. Lou recommended repotting every three years, but to let the tree tell you when (sounds familiar!).

He said the tree branches are a mirror image of the root system, so if there is no new growth, it is time to repot. If growth is only on branch tips, repot. Finally, if water doesn’t drain or drains slowly, repot.

When repotting, Lou suggested removing about 50% of the roots from the bottom of the root ball and to cut flat across the bottom. He advised not to hollow out the bottom as we do with other tree types. Lou said using a metal root rake can easily damage azalea roots and to use a bamboo chopstick to gently comb out roots.

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Lou uses Kanuma soil exclusively for his azaleas and recommends it above any other soil mixture. He said the acid level of Kanuma is just right for azaleas. He also talked about water ph levels and said 5.5 to 6.2 is ideal. He uses “ph down” to lower high ph levels. Lou said he uses a 5-5-5 organic fertilizer in tea bags placed on top of the soil.
Lou brought several young azaleas for our raffle, so members had a chance to win a well cared for azalea to develop as Lou continues sharing his azalea secrets in the future. Thanks Lou for another great lesson.

Thank You To our February Raffle Table Donors (And to all who so generously purchase tickets)

Jerry Banuelos, Joe Cervantes, Edgar Fukutaki Family, Y.S. Farn, Peter Macasieb

Welcome New Members

Matt Mahaffey
Andrew Nguyen

Members Corner

It is with much sadness that we share the passing of long time bonsai enthusiast and SABS member Joe Cervantes on Feb 11, 2020. Joe will be always remembered by many of us.

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• Jan – March is SABS membership renewal time. Thanks to all for your participation and support. It has been exciting to see how SABS’s membership is growing. Our membership dues are vital to SABS. Your dues enable us to maintain our relationship with the Arboretum, offer monthly meetings, and amazing demonstrators. Our Annual Show every May is filled with our member tree displays and a members sales table with a huge variety of stock, rocks, pots, ceramics, supplies and much more. Past members who have not yet renewed are encouraged to do so at this time. If you joined SABS during Oct-Dec 2019 then your membership is current until Dec 2020.
• 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 2020 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
• If you have a knack for writing or an event/ story to share please contact Lorraine at [email protected] before the 20th of any month to be included in the newsletter.

Upcoming Events

March 21-22
California Bonsai Society annual show at the Huntington Botanical Center
1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, three demonstrations each day at 1:00pm, reception Saturday at 6:00pm.

Come Join Us

Next Meeting
Date: March 14, 2020
Time: 7pm
Location:
LAC Arboretum, Palm Room
301 N. Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007

2020 Monthly Meeting Dates

Mar 14 — Jason Saito & Jaime Chavarria
April 11 — Al Rivera
May 9 — Tom Vuong

Refreshment Schedule

Mar — Marge (drinks) D. Melitz, J. Pelling. P. Macasieb, L. Miles
April — Marge (drinks), J. Pelling, E. Jee
May — J. Pelling, E. Jee

2020 Refreshment Sign ups will be available the March meeting

Bonsai Notebook

The February 8 meeting at the Arboretum will feature long-time member Louis Camerota. As you recall, Lou is an expert at raising and training Satsuki azalea bonsai. Lou’s beautiful azaleas have been awarded “Best of Show” in our club shows. Last year Lou talked about the first of several stages in the preparation of azaleas. He talked about the critical use of leaf removal to stimulate new growth, and he also shared his ideas on fertilizing and watering. This time he will talk about repotting, and Lou is bringing several small azaleas for the raffle table. Lou started working with bonsai in 1990. He learned about training Satsuki azaleas originally from Dwight Goins, a former student of Khan Komai. He also studied with Marty Hagbery and currently studies with David Nguy. Join us in February to continue learning about the development of azaleas.

Meeting Time And Place:
Feb 8, 2020 at 7pm
LAC Arboretum/ Palm Room
6pm Board Meeting Prior to General Meeting

President’s Corner

I want to start by apologizing to everyone for the confusion involved at our January meeting. We successfully held our annual potluck holiday celebration, but those attending had to endure a terrible parking situation. Also, I know many of our members arrived in the middle of the parking chaos and returned home. Again, my apologies to all.

I did not learn about the Arboretum’s extension of their “Moonlight Forest” show until the afternoon of the meeting date. Our room was still scheduled and available, so we had our meeting. Thanks to all who managed to get in with food and extras, including our demonstrator. Ed Clark, and to our board members who helped navigate the logistics. The Arboretum has apologized to me for the lack of timely notification, and we will work together to avoid any repeat of last month.

Don’t forget that February also includes the annual Bonsai-A-Thon at the Huntington Botanical Center. There will be many venders, demonstrations, an exhibit, raffle , and auction. See “Upcoming Events” for details.

~Dave

January 2020 Meeting Highlights

The January meeting was our club’s annual potluck holiday celebration to welcome the new year. The food was plentiful and good, and the raffle table had an abundance of bonsai pots and related items. Our guests were Ed and Linda Clark who traveled from Lindsay, CA to be with us. Ed was a commercial grower of trees for the nursery market in the Central Valley before retiring. He now grows bonsai material on his property.

Ed brought Japanese maple whips, 1-2 years old for his demo. He quickly planted a maple forest with the trees while talking about the propagation and care of the young trees. He planted the trees randomly with the intention they be moved around later into a traditional configuration, once the trees developed more differences in their sizes. Ed made examples of maple forests and put both in the raffle.

He also explained that the young tree trunks would fuse together into one trunk if wrapped together tightly. He displayed several pictures of the potential for a single tree if developed from the fusing process. Ed demonstrated the process of wrapping a clump of maples together. He wired individual trunks in the group to position them for the future outline of a single tree. He put several of these maple clumps in four inch liners in the raffle along with the forests.

Everyone enjoyed Ed’s presentation, and many took part in another opportunity. Ed brought a large number of additional four inch liner maple clumps that he made available to the members for a very reasonable price, and members purchased almost all of them.

Thank you to Ed and Linda for being with us at the potluck. It was a wonderful evening for socializing, food and bonsai.

Members Corner

Barbara Wright has been a member of Santa Anita Bonsai Society for many, many years. Some of you may remember her. Each year as she renews her membership, she sends a generous donation and updates us on life in Middleboro, KY. This year she sent along a photo. This is Barbara with her Ginkgo tree which she styled with Melba Tucker while in California. When moving it this past Nov 2019 to be displayed at her home church the top was broken. She now is looking forward to using it as “a start” for her next Ginkgo. Thank you Barbara for sharing and being such a true bonsai enthusiast and longstanding SABS supporter.

This is just a gentle reminder that it’s now time to renew your 2020 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 2019 then your membership is current until Dec 2020. 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 2020 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

February 22-23
Annual GSBF Bonsai-A-Thon
7:30am – 5pm, vendors, demonstrations, exhibit, raffle, auction
Huntington Botanical Garden
1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino

March 21-22
Annual California Bonsai Society
Show at the Huntington Botanical Center more details next month

Come Join Us

Next Meeting
Date: February 8, 2020
Time: 7pm
Location:
LAC Arboretum, Palm Room
301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007

Board Meeting Feb 8 prior to General Mtg 6pm

2020 Monthly Meeting Dates

Feb 8 —- Louis Camerota
Mar 14 — Jason Saito & Jaime Chavarria
April 11 — Al Rivera

Refreshment Schedule

Feb — Marge (drinks) , J. Anthony, D. Deephouse, F. Yee
Mar — Marge (drinks) D. Malitz, J. Pelling. P. Macasieb
April — Marge (drinks), J. Pelling, E. Jee

2020 Refreshment Sign ups will be available the Feb meeting

Bonsai Notebook

Santa Anita Bonsai Society
Holiday Potluck, Demo and Raffle
January 11, 2020

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

The January 11 meeting is our annual holiday potluck dinner and raffle. As we did last year, we will also have a demonstration. In order to accommodate the dinner and demo, we will start at 6:00pm. The club will provide the main dish and beverages. Everyone attending should bring their favorite side dish, salad or dessert. We still have many donated pots from last year, and this meetings raffle table will feature a large number of them.

Ed Clark is coming from Lindsay, California to develop a small maple forest bonsai for us. The demo forest will be in the raffle. In addition, Ed is bringing 18-20 maple clumps in 4” containers that interested club members can purchase for $12 each. The trees can be used to make your own forest or remain as a clump.

Ed owns the Round Valley Nursery in Lindsay where he propagates Japanese maples, shohin Shimpaku , black pine, and other bonsai material. Before retiring about nine years ago, Ed was a commercial grower of Japanese maples and magnolias for the largest bare-root nursery in the Central Valley area. Ed became interested in bonsai at an early age and returned to it after retirement. He started studying bonsai with the Fresno bonsai club and later with John Naka, Ray Theme, Ted Matson, and David Nguy. He now uses his nursery for the development of bonsai material.

Join us for good food, socializing, a fun demo, and a big raffle table

5:30p Board Meeting Prior to Potluck

Meeting Time And Place:
January 11, 2020 at 6pm
LAC Arboretum/ Palm Room

President’s Corner

We have a full year of demonstrations already scheduled for 2020. Our plans include a special guest from northern California, Jonas Dupuis, for the October meeting. Check out his blog at Bonsai Tonight. Jonas has recently finished a book on bonsai. In order to host Jonas in October, we had to move our regular meeting date from Oct. 10 to Oct. 17, the third Saturday. We hope that by having notice well in advance members will be able to schedule the change and come to see Jonas.

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 great members. These volunteers include; Gabriel Gonzalez as program chairman, Judy and Steve Anthony as our treasurers, Marge Blasingame as our secretary and show chair, Lorraine Miles our newsletter editor, Robert Sencer our webmaster, Jim Pelling as the raffle chairman, and our members-at-large, Ray Blasingame, Mike Kelly, Peter Macasieb and Dick Ryerson. Thank you all for your time and dedication to the Santa Anita Bonsai Society.

~Dave

November 2019 Meeting Highlights

Tak Shimazu entertained us with his bonsai artistry at the November meeting. He brought a beautiful Itoigawa juniper to work on.

The meeting was held at Longo Toyota in El Monte because of an event conflict at the Arboretum. We had a large room that accommodated us very well. It proved to be a good location for potential future use, and the price was right; free!

The juniper Tak brought for his demo was grown from a cutting and had good proportions and branching. He wired the tree to conform to the bunjin style. Peter Macasieb stepped up and narrated Tak’s work , so Tak could work quickly to finish the tree. There was a lot of foliage cut from the tree, and members were encouraged to collect the cuttings to plant for future Itoigawa stock.

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Tak cut to make shari (dead wood) on the trunk before the meeting to save time and worked masterfully to transform the material during the meeting. His completed bunjin juniper was an excellent example of Tak’s vision and skill at developing bonsai. It was a real pleasure watching him work.

Jaime Chavarria was the very lucky raffle winner of Tak’s tree. Jaime will be part of a demo for us later this year.

Thank You To our November Raffle Table Donors

Jerry Banuelos, Joe Cervantes, Edgar Fukutaki Family, Gabriel Gonzalez, Gary Lai, Dave Miles, Victor Shelton, Wendy Tsai

And to all who so generously purchase tickets

Members Corner

This is just a gentle reminder that it’s now time to renew your 2020 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 2019 then your membership is current until Dec 2020. 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 2020 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 18-19
Baikoen Bonsai Kenkyukai 56th Annual “Winter Silhouettes “ Exhibition
LA Arboretum, 10a-4:30pm, Sat. night reception at 6:30 pm with entertainment, food, raffle and auction

Jan 31-Feb 2
17th Biennial Shobin Seminar
Santa Nella, CA. wwwCalshohin.org

February 22-23
Annual GSBF Bonsai-A-Thon
Huntington Botanical Garden1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino
7:30am – 5pm, vendors, demonstrations, exhibit, raffle, auction

Come Join Us

Next Meeting

Date: January 11, 2020
Time: 6pm
Location: LAC Arboretum, Palm Room
301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007

Board Meeting Jan 11 Prior to Potluck 5:30p

2019 Monthly Meeting Dates

Jan 11 —- Holiday Potluck & Raffle, Demo by Ed Clark

Feb 8 —- Louis Camerota

Mar 14 —- Jason Saito & Jaime Chavarria

Refreshment Schedule

Jan 2020 — Annual Potluck Dinner Club will provide main dish and drinks. Bring a favorite dish: a side, salad or dessert to share

2020 Refreshment Sign ups will be available at this Jan meeting

Bonsai Notebook

Because of a scheduled night event at the Arboretum, our November 9 will be held at Longo Toyota in El Monte at 7:00pm. (See the directions below) Takashi “Tak” Shimazu will be our guest demonstrator in November. Tak is another of our well known local bonsai masters, so join us to see a future bonsai masterpiece take shape.

Tak was born in Kumamoto, Japan and emigrated to the U.S. in 1968, residing in Orange County. He ran Tak’s Gardening Service for 40 years before retiring. He got started in bonsai as a hobby being tutored by his brother. From there he has studied with John Naka and Harry Hirao. Today he is a well known bonsai artist specializing in Japanese black pine and juniper bonsai. Tak is an expert at grafting Itoigawa Shimpaku on San Jose and prostrata juniper.

Tak has led workshops at GSBF conventions for many years and has taught a number of students. He belongs to several bonsai clubs including Nampu Kai and California Bonsai Society. We look forward to seeing Tak do his magic in November.

Meeting Time and Place:
Nov 9, 2019 at 7pm
Longo Toyota Meeting Room, El Monte, CA

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.

President’s Corner

We just received a generous donation of bonsai pots from long-time club member Joe Cervantes. Joe and his wife Martha are downsizing and will not have space for his pots. I picked up a total of 120 pots with the help of Marty Hagbery; thank you Marty. Most of the pots are Japanese made and will appear on our raffle table for many months ahead.

The holiday time of year is upon us. Fall colors are showing and leaves are beginning to cover the ground and our pots. It is time to clean up the leaves and debris on our benches and prepare for winter. Most of our trees will be fine with the winter cooling, but those of us with ficus trees and other tropicals need to watch the temperatures. Tropical trees will need to be sheltered when the temperatures drop below about 40 degrees or they may be burned by the cold. The design of our trees is more evident in the winter months when the leaves have fallen. You can refine your tree with pruning and wiring, but be careful of brittle branches during this season.

We can cut back on watering during the winter months, but watch out for warm Santa Ana winds that can dry out roots very quickly. Many people also cut back on fertilizing now or continue with fertilizer low in nitrogen. Enjoy watching your trees throughout this season.

~Dave

October 2019 Meeting Highlights

Mel Ikeda joined us at the October meeting with a very healthy juniper for his demonstration. Mel is known for his juniper raft style bonsai, and his material was prewired for that purpose. He also brought a premade wooden planting box to tie the raft into. Raft style basically depicts a fallen tree with the upward facing branches growing into a group or forest style appearance. With the branches wired, Mel was able to lay the juniper on its side and position the branches up with similar movement.

Mike Kelly assisted Mel by holding the juniper in place while Mel drilled holes in the bottom of the box to facilitate tying the trunk and branches into its raft configuration. The root ball was kept intact to keep the tree alive. Mel scraped the bark from the underside of the trunk and branches where they would be covered by soil. He applied root hormone powder to the scraped areas to promote a new root mass.

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Mel said the original root ball could be kept indefinitely if used as a moss-covered hill behind the tree. However, once the new root mass has developed under the raft, the original root ball can be removed, taking care to maintain enough roots to sustain the tree.

Mel finished off the planting with a muck mixture and rocks to contain the new soil. The finished raft style could now be kept as a slab planting or later planted into a shallow pot with more soil.

Members Corner

• This November meeting will be our last meeting of 2019. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and look forward to you joining us again in January 2020 at our Annual Potluck meeting back at the LAC arboretum
• The newsletter is always available on our website www.sabonsai.org
• Visitors are always welcome at our meetings….come check out SABS anytime
• 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 prior to the 20th of any month at [email protected]

Thank You to our Oct Meeting Raffle Donors

Ray Banuelos, Ray Blasingame, Y.S. Farn, Edgar Fukutaki, Marty Hagbery, Dave Miles, Victor Shelton, Frank Yee

Welcome New Member

Susan Cook

Upcoming Events

Oct. 24-27
GSBF Convention 42
Riverside Convention Center
see website for details, www.gsbfbonsai.org

Nov. 16
Demo at Kofu Kai meeting by visiting bonsai artist Todd Schlafer who will style a California juniper at the Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim, CA

Come Join Us

Next Meeting

Date: Nov 9, 2019
Time: 7pm
Location:
Longo Toyota
Downstairs Meeting Room
3534 Peck Road, El Monte, CA 91731

2019-20 Monthly Meeting Dates & Demonstrators

Nov 9 — Tak Shimazu, meeting at Longo Toyota in El Monte

Dec – No meeting – Happy Holidays

Jan 11, 2020 – Save the date Annual Potluck & Demo by: Ed Clark

Refreshment Schedule

Nov – Bob Alderette, Linda & Gabriel Gonzalez, Victor Shelton, Eunice Jee

Dec – No meeting– Happy Holidays

Jan 2020 – Potluck: Club will provide main dish and drinks. Please bring your favorite side dish, salad or dessert to share.