Newsletter 86 June - July 2015

Transcription

1 Newsletter 86 June - July 2015 Meetings held on the 4 th Saturday of the month at Forest Community Arts Centre, Darley Street, Forestville, commencing 1.30pm Next Club meeting Saturday 27 th June Annual General Meeting and Members Sale Forest Community Arts Centre, Darley Street, Forestville Commencing at 1.30pm We really need you there. We need people who are prepared to go on the committee and help out for a few hours each month. The future of your club depends on volunteers! Members Sale Positions that need filling: President Vice President Secretary Newsletter Editor Committee Members Please be at the AGM to vote on this. If you are unable to attend please mail in your proxy form by 19 th June. All members should have now received notification of the AGM by or post. Contact a committee member if you don t have yours. Meeting starts at 1.30, but room is open from If you have items to sell at the sale following the meeting, please bring them and set up on the tables prior to the meeting commencing. Make sure that you have your items priced before you come. 10% of all sales goes to the club See information inside on our planned weekend trip to Cowra Japanese Gardens, National Arboretum and Bonsai and Penjin collection as well as Canberra Bonsai Society show. Sign up now to avoid missing out SPECIAL NOTICE: No annual exhibition this year. Venue hire is expensive and it s time consuming to run the show, relying on assistance from all members to help set up, man the show for the weekend and then pack away. Megumi and Alex have relocated their private collections and feel that they will not be ready for exhibition. Also, the committee felt that with limited numbers of helpers last year, it is too much work for just the few committee members. Instead, this year we are having a meeting showing everyone how to set up an exhibition. Bring your best tree, table and soe and as a group we will set up an exhibit for the afternoon. We will have a critique of trees and awards for the best trees and display. Forest Community Arts Centre, August 15 th

2 compact size. The interior needles and branches are very important in Shohin also. Koji also styled a V-trunk juniper into a very interesting shape. One of the highlights of attending the Bonsai Convention was the additional tours that had been organised. On Friday 15 th of May, we travelled by coach for an Adelaide Hills gardens tour. We stopped at The Cedars, home of the late artist Hans Heysen, German-born Australian artist, who was famous his watercolours of monumental Australian gum trees. His studio is still as it was at the time he died, and the house turned into a museum, with lots of his paintings adorning the walls. The house is set amid beautiful gardens. We stopped for lunch at the quaint Hahndorf village with some shops selling local wine and produce, and lots of small cafes and restaurants with German influence, and good wholesome food. Afterwards, we visited the private organic garden of Sophie Thompson at Mt. Barker Springs, where we had a tour of the gardens, followed by afternoon tea, before returning to our hotel in Adelaide. On Saturday 16 th Andrew Ward, the President of SA Bonsai Society welcomed all 185 attendees, as did Lindsay Bebb, President of BCI. A demonstration by Koji Hiramatsu followed a styling of a black pine. Koji explained that he has 1000 black pines in his care in Takamatsu, where he owns a nursery. He spoke and answered questions while working on the pine. Juniper by Tony Bebb An interesting demonstration was by Chris Drinkwater with a S. African Cape Cotton Bush, Eriocephalus Africanus, winner of 1 st Prize at the Bonsai Exhibition. This tree is a medicinal plant and is drought tolerant, growing to a dense bush approximately 2m wide. Driftwood was used as a backdrop for potting. Black Pine styled by Koji Koji advised that Jins are best made in winter, and rewiring needs to be done every 3-4 years, for the rest of the pine s life. Each layer needs to be looked at individually, and wiring is best examined from the front of the tree. Chris Drinkwater with the winning tree - S African Cape Cotton Bush On Sunday there was a demonstration by Joe Morgan- Payler using a black pine, with discussion on styling, care, trimming and repotting of black pines. Then Koji worked on another black pine, wiring it to bend, and connecting it another piece under the pot, saying it could be bent further after waiting 30mins. After lunch Koji took a large Juniper chinensis x media Gold-star, cutting it back, making a jin, and styling the tree into a windswept shape. Koji also has quite a few Shohin Bonsai 20cms high, they are becoming very popular in Japan because of their The convention closed with the announcement that the next Bonsai Convention is to be held in Hobart, Tas.

3 Seasonal Notes June and July: Winter care ~ by Alex Bennett Winter is a good time to scrub your benches to remove the build up of grime and sediment. This will also help control unwanted bugs and disease as well as make your work area and benches look better. Position One important aspect to consider at this time of the year is the area where you have placed your trees. If they are in a shaded position during the summer now is the time to place them in a sunnier spot. More sun helps to regulate and reduce the moisture in the soil, reducing the chance of root rot. Root rot is a common problem that could occur during winter but the damage will not be evident until spring. Remember to rotate your trees once every two weeks to ensure the trees gets the sun all over it. Watering Depending on how dry and windy our winter will be, trees like the junipers and the black pine will still require watering every couple of days. The deciduous trees may require watering once or twice a week. Native trees may require every couple of days. Determining how often your trees will need water will be determined by the aspect to the sun. I would still recommend overall that you should be watering every two to three days, likely three days. Fertilizer Use seaweed concentrate at half strength as needed, and Multicrop Plant starter at half strength for just recently repotted trees. You can also use this product for trees that also display general weakness. You may also lightly mix through slow release fertilizer in your soil as you re-pot your trees or open up a hole into each of the four corners and put a pinch of fertilizer pellets in. Remember that the slow release fertilizer is activated by relative surrounding temperature therefore the fertilizer tends to stay inert during the colder season. SO during the winter period it will not be active but it will mean you will not need to apply it in Spring. Pruning Pluck out old needles on your two needle pines. Preserve jin and shari with lime sulphur; wire after the old needles have been cleaned up. Deciduous trees should be pruned for improving the outline. Flowering trees should also be considered for only light pruning in particular if they have not flowered yet. Editors note: good information on needle plucking on pines and reasons for doing this, with pictures, can be found online at: Japanese Flowering Quince Chaenomeles japonica. Lovely for winter colour lr_ndegywiami1t15h2ho4_400.jpg Re-potting Junipers, pines and all deciduous trees can be re-potted this time of the year. Avoid repotting natives, figs, flowering trees and tropical trees. Pest and disease We recommend lime sulphur as an agent to kill pests, eggs and disease and mould on the trees. The mix should be approximately 30:1. Or 30mL of lime sulphur to 1L of water. Remember this chemical can be used on all trees particularly on the underside of leaves and trunk. Ensure that: You wet the soil of the trees prior to spraying. Avoid spraying dry soil. Cover soil with newspaper so the paper will absorb residual drops from the foliage. Spray on a sunny, non- windy day preferably in the morning to avoid spray hitting your face. Wear gloves, some protective clothing, a face mask sometimes glasses are essential. When spraying ensure that when that you do spray thoroughly. Spray on the topside and under side of the trees. Remove newspaper after spray has dried. Hose the trees soil to remove lime sulphur residue.

4 Calendar of Upcoming Events ~ 6th and 7th June Bonsai by the Harbour with Mauro Stemberger, Joe Morgan Paler and Brenda Parker, to be held at 86 Wharf Street, Gladesville June 15th Illawarra Bonsai Society 45th year Anniversary with demonstrations by Mauro Stemberger by to be held at Gymea Community Centre Gymea Bay Road Gymea Start at 1900 July Bonsai by the River 2015 Port Panthers, Port Macquarie. Hosted by Wauchope Bonsai Workshop Group. Featuring demonstrations and workshops by Grant Bowie (Canberra Bonsai Society Inc) and Chris Allnutt (Australian National Bonsai Association Inc). For more information, contact Jan Briggs: phone or jan.briggs2@bigpond.com Aug Illawarra Bonsai Society Tops Weekend, Stanwell Tops, Guest demonstrators, Steve Tolley (UK) and Lindsay and Glenis Bebb (Aus). BSS Meeting Program & Club News~ 2015 Meeting Program 27 th June AGM followed by Member sale Bring along your old pots, starter trees, trees you don t want any more, books and any Bonsai paraphernalia that you wish to sell 25 th July Workshop Display trees - bring your tree / soe for next month s display to refine 15 th August Special Club meeting- Displaying your trees Bring your best bonsai, display table and Soe and we will set up as an exhibition, showing you the best way to display your tree 26 th September Maples and Deciduous trees Member Workshop Bring a tree to work on 24th October Weekend Coach tour to Cowra and Canberra. $200 per person, deposit required by July 28 th November Native trees - Possible demonstrator and/or workshop. 5 th December Annual Christmas Party SATURDAY will travel by Coach to Cowra and visit the Japanese Gardens, including lunch. We will overnight in Cowra, including Dinner, Bed and Breakfast. SUNDAY we will travel to Canberra, visit the Arboretum and National Bonsai Collection. We will lunch here (at own expense). Then we will visit the Canberra Bonsai Society Annual exhibition before travelling back to home COST will be approx $200 per person based on a minimum of 30 people. Partners and friends welcome! A deposit of $50 per person will be required by end of July to confirm your booking *** Newsletter Editor *** The committee is still looking for someone to take over compiling the newsletter. Alex will write the Seasonal Notes, and others help with articles and photos. Newsletter only goes out 6 times per year. The Club just needs your PC skills to compile it. A couple of people working together would make the task easier. Vicki is happy to guide you over the first couple of editions if you like. This will be last newsletter in this format if someone does not volunteer to give it a go.

5 Tony Bebb and Joe Morgan-Payler demonstrationat the 2015 National Bonsai Convention Adelaide- Photo by Glenda Wong Shishi-no-mai - Dancing Lion Megumi has returned from her recent visit to Japan with some wonderful photos from the Omiya Bonsai Museum, below. The beautiful Black Pine is on display for the first time at the Omiya Bonsai Museum, Omina, Japan. A competition was held in November last year for the public to submit names for the tree and Ms Mineko Ugai (Megumi s sister) was one of two winning entries with the name of Dancing Lion. The photos below are from the naming ceremony on 8 th February Black Pine Workshops Classes held at Hidden Orient, Forest Way, Belrose. For more details, call Megumi Bennett Duration : 2.5 hours or 3.5 hours Time: or Tuition: 2.5 hrs - $60 or 3.5 hrs - $75 SCHEDULE: Bonsai Society of Sydney Sat July 18 th Winter Workshop Newsletter 85 Sun October 4 th Spring Workshop

6 A Member of The Bonsai Federation of Australia Association of Australian Bonsai Clubs Garden Clubs of Australia Inc. Bonsai Society of Sydney Inc. Honorary Patron Megumi Bennett President Eddie Vellenga (02) Vice-President VACANT Treasurer Richard Brisland Secretary & Newsletter Editor Vicki Brown Committee Members Alex Bennett Jackie Gracey (02) Glenda Wong (02) Librarian Jackie Gracey (02) We request that no article be reproduced without permission. Photographs are supplied by the Contributor, or as acknowledged.