Wednesday May 7,

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1 May 2003 Wednesday May 7, The many hands present at this meeting will be recruited to help finishing off the planting of small bonsai for sale at the upcoming show. There are still a few tropical plants that were not finished at the last meeting and we will introduce workers to some little Pyracantha, Cotoneaster and Zelkova which, after potting, may be held until next year. The usual leaders will be on hand to help members new to bonsai, who sometimes are inclined to hold back. Please bring your tools. Chuck will have a few words to say on preparing your trees to be presented at the show. If you are planning to exhibit, it would be a good idea to bring the tree(s) to the meeting and ask for advise. Our Annual Show - Friday May 8 th through Sunday May 11 th By now most everyone will have signed up to help. There is setting up on Thursday evening and early Friday morning, there is greeting, policing, watering, demonstrating, selling and a lot of other little things that have to be done during the weekend. We hope every member will put in at least one shift. The times are as follows: Friday 9:30 AM to noon Noon to 3 PM 3 to 6 PM 6 to 9 PM Saturday 9:30 AM to noon Noon to 3 PM 3 to 5:30 PM Sunday 11AM to 2 PM 2 to 5 PM Our Next Two Meetings: Wednesday, May 7, 7:30 pm Wednesday, June 4, 7:30 pm Garth Homer Society Auditorium 813 Darwin Avenue, Victoria Bonsai trees for display can be delivered to Hillside Mall either Thursday evening after 5:00 PM or as early as possible after 8 o clock Friday morning. The trees should not be removed until closing time on Sunday. As previously announced we will have a bus full of people visiting from the Okanagan on Friday evening and a group from Vancouver will begin their visit late Sunday morning. Several members have agreed to special hosting duties but we know everyone present will want to make our guest feel especially welcome.. Quingquan Zhao s Workshop - 20 May, 2003 at 1:30 pm - To be held at Gardenworks on Blenkinsop Rd. The cost of the workshop will be $85.00 which includes Zhao's fee and all materials (pot, rocks, and shimpaku junipers). Observers are allowed at no charge. Sign-up will be done at the next meeting and, if any of the ten spots are still available, at the Mall Show. We will also be having a demo by Zhao, styling a yew, at 7:30 pm again at Gardenworks on Blenkinsop on the evening of May 20. Entrance is free. For a brief intro to Quingquan Zhao, please see The club address is: The Vancouver Island Bonsai Club P.O. Box 8674 Victoria, B.C. V8W 3S2 Bob Taylor (President) Tom Burley (Treasurer) Jim Morrison (Library) Luis Martin (Newsletter)

2 Some shots from Arthur Skolnik s Workshop on 20 March, 2003 Page 2

3 Page 3 Major Bonsai Conventions in 2003 Tropical Bonsai Holiday - May 23-26, 2003, Bonsai Societies of Florida Sate Convention Ramada Inn & Suites, Ft. Meyers, FL Featuring: Kuo, Oki, Sukosolvisit, Madison and others Contact: bonsaiholiday2003@yahoo.com MidAmerica Bonsai Alliance, MABA July 3-5, 2003, Cincinnati Marriott Northeast Featuring : Liporace, Lewis, Madison, Manakitivipart & others Contact: BCI 2003 in Taiwan - Sept., 5 8, 2003, Taipei International Convention Center Featuring: Zhao, Kobayashi, Cappelaro, Reinhardt and others Contact: helen.su@url.com.tw Living Treasures in Bonsai - It s not too late to register! Sept , 2003, PNBCA Convention XIV & Puget Sound Bonsai Assn., Doubletree Hotel, Seattle Featuring: Colin Lewis, Chase and Solita Rosade, and Charlie Anderson. Contact: The American Bonsai Society will be holing its annual meeting during the weekend as well as making sure that the 2 nd Annual Joshua Roth New Talent Competition and the ABS Collecting with the Collectors Raffle/Auctions run off as scheduled. It will be a Gala weekend joining with friends from Oregon, Washington and other parts of British Columbia. Application forms can be printed out from the web site or copies will be available at our meetings. Don not forget that Victoria is the host for the PNBCA Convention XV in September The Bonsai Directory The following local business are known to supply bonsai plants and/or other necessary materials. Frequently you will enjoy a discount if you identify yourself as a member of the Vancouver Island Bonsai Club: Peninsula Flower Nursery, 8512 West Saanich Rd., Proprietors: Fred and Jane Starke A large selection of bonsai, pre-bonsai shrubs, as well as trees and conifers suitable for landscaping and oriental style gardens. Better Gnomes and Gardens, 3200 Quadra St., Proprietor: Laurie McKay The very best selection of bonsai pots in Victoria.- Mostly good quality Chinese pots; some in larger dimensions. Kent MacLeod Operating Partner Keller Williams Realty I will treat your Real Estate like I treat my bonsai, with care and attention!

4 Page 4 Trip to Malaspina College and Milner Gardens report by George Heffelfinger On Saturday the 12th of April, some 25 members of the Vancouver Island Bonsai Club made a successful field trip to the Malaspina University College School of Horticulture on the outskirts of Nanaimo and the Milner Gardens and Woodland at Qualicum Beach. The group traveled by car, meeting at the College where we connected with David Rowe and some of his mid-island bonsai enthusiasts. We toured the facility with several members of the Malaspina staff before settling into one of the classrooms where David undertook a design demonstration working on a field grown Japanese maple, which was later donated to the school as the first bonsai in a collection that they hope will eventually become extensive. Refreshed by a picnic lunch, the group then drove to the Milner Gardens just 30 minutes away. Developed in the 1930s by the Milner family of Edmonton, one approaches the large country house on a pathway leading through a forest dominated by original growth Douglas firs and Red cedars. The forest gives way at seaside to a collection of buildings including the family home built in cottage style, and surrounded by an English garden containing a collection of native and unusual plants, especially rhododendron currently being evaluated and catalogued by professional staff. The property was passed to Malaspina College upon the death of Mrs. Milner in the mid 1990s and provides practical, hands-on experience to the School of Horticulture students. The property is one of fifteen listed by the Vancouver Island Gardens Association as being open to the public. Others members of this association include the Butchart Gardens, the Abkhazi and Hatley Park/ Royal Roads. Malaspina has expressed an interest in the development of expanded programming in bonsai which may, in the future, result in a collection of quality bonsai. The purpose of the trip was for bonsai leadership people and university staff to get better acquainted with one another. We are indebted to our hosts, Michael Girard, Instructor at the School of Horticulture and to Jim Cadwaladr, Executive Director of Milner Gardens and Woodland for their warm welcome. Penjing Exhibition in Vancouver From 2 to 4 May, 2003, the Chinese Penjing Society of Canada, will have its 20th Penjing Exhibition at the Chinese Cultural centre, 50 East Pender Street in Vancouver. The official opening ceremony is scheduled for 12:00 on 2 May, 2003.

5 Page 5 Planning to exhibit your bonsai trees at the Mall Show? Here are a few tips which might help in preparing a bonsai for exhibit. 1. Make sure the tree is in a healthy condition and free from disease or insect infestation. Spray the tree with insecticide a week or so before the show to be on the safe side. Don't do it the day before. The smell of the insecticide will be offensive in the exhibit space. 2. Make sure the tree is well groomed and trimmed properly. Remove dead branches, brown needles, damaged or bug eaten leaves. Trim excess growth. Clean and scrub the bark to remove dirt and unwanted algae. A poorly groomed tree reflects poorly on the owner and the club. 3. Although we will have a section for Bonsai in Training, trees with excessive amounts of wire may not be accepted. A little wire here and there is OK since the truth of the matter is that all bonsai are "in training" all of their lives. 4. If your bonsai contains areas of dead wood (jin and shari), then you need to treat these areas with lime sulphur to whiten them up. It is a good idea to do this a week or so before the show. Not only does it sometimes take four or five days to bleach out, but the odor of the lime sulphur in the indoor exhibit area can be even more offensive than the insecticide. 5. Make sure your trees are thoroughly watered before bringing them to the show. We will have someone assigned to attend the watering needs of the trees on display, but some trees may require more water than others. Water them well just to be safe. 6. Pull weeds, plant moss and sprinkle the soil surface with some decorative gravel or fresh bonsai soil to give the roots good delineation and to make the whole presentation sparkle. 7. Use vegetable oil to polish your bonsai pot and to remove any water marks or stains. 8. Very important: Place your name (on masking tape or similar) under the pot, and on the underside of your stand. Trees will be reviewed for display at the Mall Show beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday evening and at 9:00 on Friday morning. Planning to sell your trees at the Mall Show? The Club Member wishing to sell items has the following responsibilities: A) Obtain and complete a Stock Control Sheet (sample on next page) itemizing each item for sale, including control number, description and price. This must be done prior to the sale. B) Clearly mark (PRINT) on a tag or sticker the plant name and Stock Control number of each item for sale to correspond to the information on the Stock Control Sheet. C) Please note and sign that all items offered for sale are solely at their owner s risk

6 Page 6 As a courtesy to the new owner of your tree(s), it would be very nice if you could provide the name of the tree, common and latin versions, its age, how it was grown and if it is indoor or outdoor. Let s keep our customers happy, they may become the Club s new members. SAMPLE