November 2008 Newsletter

Transcription

1 November 2008 Newsletter President Mark Passerrello Past President Dan Binder Director Emeritus José Cueto 1 st Vice President Ken Schultz 2 nd Vice President Zack Clayton 1 year Director Jack Smith 2 year Director Wendy Fissel 3 year Directors Denny Sackett Tom Holcomb Treasurer Richard Gurevitz Secretary Sandy Schoenfeld Librarian John Young Web Master Wendy Fissel Newsletter Editor Richard Uhrick Refreshments leaves yellow and red float downward toward the earth rest in my bonsai A Pinch of this. And Breathe In... Term of the month: AKADAMA Akadama: Classic Japanese Bonsai soil meaning red clay balls. Imported from Japan, this volcanic soil has been used for thousands of years by bonsai artists on most types of deciduous bonsai trees. Okay everyone join me in taking one great big breath INNNNN and OUTTTT. Whew, we made it through the Exhibition in what seem to be flying colors. Unfortunately, we have just enough time for that one breath before we look toward future club business. First, DUES ARE DUE by December 31, If you do not know if you have renewed yet, either contact me before then or simply wait and see if you receive a newsletter in January. If you have not paid DUES or did not recently join, you will not receive a newsletter after December. (Remember members get 10% off at Oakland Nursery with their Membership Card.) Second, the board is rapidly putting together the calendar of events for next year, so if there is anything in particular that you would like to learn/do please contact us at columbusbonsai@hotmail.com right away so that we can see if it fits our plans. Especially if you have an area of experience that, you would be willing to share with the rest of the club by leading a discussion, demo, or workshop. Last, but certainly not least, I think we owe a HUGE THANK YOU TO KEN SCHULTZ for all of the work he did that made the Ohio Bonsai Exhibition such a success. Now onward and upward... Rich Uhrick DUES ARE DUE, DUES ARE DUE, DUES ARE DUE. PO Box 1981 Columbus OH ColumbusBonsai@hotmail.com

2 November This month s program November 16, 2008 All material donated by Oakland Nursery The competition will consist of three rounds. The first two rounds will be elimination rounds with the winners competing in the third for the IRON BONSAI title. Competitors will be determined by drawing of lots so; if you wish to compete, you should bring your own tools, etc. Competitors have first refusal rights to buy their work after the competition or let it enter a raffle. Upcoming Programs 14 DECEMBER 2008 LOCATION AND TIME TBD The Bonsai Traveler from Cat Nelson [of Fort Wayne Bonsai] October put me on a trip to Ohio, this time in the company of several folks from the Fort Wayne Bonsai Club, to view the All-Ohio Bonsai Show. While I was originally under the impression that this was a long-standing show, I found out that this was actually the first year that the show went through. I had thought I had seen mention of it last year, but it seems that it didn t happen. I believe that the statistic was that out of 7 clubs invited, 5 of them managed to make the trip. I can understand some of the missing clubs, the end of October is very late to be having a bonsai show, and for most locations farther north it could easily have been a winter silhouette show. When I mentioned to someone in another bonsai club that I was attending a show that late in October, they looked at me skeptically that anyone would hold an exhibit at that time of year. It wasn t the hosting club s first choice, Cont d on Page 9

3 November OHIO BONSAI EXHIBITION SECURITY THANK YOU! John Young, the "Sheriff" of the Security Committee for the First Annual (?) Ohio Bonsai Exposition ("O.B.E. One!") would like to recognize and thank the following C.B.S. members who volunteered to help handle security during our two-day show last month: My faithful sidekick, "Deputy" Doc Gurevitz; Monica Brown; Mary Jane Howell; Mike Holbrook; John Kircher; Joe McDonough; Sonny Meister; Denny Sackett; Jack Smith; Mike Thornhill; Ben William; and any other club members whom I may have inadvertently missed seeing there. As far as I know, none of the trees or other bonsai-related items "went missing" during our show, so all of you did your jobs very well. In addition, at least four other club members "volunteered" to serve on unscheduled after-hours security details on Friday and Saturday evenings to keep an eye on everything in our show while weddings were going on in other parts of Franklin Park Conservatory. So, a special thanks also goes to Dan Binder, Denny Sackett and Ken Schultz, and Zack Clayton who I know were involved in this extra effort. Again, I thank all of you for helping to keep all of the trees safe and sound throughout this special event. John Young, The Sheriff of this here Exhibition President s Message- Mark Passerrello It s all over! After much planning, discussion, effort and time, the first ever Ohio Bonsai Exposition has come and gone. Bonsai fans from all over the state-and beyond-came to be part of the event, and plenty of people experienced bonsai for the first time. As a club, we are grateful to those who supported the show in so many ways; something like this show does not happen over night and takes the labor of many people to come off well. Well done every one! I know that our show chair Ken Schultz will be making some more formal and extensive thank-you s, but let me just add my small voice once more. Well done, and thanks to everyone who was a part of it. This month s meeting promises to be interesting. Those familiar with the popular Iron Chef Television show, which features celebrity chefs presented with a mystery ingredient and a limited amount of time to turn it into a tasty menu, will understand how our November program will work. Iron Bonsai was a big hit at some of our past shows, and should provide a fast paced and engaging meeting. Our format will be two rounds of three contestants each, the best example of bonsai produced at the end of a 15 minute round chosen by audience opinion. The winners of each round will go head to head in a final show down of high-speed design and styling to select our own Iron Bonsai master. Do you think you have the skill, the stamina, the total disregard for tradition that could make you a bonsai at short notice expert? Potential contestants should bring their tool kits to the November meeting. After taking care of some important club business (the election of officers [see slate of officers on page 9]), we will select contestants by drawing lots. After selections, each round of rapid-fire-stylists will have a carefully monitored block of time to produce the best-looking bonsai, as determined by the will of the assembled crowd. A contestant attempting to sway the votes of the crowd with food, beverages, shiny trinkets or other swag is not only legal, but also encouraged. After the carnage, rather, after the contest, the resulting bonsai will be available to either take home, by raffle, auction or out right bribe. Make your plans now to be part of the fun. Speaking of making plans to be part of the fun, currently the board is working out plans for next year s meetings. Varieties of options are under discussion, [see Bonsai here and Beyond] and any feedback from the membership is encouraged. If there are topics you would like to see the club address, an idea

4 November about what would make an interesting meeting, please let me know directly. As the board thinks out a schedule, some of the underlying motives for the club are really two fold. Having certain topics that will draw in and attract new members to both the club and the bonsai art are very important, and almost equally important is the need to increase all members skill and ability in bonsai and make the club an organization that is worth supporting over a length of time. A big part of what the club will be doing is not only the usual workshops, demos and lectures we hold on the third Sunday of every month, but some events and activities at other times and days as well. There will be many opportunities not only to enjoy the fellowship and camaraderie of other bonsai folks, but occasions to increase your personal skill and knowledge of bonsai as well. Watch this space in future newsletters for details, and please let me know if you have suggestions for future meeting topics, if there are subjects you would like to see covered, and if you are interested in contributing some time or talent to make some of these events happen, that is most welcome as well! Book of the Month: The Masters' Book of Bonsai Compiled by Directors of the Japan Bonsai Association Once again, I found a treasure at a Half Priced Books store. This 7 X 7 book of 144 pages first published in 1967; my paperback edition is the 1983 edition. Pages 19 through 42 presented full-page color plates of Bonsai Masterpieces, and then the rest of the book splits into nine chapters. The appendices have a chart of popular Japanese bonsai and a weather chart by month for Tokyo. I found this interesting as it shows that Tokyo is a zone 7 with lots of rain and humidity. I also found it interesting that the first five chapters focus on sources for bonsai, seeds, collecting, cuttings, grafting and layering. I jumped in to chapter 6, which covers watering, feeding, disease, weather protection, repotting, trimming, training and soil. This is truly the heart of bonsai success. Tips included water when the soil is 70% dry; water until water comes out the drain hole, and watering twice a day can be necessary in the summer, while it may slow in the fall. Feeding surprised me. I usually see low numbers, this section said use (Hot stuff in my book.) It also advocated using 2- teaspoons full of manure for every 12 of pot. Flowering trees need fish, bone meal or a liquid fertilizer such as Hyponex - I think they still make this. Fall feeding for evergreens in Sept Nov. and they suggest a feeding for deciduous trees after their leaves have dropped. Since we have touched on soil mixes, I noted that the Masters use two mixes; one for pines and oaks using 70% red loam and 30% sand-clay; the second is for Other species using 60% red loam, 30% black loam and 10% well-rotted leaves. The soil is screened 1/4 and 3/8. For those who wonder about trimming. The book covers maples, elms, spruce, it warns not to wire weak trees or trees that recently repotted. Maybe this is why so many workshop trees that are styled, wired and repotted all in a few hours die. Despite this warning, a black and white photo sequence does a great job showing the wiring of a white pine. Chapters 7 & 8 are also photo projects. Seven is a forest planting, Yose-Uye using nine Ezo Spruce. Eight is a rock planting. Not a Saikei, but more of a planting on a rock or rocks, that ends up in a suiban (tray with water in it). These irregularly shaped rocks contain lots of nooks and crannies. This book is definitely worth reading. I do not know if you will find one for your collection or in a library, but put it on your list. Ken Schultz

5 November Exhibition Thoughts Did you come to the Ohio Bonsai Exhibition? Many people did. We met bonsai people from all of Ohio's Clubs, whether their club showed trees or not; plus we met people from Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana. Many former club members also attended the Exhibition. Moreover, we had trees never seen in Columbus before. The Franklin Park Conservatory did a nice job setting up our large display area including a number of newly purchased tables. Dan and Sarah Binder ironed all the table drapes (Dan ironing? Yes he did). As always, I wondered about members that I did not see at the show. There was full attendance at the workshops. I took the Shimpaku workshop and the Japanese White Pine workshop and Linda [my wife] took the Moss and the Ficus rianne workshops. We thoroughly enjoyed our experiences. I take workshops not because I need another tree, but to increase my bonsai knowledge and experiences. In the shimpaku workshop, I was next to a Sandusky club member and I learned about their club too. I also ended up with a very nice tree. The stock was excellent. Linda picked a Tom Holcomb sea-land pot as that was an option provided by John Brannon, as were the handmade moss garden trays in his workshop. Zack Clayton and Ken Schoenfeld were both very pleased with the material that Jeff Carr provided in his barberry workshop. Zack said that Jeff had them sketch their tree before starting, and it helped him a great deal in visualizing in his design. All those who helped proved that the division of labor made easy work of helping set up the show and the vendors. I usually list names- but there were many names and I am afraid that I might miss someone. Cincinnati s black curtain provided an ideal backdrop to outstanding trees. Pun Ching s sea-to-sea backdrop was well done and their use of stands to provide different viewing levels for their trees was well done. Keith Stevens brought some of the Dawes collection and thank goodness, Shoji screens for our backdrops. Ken Huth and Bob Heath represented the Akron Canton Club and Frank Mihalic provided three trees for the Great Lakes Bonsai Society. Dale Cochoy showed a large Mother/child styled Kingsville boxwood; and Keith Scott showed trees from his collection. And the design worked out by Rich Uhrick and Jose Cueto improved the overall enjoyment of viewing the trees. The vendors came loaded for bear with pots, trees, poo-balls, soil, artwork and bonsai jewelry that tempted everyone. Though we had six vendors, I heard that the constant crowd kept them busy both days. Since as I mentioned I sure do not need more trees, we bought pots, pooballs, soil, artwork and a keychain fob. Oh and amazingly,

6 November food materialized as Franklin Park gave us access to another room during the show for breaks. There was actually more food then we could possibly eat in two very busy days. No one went hungry. Many of our members answered the call to bring food. The names are too numerous to mention but the fare ranged from homemade chili and hot sandwich meats, to fabulous homemade deserts and side dishes some of which included vegetables right out of a members yard. [Ed note- good food always adds to the camaraderie between people, thank you all] Finally, about 25 of us enjoyed hearing tales from Keith Scott s fifty years of bonsai. An event I hope you did not miss. By the end of Sunday, people were asking; are you going to do this again? What a success! Ken Schultz, Exhibition Show Chairman Top row: Keith Scott on his 50 years Ken Schultz s phoenix graft Tom Holcomb s Juniper Second Row: Tracey Freeland s Juniper Patrons view CBS trees Third Row: Bob Heath of Akron- Canton s Moss garden from the workshop

7 November 2008 Clockwise from Top Left: Patrons view Cincinnati and AkronCanton trees, General atmosphere, Cincinnati setting up, Dawes maple, Dawes Juniper, Patrons chat about Bonsai, Vendor Load In, Keith Scott s informal critique of trees. 7

8 November Clockwise from top left: John Brannon giving Ficus workshop. Tom Holcomb and Pat Kiefer at the ARTISTREES booth. Dale Cochoy in his workshop on Shohin/ Mame trees. Dale Cochoy s Mother/child Boxwood. Frank Mihalic s Literati. Frank Mihalic at the Wildwood Gardens booth.

9 November Bonsai Traveler continued from Page 2 concludes on Page 10 but the choice imposed upon them by their garden. But the trees were in fine form that weekend, with a nice combination of tropicals, conifers, and deciduous showing early fall coloring, and the weather cooperated wonderfully. The show was held at the Franklin Park Conservatory, one of two venues in Columbus with a permanent bonsai collection. The day was lovely, and their outdoor trees were still out where they could be enjoyed. The show was a very good show on the regional scale, with a large area (with great lighting for photography!) for the various club trees to be displayed in, several vendors, plus the chance to see the trees in the Conservatory s collection. A very nice balance, and the hosting club were very friendly I had multiple conversations with their members and felt very welcomed. They were excited that we had traveled as a club to attend. I ll start my comments with the vendors, since there was a very good mix present, including two potters. I personally love hand made pottery and greatly enjoy collecting original pots, and bonsai shows are often the only chance to see some of the regional artists. The fact that they had two for their show was outstanding! The other vendors were also very enjoyable, with a mix of stock, tools and accessories for every need. It s always a good event when you can go shopping. The individual club displays were very nicely done, with a lot more distinction between clubs than I ve seen at other multi-club shows. This was not a negative, each club put up a different kind of backdrop to their display and it added a bit of variety. One club used shoji screens, one used a black background, and another club had a large painted mural depicting scenery from coast to coast.

10 November From the Circulation Desk of the C.B.S. Library I have the new C.B.S. membership cards for 2008; so please see me if you don't have your card yet. If you have any bonsai (or related subjects) books, magazines, videos or CD's that you would like to donate to the C.B.S. library, please let me know. All such donations should be tax deductible, since we are a 501c-3 non-profit organization. Please return any overdue library books, magazines, videos and CD's to the Librarian at our monthly club meeting so other club members may have access to them. Thank you. Please contact John Young if you have any questions or comments about any of this. You may either send him at jyoungjfy@sbcglobal.net or give him a call at (614) As a reminder, if you checked out any books, magazines or videos from the C.B.S. library last year please return them as soon as possible. They are now OVERDUE! Thank you in advance for your cooperation. John Young, Librarian Bonsai Traveler continued from Page 9 Overall, the best color went to the several hornbeams on display I love that gentle yellow-pink that they get. On a minor point, I did disagree with one of the companions shown with one of the hornbeams. The artist had a lovely fall-colored hornbeam that they had put a summer flowering geranium with, and the mix of seasons didn t quite work for me. But that is being nit-picky the trees themselves were all very nice. Some that I have attached pictures for include a dramatic, I assume collected, juniper. I ve already mentioned the hornbeams; there was a gingko that stands out for its branches, good branch structure being hard to achieve with that species. I enjoyed the display from the club that used scrolls with their trees the traditional touch is always nice. And the scrolls were very nice and appropriately seasonal. There is one large tree that I remember, though I did not get a note on its species. And there was one club that had to leave early, and I did not manage to photograph their display before it was taken down. Though disappointing, I do understand the realities of long distance traveling and only wished that I had held off my exploring of the Conservatory collection to view the entire exhibit before they had to leave. The Conservatory collection had some nice trees in it, though they were a bit scattered around. On one hand it did create an impression of bonsai everywhere, which was fun, but it took me a bit of exploring to figure out how to get to the trees I could see outside. They had one long hallway of large tropical trees, another of deciduous and conifers, and then an outdoor landscaped area with several display stands for trees. I got the impression from talking with a couple of local members that their collection is larger, I assume that they work like the Chicago Botanic Garden and rotate the trees on display to give the trees a rest from being in a show condition. In their tropical aisle, I was impressed by the collected buttonwood. In the deciduous corridor, I really liked the Korean hornbeam and the large satsuki azalea. Outdoors their beech captured my fancy, and the potential in their collected cypress looked good. All in all a great show to attend, and I hope that this is just the first one in a long tradition. I almost missed being able to attend, and am very glad that things worked out that we were able to go. This show had everything that I enjoy about the regional bonsai shows, and is well worth the trip if they have it again next year.

11 November 2008 Bonsai Here and Beyond the Outerbelt Unless otherwise noted, The meets the third Sunday of every month at 1:45 pm at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Board Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm in the Franklin Park Conservatory. The meetings are open to members. 16 NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR APR APR MAY MAY MAY or 27 JUN JUN JUN JUN JUN JUL AUG AUG SEP OCT OCT OCT NOV 2009 DEC 2009 JUN 2010 JUN 2010 JUN 2011 IRON BONSAI: Let the Battle Begin Holiday Dinner- TIME AND PLACE TBD USE OF ROCKS AND STANDS SOILS, FERTILIZERS, AND PEST CONTROLS RE-POTTING AND PRUNING TECHNIQUES MID-ATLANTIC BONSAI SHOW NEW JERSEY SHOPPING TRIP TO OAKLAND NURSERY- How to select good Potensai ACCENT PLANTS, MAME & SHOHIN TECHNIQUES ALL-MICHIGAN BONSAI SHOW CHICAGO-MIDWEST BONSAI SPRING SHOW AZALEAS OR TBD ONE-DAY SHOW- DATES TBD OR POSSIBLE WILDWOOD BBQ TRIP ABS LEARNING SEMINAR- BOISE, IDAHO DAWES ARBORETUM BONSAI SHOW BCI ANNUAL SHOW NEW ORLEANS WILDWOOD GARDENS BBQ BYOT- TROPICAL REFINEMENT Bring your tree to talk about plans CHICAGO-MIDWEST BONSAI SHOW GROUP PLANTING OR SWAP WITH JULY GARDEN TOUR-TBD, AND PICNIC WHETSTONE PARK OF ROSES Show of the Carolinas NORTH CAROLINA ARBORETUM OAKLAND NURSERY FALL FESTIVAL PINES, CARVING, SHOW(?) TBD LITERATI, PINES HOLIDAY DINNER- TBD NATIONAL BONSAI EXPOSITION MABA SHOW MICHIGAN ABS/BCI LEARNING SEMINAR IN LOUISVILLE, KY Renewal memberships may be paid for more than 1 year at a time 11

12 12 PO Box 1981 Columbus, OH Questions to: Regular Club meetings on 3rd Sunday of the month Meetings Start at 1:45 pm All are welcome to attend CBS meets at: Franklin Park Conservatory 1777 East Broad St Columbus, Ohio CBS Board meets 1st Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm at FPC November 2008