Fog City Bonsai May 2018 Newsletter of the Bonsai Society of San Francisco San Francisco County Fair Building, Lincoln Way between 9 th and 10 th Avenues Cow Palace Bonsai Exhibit Events at-a-glance.. May 10: General Meeting Deciduous Defoliation with Jonas Dupuich. May 17: Free Third Thursday Member Workshop. Jun 14: General Meeting Black Pine Decandling with Brian Schindler and Bernard Marque Jun 21: Free Third Thursday Member Workshop In this issue... President s Message, p. 1 San Francisco Cow Palace Show, p. 2 John Thompson, Guest Speaker, p. 3 San Francico Cherry Blossom Show, p. 4 SF Botanical Garden Sale, and SFBG/BSSF Workday, p. 4 BSSF Meetings and Events, p. 4 BSSF Announcements, p. 5 Other Bonsai Events, p. 6 BSSF Officers and Directors, p. 7 President s Message Andrea Burhoe My thanks to all of you who helped make the recent displays we put on San Francisco Flower and Garden Show and Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival as successful as they were. For those of you who were new to doing this, I hope it was a fun experience. These shows are a lot of work and worry for us, but the result seeing the pleasure others take in our trees and the pleasure of seeing them in a formal display for us and others to enjoy seems to me worth the effort. We have some interesting events coming up including another evening with Jonas Dupuich continuing the development of deciduous trees on May 10. The following Thursday (Third Thursday) would be a great time to bring your deciduous trees and practice what you learned on your own trees. Then, on July 12 (a Saturday) our soil work party. Be sure to put it on your calendar. It s a fun day and great time to get your soil for next year ready. Sadly, our editor, Diana Lum will be resigning as of the June newsletter. We will miss her unendingly patient, meticulous and knowledgeable work for the club in writing, photographing and putting together this newsletter. This means, of course, that a replacement is needed. If you have any skills or interest in this line, please let me know 1
San Francisco Cow Palace Show Brian Schindler Congratulations on a beautiful show and thanks to all of the members who helped at the 2018 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. The trees were of a very high quality and overall the show was as good a club show as I have seen. The high opinion of our show was not just mine, but was shared by Jonas Dupuich. Check out his blog on his website Bonsai Tonight. Everyday, people came up to me to express their joy at seeing such a great exhibit of bonsai. To top it off, the commute to the Cow Palace was a lot shorter than San Mateo for most of us. When the show committee decided to proceed with having an exhibit at the San Francisco Flower Show we had several goals to meet -- to present as good a show as we could with high quality bonsai; to provide education to the public on the development of bonsai trees; and to experience bonding with our fellow club members. I think that we succeeded on all the major points. We presented an excellent display of bonsai. We got the opportunity to share time with fellow members and, the public had the opportunity to learn about the Art of Bonsai and Bonsai clubs in the area. Our club had wonderful participation with at least 33 members able to provide a security shift and 15 members submitting trees for our exhibit. Special thanks to Ann Norton for bringing our founding member, John Boyce. It's always great to see John. He also thought that the show was really good. So many people took shifts that the owner of the show initially had some discomfort as to the number of wrist bands requested by us. By the close of the show she personally expressed her gratitude for our participation. Finally, I want to thank several people for their help. Andrea, Bernard, Debra, Lucky, and Catherine all provided tremendous assistance. Even someone as technologically challenged as I was able to learn to use the Square following Catherine's detailed instructions. The architectural bonsai acrobat, Eric Schrader, was in charge of the bonsai setup. The flow from tree to tree is not easy to assemble, and he created a beautiful exhibit. One of the highlights of the show was his avant-garde take on balance in bonsai and guy-wires. Photos from the Show BSSF Logo Tree Photos by Diana Lum and Dave Gomberg 2
John Thompson, Guest Speaker Lucky Fung John Thompson, Oak bonsai enthusiast, was special guest at our monthly meeting in April. John has a wealth of bonsai experience as an artist and a bonsai community advocate with the Golden State Bonsai Federation. His favorite tree is Oak and this was obvious as he worked his magic, shared his knowledge and styled a Cork Oak bonsai. The Cork Oak had 3 trunks and he considered eliminating one trunk. To help visualize what the tree would look like, he used a small piece of cloth to cover the trunk to be eliminated. He then removed the undesirable trunk; immediate improvement was observed. John cut back a long branch growing up which had the same diameter throughout to a smaller lower branch to achieve taper. He also cut back some shoots to increase lighting into the interior. Clean cuts on bigger branches are important to insure the wound heals, collar closes and over time has a natural look. He used cut paste to cover the wound. After John finished pruning the tree, he wired the bonsai starting with the largest branch first and from bottom to top. The wire should be removed in a few months. John uses Dr. Earth Root Zone Starter. He also mentioned Miracle Gro. He advises using sphagnum moss to keep the surface of the soil moist. Examples of different varieties of Oaks Photo by Eric Schrader There are over 20 varieties of California natives. Several different Oak species were on display for members and guests to see: a Coastal Live Oak, a Cork Oak and a Blue Oak. John spoke of Oaks reaching for the sky (sun), a deciduous tree whose branches grow up and out. This is different than a pine tree, an evergreen, whose branches grow down. John styled a Cork Oak in a nursery container. He discussed the importance of finding the front and best viewing angle. He tilted, raised one side of the bottom of the container with wedges to achieve the best position. John imagines the bonsai on a gyroscope to seek the best line. John cleared the top soil around the nebari (base) of trunk appearing at the surface. Ideally the nebari should be flared with the surface roots slightly visible. John grows his Oaks with 50% to 75% akadama. He has had great success with this. John Thompson discusses styling of Oaks Photo by Ryan Iwata His goal this evening was to achieve a silhouette, an arc which is pleasing and natural. And it was a huge success! John encouraged questions and allowed us to come up to watch him style. The Cork Oak will be auctioned off at our club meeting in the fall. John - Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. It was an amazing evening!!! 3
San Francisco Cherry Blossom Show Brian Schindler On the weekend of April 21-22 BSSF participated in the 51st Annual San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival. For those of you who have never gone to the festival, it is a huge event with tens of thousands of people attending. The bonsai exhibit was put on by BSSF, Yamato Bonsai Kai of Hayward, and the San Francisco Suiseki Society. The tradition of BSSF being involved in the bonsai show at the Cherry Blossom Festival goes back over 20 years. More than 1500 people came to admire the bonsai and suiseki. Many thanks to those who participated for a lovely exhibit of bonsai. Thankfully, this should be the last show report of this year. Sheesh, two shows in weeks is a lot! SF Botanical Garden Sale; and SFBG / BSSF Workday We will have a couple of tables of bonsai in bonsai pots at the annual Botanical Garden Sale. Please come by on SATURDAY, MAY 5TH to see if there is anything you might want to buy. The prices will be good. And, of course, there are many other fabulous plants for sale. Our own Eric Schrader will give a short presentation about bonsai--kind of an introduction to the art and techniques so you might come at 11:00 AM to hear that. He will be in the Auditorium. Our next workday is SATURDAY, MAY 12TH from 10 to 2:00 PM. I hope some of you can come by the SFBG Nursery to work on our bonsai trees. Contact me if you have any questions about this joint project. MaryLou Heslet mheslet@sbcglobal.net BSSF Meetings and Workshops and Other Activities Unless otherwise noted, all meetings take place in the Garden Club Room, SF County Fair Building at the corner of 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way just inside Golden Gate Park. To secure a spot in any workshop or class, please reach out to Andrea Burhoe, aburhoe at sign msn.com Above: Photos from the bonsai exhibit at the SF Cherry Blossom Festival Photos by Brian Schindler May 10: General Meeting Deciduous Defoliation with Jonas Dupuich (Last names E-F Bring refreshments).. May 17: Free Third Thursday Member Workshop. 7 PM to 9 PM 4
Jun 14: General Meeting Black Pine Decandling with Brian Schindler and Bernard Marque (Last names G-K Bring refreshments). Jun 21: Free Third Thursday Member Workshop. 7 PM to 9 PM Proposed dates of other BSSF meetings and workshops: Jul 14 (Saturday): Soil Workshop 9 AM to 3 PM with Potluck lunch. This activity replaces our monthly general meeting. Jul 19: Free Third Thursday Member Workshop 7 PM to 9 PM Aug 9: General Meeting with Ivan Hernandez (Last names L - N Bring refreshments) Sep 9: BSSF Basics I Class Sep 13: Annual Auction (Last names O - R Bring refreshments) Oct 11: General Meeting (Last names S-T Bring refreshments) Nov 9 (Friday): General Meeting with Bjorn Bjorholm (Last names U - Z Bring refreshments) Dec 9: BSSF Basics II Class Dec 13: Holiday Party BSSF Announcements Docenting at the Bonsal Garden. Join John Dale to docent at the Bonsai Garden in Oakland on May 19 or any other third Saturday at 1PM. No matter your skill level, you can help care for these wonderful trees and educate the public about the art of bonsai. Sign up with John Dale at a general meeting. To volunteer at other times, contact John McKisich, BGLM Docent Coordinator, at mityglo@aol.com, 650-477-8540 BSSF Club Membership. If you haven t renewed your membership yet for 2018, you can do so by sending your dues payment to Bonsai Society of San Francisco c/o Lucky Fung, BSSF Treasurer 1917 17 th Avenue San Francisco CA 94116-1243 Dues are $30 for individuals, $50 for families, and $20 for seniors. Checks are payable to BSSF. Bonsai Sales at Monthly Meetings. Remember that any time during the year you wish to sell bonsai trees, the BSSF invites you to bring the trees to our monthly meetings (except September and December) or workshops. The club receives 20% of the purchase price. Additionally, feel free to bring your trees for Show and Tell at the monthly meetings to inspire other members BSSF Bonsai Library. The BSSF has on hand a large assortment of books, magazines, and other literature about our favorite hobby. To access the library, arrive early at either the monthly meeting or the monthly workshop and speak to Bernard Marque. Checking out materials requires a $5 deposit per item. BSSF Care Guide. The BSSF guide to seasonal bonsai care in the San Francisco Bay Area is available on the BSSF webpage, https://tinyurl.com/bssfycc 5
Other Upcoming Bonsai Events May 4-5, 2018 Sacramento Sacramento Bonsai Club: 72nd Annual Show Buddhist Church of Sacramento, 2401 Riverside Blvd. Show hours are Noon - 5 pm, Saturday and 10 am - 4 pm Sunday with demonstrations at 2 pm by Bonsai artist Sam Adina both days, followed by benefit drawings. Free Admission, open to the public. Club member sales of bonsai-related items. May 19-20, 2018 Oakland Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai (BASA): 23rd Annual Satsuki Azalea Bonsai Show, Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave. Show hours are 10 AM 5 PM Saturday and 10 AM 4 PM Sunday with demonstration by Johnny Uchida Saturday 1 3 PM (Demonstration tree to be raffled). Beginning bonsai workshop Sunday 1 3 PM limited space available, $20 fee and sign-up required. Participating vendors North American Satsuki Bonsai Center Rick Garcia and Shojuen Darren and Laura Wong. Free admission. Public parking available. For more information contact George Haas at gwhaas@comcast.net or visit BASA website http://satsukiazaleabonsai.org. May 19 20, 2018 Sacramento Satsuki Aikokai Association: Annual show held at Shepard Garden Center 3330 McKinley Blvd. Show hours are 10 AM - 5 PM Saturday and 10 AM 4 PM Sunday with demonstrations at 1:30 PM both days by botanist and bonsai nurseryman Yuzo Maruyama. Create your own azalea bonsai class at 11 AM both days. Raffles, vendors and Satsuki information booth. Free entrance and parking. For more information contact: Ronn Pigram (916) 428 8505 or email - satsukiaikokaisac@sbcglobal.net May 19-20, 2018 Oakland California Suiseki Society: Suiseki and aiseki stones exhibition at the Garden Center at Lake Merritt (1600 Bellevue Ave.) in conjunction with the Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai show of flowering azaleas. Show hours are Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM and Sunday 10 AM - 4 PM. May 19-20, 2018 Palo Alto Akebono Bonsai Club and Kashu Suiseki Kai: Annual Show held at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, 2751 Louis Road. Show hours are Noon - 5 PM with a demonstration at 2 PM both days. Free Admission. Raffle drawing for door prizes and demonstration tree immediately following each demonstration. Must be present to win. There will be bonsai trees available for sale by the club. For additional information, contact Carl Yanari at (408)781-5937. June 2-3, 2018 San Mateo Sei Boku Bonsai Kai: 35th Annual Show at the San Mateo Garden Center. 605 Parkside Way (next to Beresford Park). Show hours are 10 AM - 4 PM both days, with demonstration by Jonas Dupuich from 1 3 PM on Saturday (tree will be raffled off at the conclusion of his demo). On Sunday an open view workshop from Noon 3 PM (one of the workshop trees raffled at conclusion). Large club member plant sale, vendors, door prizes and our always popular raffles. Admission is free. Dr. Bonsai will be available to offer styling and care tips. For more information contact Marsha Mekisich at eclectic.gardener@yahoo.com. 6
BSSF Officers and Directors President Andrea Burhoe 415-824-9315 aburhoe@msn.com Vice President vacant Treasurer Lucky Fung Secretary Jain Haggerstone Past President Eric Schrader Board Members-at-Large Debra Bleemer, Ryan Iwata, Oscar Patzan, Brian Schindler Additional Staff: Newsletters Diana Lum and Dave Gomberg Raffle Bill Daniels 2018 Show Eric Schrader and Brian Schindler Librarian Bernard Marque Web Site & Collateral Design Eric Schrader About the Club The Bonsai Society of San Francisco exists to encourage the enjoyment of the art of bonsai. Whether defined simply as a tree in a tray or taken to the heights of a living fine art form, we come together to share our joy and curiosity for growing living trees and our enthusiasm for keeping them healthy and beautiful. We invite new members who share these interests. Map to the County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park BSSF Website: www.bssf.org BSSF General Meetings are on the 2 nd Thursday of the month at 7:15PM. The Members Workshop is the following Thursday (3 rd Thursday of the month) at 7:00PM. All meetings occur in the County Fair Building at the corner of 9 th Avenue and Lincoln Way. Enter through the parking lot at 10 th Avenue and Lincoln Way and walk along the path behind the building to the doorway to the Garden Club Room 7