President’s Message
February 2021
As I sit here this early morning wintery day watching the rain outside finally making its presence, I can’t help but think how happy my trees are, finally satisfied and hydrated. Yes, our rains this year have all gone north to Oregon and Washington, leaving the Bay Area with but a few dribbles. What we provide from our hoses for watering falls short of what mother nature provides with the purity of its source and added nitrogen that helps to stimulate the coming of Spring growth. Yes, with the constant flushing of rain water in its purest form can clean out salts and many of the impurities that can build up over time in our pots. As long as you have a good substrate drainage soil contained in your pots the benefits are real for those that want to take advantage of water that puts San Jose water to shame. Besides, it’s free!
With the warmer weather we had this past week finally motivated myself to take action with the necessary yearly repotting that our trees need. Earlier, I made sure that I purchased the necessary materials needed to perform this task. I purchased premixed bags of soil along with pumice to be mixed into the premixed soil for conifers. This conifer mix is an even mix of all three components (akadama, lava, and pumice). It was nice to take advantage of the warm sunny mornings to do this and was able to repot 5 of my conifer trees. I have over 70 bonsai trees in my collection, so I still have around 10 more to go, but I’m off and repotting for the season — a necessary action and our trees will thank us for it. So club members, if your tree’s drainage is poor and your trees aren’t performing like they should, now’s the time to take this action.
This past week, with our club’s zoom program, both Juan and Tung made a nice presentation on how to repot your trees. I hope you were able to tune in for their fine demonstration and had your repotting questions answered.
The Pandemic and Future Club Plans
Looks like California’s COVID situation is finally starting to come down lately with hospital beds availability, a good sign, although we still need to be very careful and use every request precaution. I know that many of our club members are still reluctant to make it to available workshops. And I understand that, the two workshops that I attended this past week was very workable with distancing and everyone wearing their mask. But we all must make that decision for ourselves, based upon our physical individual health requirements and issues we must be careful with around this virus. So showing a loving concern for our fellow club members and wearing a mask will protect us all.
On a concerning note, Bill O’Brien, a long time club member and our librarian who has endured many months of a health issues himself now reports that his wife Judy passed away this past week. I talked with Bill a few days ago, and says he’s doing just fine with help from a son who lives in the local area. But club members, please keep him in your thoughts! He’ll need your friendship and understanding in time. Bill, we’re so sorry for your loss!
With the new vaccine being distributed locally my hopes of having our club’s bonsai show this year is very real and possible. Make sure you're working with your trees for that coming event, October can sneak up on us, and we want to be bonsai show ready!
Have fun doing bonsai this month everyone!