President’s Message

For the first time in the many years that I have been a member of our club, we had to cancel our first Thursday meeting and our Silent Auction. This all came about suddenly with the illness of three of our primary club members who were instrumental with running the silent auction that evening.

We sent out last minute emails to everyone, and I posted a sign at the church where we meet to help everyone understand the immediate situation.

We apologize if you showed up and were not notified in advance. Unfortunately, time will not permit our club to reschedule this event due to other programs already in our busy schedule for the rest of the year.

Midori's Programs For July

I have always been a fan and I much admire the shohin trees we see at Bay Area shows. They are amazing to see in their beautiful, small pots. These smaller sized bonsai trees are usually grouped together with three or more trees placed on a formal shohin display rack. 

For our first Thursday meeting, Juan Cruz will be discussing these wonderful trees with us, and how we too can make them a part of our bonsai collection. You might think that since these trees are smaller and take up little space that they must be easy to develop and maintain.

To the contrary, Juan has spent many years perfecting his expertise in the creation of these little trees, and he wants you to learn about them and get a chance to develop and appreciate their unique qualities. Juan has shared many of his shohin with the club over many years, and now it's your turn to get started. 

If you have shohin trees in your collection, bring them in that evening. Juan would be glad to discuss your tree and offer constructive suggestions for future development. Keep in mind that our club will be in need of many shohin trees for display this coming October at our annual bonsai show. So this is the perfect opportunity to get your trees ready, and Juan can help you get started.

Our third Thursday meeting will be the usual workshop for everyone to bring in their trees for help. 

Our Club's July Nursery Tour

Mark July 16th on your calendar, a Saturday, when all club members are invited to share a road trip together to a wonderful nursery in Sunol called Calaveras Nursery.

I have recently made a trip to the nursery to check out the plants they have on hand with potential for starting as pre-bonsai. And yes, there are some wonderful plants there that will tickle your appetite to take home and get started developing them.

We have many new club members who need pre-bonsai material to work on, especially for our third Thursday workshop meetings. With the help of many senior club members there to support you in making good decisions and the numerous plants to choose from, how can you go wrong?

Our plan is to leave San Jose at 9:00am, everyone will need to provide their own transportation or carpool for a 50 minute drive to the nursery. Once at the nursery we can gather together just inside, making sure that we are grouped together and organized for those who need help during the search throughout the grounds. Plan to be there for at least 1 1/2 hours, since there is much to see and plenty of trees in pots to look through.

Bring gloves to protect your hands, a long sleeved shirt can be helpful as well. I like to use chopsticks to investigate the plant’s root system with greater ease.

Many of the more desirable plants are in the larger sized containers from what I saw, costing in the range of $30 to $40 per plant. Gallons are available and cheaper, but the varieties are very limited.

Plan to purchase at least three or four plants that can get you started with doing bonsai at a greater level! Spending money to get a few plants now with the potential for a good bonsai is paramount for beginners. This you will be glad you did when you are able to develop bonsai trees that you can be proud of in future years!

Senior members, we will need your help that day for your support, plus there will be many plants you will be interested in as well! Going to lunch in the local area after our tour is possible, we can talk about it after our purchases.

Nursery Tour

Saturday July 16, 2022
Departing San Jose at 9am

Calaveras Nursery
1000 Calaveras Rd.
Sunol, Ca. 94566
(925) 862- 2286

A Call for Trees to display at our Show!

We are now only three months away from our annual October bonsai show. This is sneaking up on us, and the board members have many concerns regarding how many club trees will be available for our show.

At this time we need to get an idea as to how many in the club will provide a tree or trees for our show, since the club has put down a $500 deposit for the community center room. We have not seen as many of our long time existing club members who have as many fine trees as we have seen in the past. Hence our concern!

Our show requires a great deal of planning and support by all club members. If we don't have the trees or help at this important time, then we need to make adjustments by asking other clubs in the area to help us out. This has never happened in the past, but the COVID virus has played an important role, since all clubs, bonsai or not are experiencing the same situation.

So we ask all club members to extend themselves at this time. Please make your presence known for the benefit of all who love bonsai. We need to see you at meetings and we need your enduring support!

Have a great month doing bonsai everyone!