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Great Swamp Bonsai Society | ||
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| Newsletter for March 2005 | |||
| Next meeting: 7:00 PM Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - Frelinghuysen Arboretum, E. Hanover Avenue, Morristown, NJ | |||
February Meeting Highlights:
The February meeting featured discussions of collecting material for bonsai. Topics ranged from stalking your prey at "Home Depot" to trudgiing around in Nova Scotia to find suitable material "in the wild". John Michalski provided some video footage of 3 collecting expeditions that he and Juan Calderon undertook over a few year period. The locations presented ranged from Nova Scotia peat bogs to "somewhere" in the rocky areas nearby to acquisition of 2 rather sizeable Junipers from a "soon-to-be-bulldozed" site right here in New Jersey. It was noted that not all collected material survives to become a prized Bonsai specimen. (see below...)
Several members brought examples of material they had collected. Here are some shots of a few of the trees that were on display. Please pardon the construction. Our meeting area is getting a face-lift which should be completed soon...
Potentilla
Amur Maples
Dwarf Rhododendron
'Beaver-Styled' Wild Blueberry
Eastern White Cedar
John Michalski during the presentation.
One larch that didn't quite make it...
Dues, Dues, Dues...
Also, in case you've forgotten, annual DUES are DUE and some members are in arrears. It's still $30 for an individual membership, $40 for family. See Fred to settle your account...
The President's Corner
Mark Schmuck |
Like most Bonsai
enthusiasts, I look forward to Spring with great anticipation, but for all you
ski and winter sports fanatics out there, let me share with you something I
discovered quite by accident. You can actually prolong, stretch, extend,
elongate and make winter last indefinitely. Here's the
secret... Order something by mail in the fall that you're really excited about. Schedule it for Spring delivery. It's as simple as that!! |
For me, it happened when I noticed that my favorite Japanese Maple nursery was offering the cultivar "Seigen". Seigen has been used in Japan for hundreds of years, and a good example graces the cover of Kyuzo Murata's book "Four Seasons of Bonsai". This cultivar has always been the "holy grail" of bonsai for me because I've never seen it offered anywhere in this country. It's a small leaved acer palmatum with intensely clear red leaves in spring and a whitish bark when mature. The trees I ordered are selected, grafted low, and grown with bonsai in mind. They had 2 left, so naturally, I ordered both. I know it's wrong, but I'm weak. Anyway, I'm sure that in a couple of years, they'll be close to looking like Murata's tree.
So, winter keeps dragging on... IS IT SPRING, YET??? See you next meeting...
March Meeting Preview:
MABS Symposium Tree Selection
Now is the time to bring your trees to the meeting. Members who wish to participate in the show, but are unable to attend the March meeting will be able to submit photos of the tree(s) that they wish to have considered. We will be selecting three trees to represent Great Swamp at the Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Society Spring Festival. All members are encouraged to participate. As in the past, the trees will be selected by "3-penny" ballot. For those who don't remember how this works, each member should bring three pennies. After reviewing the trees presented, you place a penny in front of each of your three choices. After the selection process has concluded, the three trees with the most pennies will represent GSBS at the symposium in April.
In addition to the tree selection, John Michalski will be conducting the meeting in Mark's absence.
Do you have a tree that you just don't know what to do with? Make sure you bring it to the meeting and ask our more experienced members for their opinions and assistance. Don't be afraid to ask for constructive suggestions; that's what we're here for.
There will be a supply of registration forms for the MABS symposium available for those who may not have gotten them at the last meetings. All members are encouraged to register before April 1, 'cause after that, the prices go up.
There will also be additional information available for the WBS gathering in Washington. It is still possible to submit entries for trees, containers and viewing stones The WBS has extended the deadline for submission. There is still time to send in 2 photos of your proposed entry for possible inclusion in the show. In fact, at this time, there's a good chance that your tree would be accepted for display.
Upcoming Events:
April 12 - Regular meeting and Repotting Workshop. Bring a tree or two along with your tools and be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
April 15,16 & 17 - Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Societies Spring Festival: . This is our area's premier bonsai event. It will be held in the Ramada Inn on Route10 in East Hanover, NJ. Applications and information will be available at the meetings. Remember, your participation is a great opportunity to watch and learn as internationally renowned bonsai artists present lecture-demonstrations. There are also various vendors available with trees, tools, pottery, stones, etc. A great time to add to your collections. Your attendance also helps Great Swamp.April 19 - Andy Smith (from Golden Arrow Bonsai and most recently: the Mid-Atlantic Symposium) will conduct a lecture demo at the arboretum. This will be the Tuesday following the Mid-Atlantic show.
May 28 thru 31 - 5th World Bonsai Convention - Hilton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC. Go to http://www.bonsai-wbff.org for additional information. This event will include many lectures and demonstrations by artists from 6 continents. There will also be special tributes to Saburo Kato and John Naka. This may be the only time that you can see a show of this magnitude in our area for many years.
June 4 - Great Swamp Annual Open House at the Arboretum - Members: 9:00am to 4:00pm - Open to the public: 10:00am and 3:00pm. All club members are invited to display trees for public viewing, regardless of your level of expertise. As in past years, Jim Gillespie of Sho-Fu-En Bonsai will be vending essential and various bonsai related items: Tools, books, magazines, etc.
June 14 - Regular meeting & Club Auction - Members are invited to bring items for auction. Several large size Tropical trees from the Henry Freud collection will be auctioned. Be prepared to bid!
There are several workshops coming up. 2 of them are local and take place on the afternoons before our regular meetings.
May 10: Horst Krekler - Bring your own tree. There is room for approximately 6 to 8 members at approx. $50 per attendee. This will be an afternoon workshop that will be a prelude to our regular meeting; at which Horst will conduct a lecture demo. The demo tree will be raffled.
June 11 & 12 - Nick Lenz and Frank Mihalic - Pauline Muth (pfm bonsai studio) will be presenting the 15th Aniversary Open House Weekend at her studio in West Charlton, NY. Workshops are being offered on both days with these artists. For further information, contact Pauline by e-mail at Pauline@pfmbonsai.com or by phone @ 518.882.1039. A limited number of registration forms will be available at the March GSBS meeting.
July 12: George LeBolt from Bergen Bonsai will conduct a workshop with tropical trees from 1 to 5 pm. This has been changed to a "BYOT" event for tropicals. However, George will have several Portulacaria (Dwarf Jade) trees available for purchase. These trees have solid trunks with good movement and will range in price between $35 and $75. George will also conduct a lecture/demo at our meeting that same evening..
Please be thinking about these workshops as they will fill up quickly.
Other News:
You may be interested to know that International Bonsai's magazine for the 4th quarter of 2004 and the 1st quarter of 2005 feature parts 1 and 2 of and in-depth article on the styling, care and feeding of Pinus Rigida by our own Martin Schmalenberg. Part 2 shows "virtual styling" of this species of tree for anticipating the future of the tree's design. For those who are interested in obtaining the articles, a subscription to International Bonsai is available from William Valvanis, PO Box 23894, Rochester, NY 14692-3894. A subscription costs $26 /year and back issues are $7.50 /copy.
Fred Aufschläger's paper, Bonsai Containers as Ceramic Art, will continue to be available here on the web-site for those members who may not have received it via e-mail. The links have been fixed. We appologize to members who were initially unable to access the documents. I'm investigating the Acrobat Reader link for those of you who don't already have it. In the event that the link below is not working, cut and paste the following URL into your browser to access Adobe's website.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
Word Version
PDF Version
Get AdobeAcrobat Reader
For those who are unable to access the paper in these formats, we will still have several printed copies available for paid-up members at the February meeting.
March Tips:
Well, gang, it looks like Punxsutawney Phil may have been right. We've certainly had another dose of old man winter these last few weeks. Although it could still break into a very nice spring. (I apologize to any Pennsylvanians who were upset by the misspelling of their beloved Groundhog's name in the last newsletter.)
Where to begin... March is the time to get serious about re-potting. Any healthy deciduous material should be attended to at the beginning of the month. If there is no sign of bud or root movement, you can hold off for a bit. Keep deciduous trees away from harsh winds and hard frosts to protect them from damage. Of course, if you have a greenhouse, poly-house, or really good cold-frame, any such damage would be minimized. Deciduous trees can be kept in "in the dark", since they have no need for light until bud-break. Once this happens, you must put them outside. Junipers and spruces can begin to be repotted at the end of the month.
Your trees are beginning to show signs of life now. Branch or root pruning done at this time will heal over quite quickly. Keep a record of which trees are repotted to help keep track of when they will need repotting again. As a general rule, repot trees under 5 years old annually, depending on their condition. Trees between 5 and 20 years should be repotted every other year. Trees in the over 20 year category geneally require repotting every third year. And, for those that are lucky enough to own trees that are over 100 years old, repotting can be planned for every 4 or 5 years. Pruning of deciduous trees should wait until budding activity has begun. (You're making sure that the branches are alive)
By the end of the month you should be able to remove protected, cold-hardy trees from shelter and leave them exposed to the elements. Evergreens can be fertilized with mild liquids at 2-week intervals. Spray with Benomyl for fungus control and with Malathion to kill those overwintering insects such as greenfly, blackfly, scale and mealybugs. Choose mid-morning of a fine, warm day for spraying so that the fungicide or insecticide has chance to dry.
Wiring and shaping of trees can be carried out this month as well. However, don't wire re-potted material for at least 3 or 4 weeks to avoid strain on the new emerging roots.
The end of this month and into next month are great times for collecting material from the wild. They have the best chance of survival, providing you get a decent sized root ball with plenty of fibrous roots.
Tips are developed from the following sources: Bonsai, the Art of Growing and Keeping Miniature Trees by Peter Chan and from The Step by Step Art of Growing and Displaying Bonsai by Colin Lewis and Neil Sutherland
Contact Information:
President: Mark Schmuck lofty235@aol.com 973.625.4632 VP: Michael Markoff MJSmart@aol.com 973.895.6207 Treasurer: Fred Aufschläger 17 Lakeview Drive
Bernardsville, NJ 07924908.766.1359 Secretary: Ken Olander bowhunter444@verizon.net Newsletter: Dan Boehmke danno1@optonline.net 973.627.1318
Ideas and offers of assistance for events, or scheduling questions, can be addressed to any of the officers. Don’t be shy. All help is appreciated.
