Conejo Valley Bonsai Society

Last night, somebody stole one of Ed Trout's buttonwood. Please read the email that Ed sent to his club about what happened:

"I have some very bad news. Last night, some low life stole my (our) logo buttonwood from my back yard. It was no more than 8 feet from my back door. I am sad & sick, and feel like someone has kidnapped a family member. Please help me get the word out. Ed"

If you know Ed, you will agree with us that Ed gives his time, expertise and love of Bonsai freely to all. He is one of the pioneers of Bonsai in Florida and I think we have all learnt alot from him and respect him immensely.

It is now our time to show him that we care and how grateful we are to him. Please pass this on to everyone that you can, even if they are not in bonsai. If you know the email to your local newspaper, send it to them as well (they may do a story on it). The more people that know and see the picture attached, the more chance we have to find Ed's tree and get the tree returned to it's proper place. A picture of the tree etc will be on our website: www.bonsai-bsf.com.
If you have any questions or information, please don't hestitate to contact us.

Narelle Robbins
Corresponding Secretary
Bonsai Societies of Florida

I was asked by a member of the club for any wisdom that would enable a beginner or novice to visualize the look of a finished bonsai tree when looking at pre-bonsai or raw stock material. He felt that he was not alone in the frustration he feels when pondering this process.

Your collection is coming to life and providing an excellent oppor-tunity to call on your creative side in planning a future for each tree. Take a moment to look at your material, spin the tree around, check roots, trunk, and branches to see if any changes have taken place that would affect your final design.

By David E. Whiteside

On Saturday, March 15, the Conejo Bonsai Society will visit George Muranaka’s bonsai nursery in Nipomo. Unlike most urban bonsai nurseries, Muranaka Bonsai Nursery not only has bonsai material in nursery cans-it also has pre-bonsai material growing in the ground.

We will carpool the approximately three-hour drive to Nipomo, which is north of Santa Maria, and have lunch at a popular local eatery, Jocko's Steak House. After lunch, we’ll visit Muranaka Bonsai Nursery—then head back home.

We will meet in the parking lot of Westlake Village City Hall at 31200 Oakcrest Drive, Westlake Village. The carpool will depart promptly at 9:00 AM. If you would like to join us contact Nat Stein immediately. It is important to let Nat know you are joining us so we know when our whole group is assembled and we can leave.

It’s Time To Get Involved
By Ken Fuentes

It is my great pleasure and honor to be writing this, my first mes-sage as the new president of the Conejo Valley Bonsai Society. For those of you who don’t know me well, I have been a member of CVBS since 2003 - when we were still meeting in founding mem-bers’ homes - working mostly behind the scenes doing whatever I could do to help grow the club. This year as president, I plan to work on bringing up other very talented members who are main-taining a low profile to become more involved in our club’s success.