June 2021 Bonsai Newsletter
The Covid-19 pandemic may be winding down, but the bonsai community has a lo ng way to go before it’s recovered. Here in California, spring/summer bonsai community activities are still up in the air. There are no concrete plans for in person programs that we know of until October of this year.
It is heartening that the Golden State Bonsai Federation plans to return to live programing for its Bonsai Rendezvous in Sant a Nella, California, October 2 – 3, 2021. But even those plans are somewhat tentative (see page 9 for details as of press time). And that leaves a long dry spell between now and then.
Outlook: Uncertain
The Conejo Valley Bonsai Society’s near-term outlook also re-mains uncertain. At this writing, the Westlake Village Community Center is still closed. I am waiting to see what we hear after June 15 when California is supposed to open fully after Covid-19. Stand by for news, which we will relay as soon as we hear something definite from the Community Center’s management.
The fate of CVBS ’s 18t h annual exhibit io n, originally tentatively scheduled for the first weekend in October, remains unclear. Our traditional venue at Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks currently does not open Sunday, so a two-day weekend exhibition may not be possible there. The board must decide how to go forward. We may, for example, do another virtual exhibition in this newsletter as we did in 2020.
Stay tuned for developments.
Meanwhile, there are usually many spring bonsai shows put on by the various Southern California bonsai clubs. Some clubs are holding virtual bonsai shows if they cannot have an actual one. As we get information from the various clubs, we will add the program to our calendar of event s. If you are aware of any activities, please let me or our newsletter editor David Whiteside know so he can add it to our schedule.
By the time you read this, we will have held another virtual demonstration event with our sister club up the coast, the Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara. Featuring bonsai expert Jonas Dupuich, the June 8 program covered the development and refinement of Japanese black pines. (To see more about him go to https://bo nsaitonight.com/about/.) There will be an article about Jonas’s demo in the July issue of this newsletter.
Watch for it!
