March 2023 Bonsai Newsletter

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The Conejo Valley Bonsai Society is developing an exciting schedule of workshops, member-led discussions, field trips, and demonstrations. Both Program Chair Nancy Smeets and Field Trip Chair Damon DuBois are busy lining up activities and working out details.

At our March meeting, Ken Martin will lead a five-minute discussion of how to wire bonsai into a pot. Some other scheduled topics include fertilizers (time of year, types of trees, amount) and bugs, fungi, and preventive maintenance. Farther down the calendar, we are looking for topics and volunteer leaders for our monthly discussions. Please let me know your interests and what we should add to the list.

Meanwhile, Damon has arranged with Huntington Gardens Bonsai Cura-tor Ted Matson an April 22 behind-the-scene tour of the Huntington’s bonsai collection. (See pages 2 and 8 for more information.) And Nancy is working out details of two demonstrations, possibly including one on kusamono, the Japanese botanical art of potted wild grasses and flowers. Watch this space and the CVBS Program Calendar on page 2 for more information as Damon and Nancy work out the details.

As part of our practice of monthly short discussions, I led off our February meeting with some thoughts on how to trim junipers. I brought in several juniper species for the demonstration. It is important to know when to trim and when to pinch. We all had a good discussion.
Bonsai-A-Thon Report.

The Golden State Bonsai Federa-tion’s February 25 – 26 Bosai-A-Thon at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens was a success, despite bad weather. All the activities and vendor booths scheduled to be outside had to be moved inside. The Huntington closed their gardens (their galleries were open). Instead of the usual mixture of bonsai people and Huntington visitors, we had mostly bonsai enthusiasts.

But the place was full. At times the vendor area was so crowded it was almost impossible to walk through. Some of the auction trees were culled from the Huntington’s collection, including those that were used in demonstrations. There were three demonstrators both Saturday and Sunday, and most of the chairs for the audience were occupied.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, catching up with old friends and finding new treasures! The tradition will carry on in 2024.

Dues Are Due
If you have not yet paid your annual CVBS dues, please bring them to our March meeting or send a check to me (see page 3 for details).
The March 4 potting workshop at Rick Boyer’s nursery was a big success with a half-dozen CVBS members participating. Another Saturday nursery workshop has already been scheduled, for May 6. (See pages 2 and 7.)

CVBS honorary member Ann Lofquist, who now lives on the East Coast, has started making and selling bonsai pots. Her Etsy store is called AkimiBonsaiPots and if you are interested they are available at www.etsy.com/shop/AkimiBonsaiPots. They are beautiful—check them out.

See you Thursday, March 16