Club News - April 2018

Annual Show - Next Weekend!

Saturday April 21 & Sunday April 22 @ Lucie Stern Community Center

1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto

It's time for our annual show! During our two day event you'll be able to see 100+ bonsai, demonstrations of how to create and care for bonsai and buy a bonsai for yourself. If you'd like to get a taste for what you might see at our show take a look at trees at last year's show.

Hours: Saturday Noon-5pm, Sunday 11am-5pm.
Saturday's demo will be at 1:30 and feature Laura and Darren Wong of Soh-Ju-En Satsuki Bonsai.
Sunday's demo will be at 1:30pm and feature a demo by club members

2018 Show Update

Saturday April 21 (Noon to 5PM) 
Sunday April 22 (11AM-5PM)
Setup on Friday April 20 (5PM-9PM) 

With three weeks left before our annual show, we’re wrapping up loose ends to assure a smooth running enjoyable show. A few reminders:

• Contact Charlene Fischer to let her know which trees you will show, common and scientific name, and the year or approximate decade the tree started being trained (i.e. trained since early 1990’s). Remember that we have a “Trees in Progress” so they don’t have to be Show perfect.
• The club owns stands and an inventory of stands is on our website.  Contact Sean Morris to have him reserve a specific stand for your needs. If you don’t see a stand that will work on the website, contact John and Sandy Planting to borrow stands and scrolls 
• Email Charlene on open volunteer slots. We need help selling raffle tickets, trees, and manning the show room and front reception table.   
• Sumptuous lunches on Saturday and Sunday are provided by contributions from members. Email our Kitchen coordinator Diane Churchill at to let her know what you will bring for each day. Saturday is reserved for easy deli types of foods while Sunday we have more time to make hot dishes and casseroles. The club provides turkey/ham sandwiches and beverages. Salads, desserts, appetizers, are all possibilities.
• We have a large 46” tall tree that we would like to transport to the show. If anyone has a van or vehicle that can accommodate this, please let Charlene know. She will give you the details of where to pick up the tree.  It is a two-person job to load the tree into the car.

Thank you to everyone who is helping make the show a success. See you all soon.

Participating at Our Show - contact Charlene Fischer

These are the activities in which volunteers are needed:

• Friday Setup and Plant Pricing:  5PM - 9:30PM
• Saturday Setup: 8AM–NOON
• Sunday Breakdown/Strike: 5PM–7PM
• Hosts (Reception Lobby, Exhibit Area): Saturday, 11:30AM–5PM
• Hosts (Reception Lobby, Exhibit Area): Sunday, 10AM–5PM
• Kitchen (Kitchen & Dining Room Setup): Saturday/Sunday, 10AM–5PM
• Plant Sale (Sale Table, Sale Area): Saturday, 11:30AM–5PM
• Plant Sale (Sale Table, Sale Area): Sunday, 10AM–5PM
• Door Prize and Benefit Drawing Ticket Sales:  Saturday, 1:30-3PM
• Door Prize and Benefit Drawing Ticket Sales:  Sunday, 1:30-3PM
• Kids Corner:  Saturday, 12-4PM
• Kids Corner:  Sunday, 11AM-3PM

Logistics - Friday Plant Sale Drop-off: 6PM–9PM

If you are helping price trees, please arrive at 5PM to setup. Otherwise, when you bring in your donation and sale trees, please get plant tags and identity the tree variety if you know it. Also, for consignment sale trees, add your initials followed by slash C (e.g., SN/C-1) on the plant tag and fill out a Consignment Form (available on Friday night of you don’t have one). Later, we will provide a record of your donation for use on your 2018 taxes.

If a tree does not sell, the donor (preferred) or another member must “tree sit” it until next year and improve upon it. Long-term members are asked to donate three items for the sale while newer members are asked to donate one item. If you do not have a donation tree/pot that can be sold for a minimum of $25 each, please bring cash or a check and give to Hal. All cash donations will be filed separately from any purchases members made on Friday evening. Friday night is a popular night for members to purchase trees or pots before they go on sale to the general public on Saturday. Don’t bring your trees that you will display until Saturday morning. 

Contact: Charlene Fischer

Show Room Setup - Friday, April 20: 5PM–9PM

Show room setup will start at 5PM for those of you signed up to put tables in place. Backdrop and screen setup will start shortly after that. At around 6PM we will be laying out the tablecloths using the box fold so all the corners look neat and tidy. If you have a large stand or a stand that requires assembly, you can bring it in on Friday evening after 7PM and we will assign you a location in the room for your display. 

Show Setup - Saturday, April 21: 8AM–5PM

Arrive early. Donuts and coffee will be available. The doors open to the public at noon but we need everyone to arrive as early as possible to get their trees placed in the show, assist with plant sale setup, dining room setup, etc

Bring your show tree(s) and stand(s), scroll(s), accent plant(s) into the staging area in the lobby outside the show room. A team of volunteers will work to place your tree in the show room. Please have your display tree there by 10:30AM at the latest on Saturday in the event we need to switch things around to accommodate the design. 

Show Tree Display Cards - contact Charlene Fischer

Members are asked to prepare at least one and as many as three displays for show this year. Contact Charlene Fischer to let her know what trees you plan to show. 

For each of your trees, please provide the following information:

• Common name.
• Botanical name (if you don't know, Charlene will look it up for you)
• “Trained Since” Year
• Normally your first name will also be on the card but can be left off if you prefer. Shohin displays will have a simple list of the trees rather than individual cards.
• Story of you tree. If you have an interesting story about your tree of display, let Charlene know. Our visitors will find it interesting to learn more about our trees or about why we do bonsai as they stroll through our show

Consignment Sales

Offering trees for sale via consignment at out annual sale is another way to thin your collection and benefit the club at the same time.

Contact: Hal Jerman

Kids Corner

Last year this was such a hit so we will be introducing bonsai to our young visitors again this year. We will have tables and chairs setup with pre-planted bonsai ready for some simple wiring. The goal is to inspire children about bonsai as a fun hobby.

Contact: Barbara Phillips

Food for Saturday and Sunday Lunch

Food items should be there by 11:00AM. Bring serving plates/dishes along with a utensil for serving. All non-disposable serving items should be well marked with your name for pickup at 3:00PM as cleanup of the kitchen and dining room starts then. We'll have hot trays for hot dishes; if you're bringing a dish that needs to be cooked or heated, be sure that we have proper instructions.

Visitors from other local bonsai clubs are invited to enjoy our hospitality and Kusamura members can invite their family and friends to dine with us when visiting the show but please make sure you provide extra food for them. 

Contact: Diane Churchill

Recap of our March Meeting

Charlene and Lynne presented a great program with pointers on how to display your tree at the annual show and how to create accent plantings, including making “moss balls”, that can then be used in a formal bonsai display. There were many lucky winners who took home their creations.

Everyone also loved Charlene’s story on how she got into bonsai.

Newsletter Editor: Rita Curbow