Deciduous Winter Silhouette & Valentine's Day Celebration
February 16 @ 7:00pm to 9:30pm
The bare trunk and branch structure of our winter deciduous trees elicits a unique artistic aesthetic to our bonsai that we don’t get to see at our Spring show. A portion of the evening will be a show and tell with owners sharing a bit about their tree and an open discussion facilitated by Michael Greenstein about developing ramification and horticultural considerations of deciduous trees during winter.
Oh…what about the Haiku Tribute? Well, not many of us send Valentines to our trees but the sentiments of a Valentine poem expressed in the Japanese Haiku can create a powerful image. Share your Bonsai related Haiku at the meeting and we’ll also place them in the next newsletter.
Haiku is a Japanese poetry form that uses just a few words to capture a moment and create a picture in the reader's mind. Traditionally, haiku is written in 3 lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line. The first 2 lines create an image and the third line suggests an interpretation of the first image or suggests a contrast. Resource for writing Haiku: https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-haiku-poem
Bring a deciduous tree in Winter Silhouette! One already well-developed, on its way, or that needs advice.
Also bring a Valentine’s treat or dessert to share!
AND WEAR RED
Cold barren branches
waiting for springs breath of warmth
yet knows its beauty.
-by Lynne O'Dell
Mammoth 2024 Updates and Request for Volunteers
A friendly reminder to please consider volunteering for one of the remaining shifts on Saturday or Sunday and support the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Volunteers will be served lunches again this year on both days. Just click on this link to go to the Sign Up Genius page. Volunteering through this app is easy and helpful in supporting the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt.
Additionally, Mammoth 2024 auction items are now able to be previewed online at the BGLM website: https://bonsailakemerritt.com/mammoth-fundraiser/2024-mammoth-auction-items/
Sales will have a ton of bonsai pots and other related items, and a total of 15 vendors and 31 tables will be present on Sunday.
February 16 Meeting - Deciduous Bonsai Winter Celebration
We may not think of Winter as a time to celebrate the beauty of our deciduous bonsai, but it's a prime time to admire their bare trunks and branch structure. The February program will be a chance for you to display your favorite deciduous bonsai in a form that we usually don't get to see at our Spring show.
And to make this a true celebration, how about an expanded snack table featuring some creative Valentine's Day-themed treats to munch while touring the displayed trees. Heart-shaped cupcakes anyone? More details to follow, but start thinking about what tree you might want to show and while you're at it, find a recipe for a snack table "treat."
Beginners Workshop – Sunday, February 25
Creating a bonsai from inexpensive nursery stock trees is one of the best ways for beginners to practice basic skills while attaining a result you will be proud to show to family, friends, and perhaps even in the "In Development" section of our annual show.
With this goal in mind, we are excited to announce that the first Kusamura Beginner event of 2024 will be a special workshop dedicated to creating bonsai from nursery stock Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees.
Details about attending can be found in the newsletter emailed to club members.
Open Only to Club Members
Time to Renew Membership Dues
Help keep the club going strong by renewing your membership today!
Club membership dues are $45 for a single membership or $55 for a family membership, and the due date is Jan 30.
New members who joined Sept through Dec 2023 are also considered paid for 2024.
Renewal online is very easy. Simply login and look in the Members-Only menu to find the Renew Membership page.
Additionally, our treasurer is able to take checks or credit card payments in person at the Feb meeting. Please make your check payable to Kusamura Bonsai Club.
Members who haven't renewed by end of March will be dropped from the membership.
2024 Annual Show Information
We have again booked Addison Elementary School in Palo Alto on Friday, April 19 for show set up, and on Saturday and Sunday, April 20-21 for the show. Note that this is a week earlier than in the recent past.
Kusamura’s Annual Bonsai Show gives members an opportunity to take stock of their trees and choose two or three favorites that they’d like to share with each other, family, friends, and the public. Our show is well-attended and beautiful, thanks to Kusamura members pitching in as usual. We look forward again to this satisfying and enjoyable annual gathering—and the fine attention to preparing our trees to show their best.
Our newer members, who may never have been to a show or participated in creating one, will be amazed! There will be a number of ways new members can help. The show includes trees in development as well as fully developed and refined show trees. We encourage all members regardless of level to participate in any way you feel comfortable. Be a part of this great endeavor!
Sign up for various tasks: We encourage all to sign up for something each show day. There are more slots than we have members so think of signing up for two, three, or four slots, as many as you can. We need you, beginners included! Sign-up sheets for various needs this year will be available soon on our website. Watch for email BLAST late February or early March for Show Task online sign up. The website also has descriptions of the various tasks. You can also sign up at our February and March meetings. Be an early bird! Early birds get their choice of tasks and time slots.
Gentle Reminder: All members are encouraged to donate at least 2 trees or bonsai related items for the club sale. Value of $25 or more. Donations help cover show expenses, the largest item of our annual budget.
Please Help with Publicity: Tell all your friends, family, neighbors, office, school, company, dentist (and others whom you encounter) about our show. We urge you to make a post in your neighborhood’s Nextdoor Events internet site and to post on your workplace’s bulletin board (actual or virtual). We will have postcards and flyers at our February and March meetings for you to pass to others.
Heads up: Please bring show trees no later than Saturday morning at 9AM or let Charlene know if you plan to come later so she can ensure a space is set aside for you. Please review Show Preparation on the club website. Show opens at Noon.
Charlene and Marsha (Show Curators) will assign you a table number and a position (A or B) depending on the flow of your tree’s branching. To do this, when you submit your information about tree(s) via the form provided on the website, we will need to know if your tree should be placed on the left or right of the table. The show curators will make these tentative designations and then will adjust/rearrange the trees for best visual presentation of the show as a whole. Much thought goes into the placement of trees.
The show layout will be virtually the same as last year’s. Friday night setup begins at 5:30PM. All hands on deck please!
Highlights from the First Potting Party
Rescheduling our first potting party to a less stormy weekend turned out to be an excellent choice, and the skies stayed clear for the day. In total we had 19 attendees, including little Arik who helped prune and repot his own tree.
There was a good mix of veteran members and those who repotted a tree for the very first time that day, and equally the trees were a mix of donations needing a refresh and raw nursery stock ready to transition into proper soil.
In between potting trees we enjoyed coffee, chocolate cake, and fresh donuts at the refreshment table, and later we were even treated to delicious home-made sourdough pizzas!
One of the most challenging trees was this wisteria that took several hours and nearly everyone’s determined work to finally budge it from its pot. Luckily the tree, pot, tools, and limbs of everyone survived intact and this wisteria will continue to grow and develop in a different pot. A good reminder of the importance of checking roots for repotting, some species grow more aggressively than others
We styled and repotted a total of 34 trees in preparation for the club show coming up in April, and 7 of those trees and pots found new homes with club members that day. This is a nice number to get us started. See you at the next one!
Recommended Videos - Winter Silhouettes: How Do You Do That?
Our club meeting in February looks at Winter Silhouettes. Bring your finely ramified deciduous trees for this special showing and discussion. I’ve collected here two Winter Silhouette Shows, one recently in the Los Angeles area and one in North Carolina. But in addition to admiring these wonderful trees in all their winter nakedness, the big question is How Do You Do That? I’ve added two videos, one by Mr. Deciduous Himself, Michael Roberts of Southern California, and another one by Graham Potter, probably the oldest and most reputable bonsai artist in the UK. They both show off the pruning skills necessary to develop really fine ramification. All that twigging is easily developed but you must be on top of it constantly.
Graham, the old pro, demonstrates the pruning of deciduous trees and how to create beautiful branch structure and dense ramification. He makes it seem so simple. Economically presented.
Baikoen Bonsai Kenkyukai 60th Annual Winter Silhouettes (Exhibition Commentary by Jason Chan)
21 minutes 53 seconds | January 13, 2024
This is the best video out there of a winter silhouettes show. It’s this year’s very recent show.
Baikoen Bonsai Kenkyukai 60th Annual Winter Silhouettes Show Highlights
Bonsai Tonight | Jonas Dupuich
Winter Silhouette Bonsai 12
Announcement for 12th Annual Winter Bonsai Show in North Carolina. Includes photos of trees in winter silhouette from past shows, some conifers intermixed but mostly deciduous.
Pruning Deciduous Bonsai Trees: Growing Techniques for Ramifying Deciduous and Broadleaf Evergreens
American Bonsai Association, Sacramento | Michael Roberts
1 hour 41 minutes | 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t-fNoc1Yb0&ab_channel=AmericanBonsaiAssociationSacramento
Excellent full discussion by one of the best developers of deciduous bonsai.
Pruning Deciduous Bonsai Trees
Kaizen Bonsai | Graham Potter
15 minutes 21 seconds | 2018
Graham, the old pro, demonstrates the pruning of deciduous trees and how to create beautiful branch structure and dense ramification. He makes it seem so simple. Economically presented.
Newsletter Editor: Jenn Tan