Club News - May 2022

Kusamura at Filoli – May 21, 11AM - 4PM

Bonsai at Filoli

Instead of our normal Friday night meeting in May, our club will be holding a special event at Filoli on Saturday, May 21 from 11AM - 4PM. This will be an opportunity for Kusamura to demonstrate the art of bonsai to members of the visiting public at Filoli that may have never known anything about bonsai before. It will also allow Kusamura members to visit Filoli for free.

There will be three demo periods with multiple displays showing different techniques used to create bonsai.

  • 11:00AM to 12:30PM - Repotting, wiring and wood carving

  • 12:30PM to 2:00PM - Thinning and styling, dead wood creation and how to prune a maple

  • 2:00PM to 3:30PM - Creating a group planting or forest, styling a root-over-rock bonsai

Educational Area / Hands-On Learning

There will be an area where visitors will be able to do some bonsai activities, such as wiring a branch and bending / styling it to suggest greater age. Another area will demonstrate why different styles of bonsai pots work better with different trees. Plus other topics.

Bonsai Tours

Club members will be giving tours of the Filoli bonsai collection throughout the day.

Directions

Filoli is a 654 acre estate located in Woodside, California off Interstate 280. It is considered one of the finest remaining country estates of the 20th century. Now owned by a nonprofit organization and recognized by National Trust for Historic Preservation. See Planning Your Visit for more detailed directions.

62nd Annual Show a Huge Success

by Show Chairs Idris Anderson and Lynne O'Delle

Our 2022 show succeeded in offering both experienced and novice members an opportunity to present a few of their best trees in a formal Japanese display.  It was wonderful to be all together after a two year hiatus! 

Bob Shimon demonstrates wiring branch on redwood
Bob Shimon demonstrates wiring branches on a redwood

Some statistics about our show

  • 69 displays were on the floor + the education display on stage

  • 3 displays were loaned to us from the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. Big thank you to Gordon Deeg for getting them ready and bringing them from the garden.

  • 24 members displayed at least one tree

  • 6 of the 24 members were members who showed for their first time

  • 12 displays were in memory of John Planting and one display in honor of Desmond Johnson. Thank you Gordon for prepping and displaying John’s favorite shohin

  • 4 trees became bonsai in the 1960s: a Korean Hornbeam imported from Japan, a Shimpaku, an Eastern Red Cedar, and a Seiju Elm

  • 150 - 300 visitors, from various estimates, attended the show on Saturday; about half that amount on Sunday; we didn’t get a good count because so many were rushing through the entrance on Saturday!

  • Nearly all our sales trees were sold Saturday leaving only pots for sale on Sunday. 

As a "teaching club" we wanted to include opportunities for visitors and members to learn more about bonsai, and so -

  • On Saturday, Bob Shimon, our Headliner shared his experience and styled and discussed the nuances of California’s iconic Redwood.

  • On Sunday, Charlene Fischer, Michael Greenstein, and Marsha Mekisich once again showed us there is no “one” way to style a boxwood. Richard Phillips was our engaging, amusing, informative MC.

  • Richard Phillips was also on stage with Education displays, and answers to visitors’ questions.

  • Barbara Phillips, along with her crew, was in the Children’s Corner helping visitors of all ages create accent plants to take home.

  • Michael Greenstein conducted a tour of the Show on Sunday for visitors to learn about individual trees, their history, and bonsai techniques.

  • Idris Anderson prepared booklets keying the language of bonsai to specific trees—for visitors to learn about various bonsai techniques.

We are We are always amazed at how generous our members are with their time and the tasks always get done.  Many volunteers were there for all three days. It was especially gratifying to see the enthusiasm of the newer members, showing their trees and volunteering for any and every kind of task.

Yes it was a lot of work but we had so much fun getting to know each other better, beaming proudly, and talking Bonsai!

Monthly Tasks

Each month there are a number of tasks you need to do to your bonsai – from repotting, to fertilizing to spraying for pests. We have put together a checklist, customized for the San Francisco Bay Area to help you. This checklist is adapted from earlier work by Mitsuo Umehara. 

This month: May Tasks

Some Photos from Our Show

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Newsletter Editor: Rita Curbow