April 2014 – Annual Review

April 2014 – Leroy Kubel’s Annual Review of the Past Year

Program:

Leroy Kubel is a charter member of our club and photographer par excellence who has been taking pictures of trees exhibited in our annual show since 1980, and he always shares his photos of the previous year with the club at one of our evening programs. Leroy’s presentation is always one of the highlights of the year.

Leroy used slides (anyone remember Kodachrome?) in his presentation for many years, but it is now all-digital and has allowed him to be very creative and usually includes much more than just our previous year’s show. He usually has a surprise or two up his sleeve and his presentation is a don’t-miss event!

President’s Message:

Show time is quickly approaching! Time to start narrowing your choices for your trees to display. Please get your forms to Ann Erb as soon as you have decided. It makes her job laying out the location of each tree much easier.

Hopefully you are preselecting items for the silent auction. John Bleck has the forms ready for the auction.

The “rack cards” advertising our show have arrived. We have divided the city and surrounding area into four areas of concentration where people interested in bonsai may discover our show. I will be asking for four volunteers to deliver the cards at this Tuesday’s meeting. If you are interested, you may call or email me or see me at the meeting.

We will need everyone to help set the show up on Saturday morning before the show. Please be early. Our plan is to have the show UP by 10:00 so that we can allow club members to have a half hour to purchase items at the show before we allow the public to purchase items. It will be a great opportunity to discover items for your collection.

~ Tom

Last Month: Bob Pressler – Raft Style Juniper

Bob likes to turn less-than-perfect material into good bonsai, and raft style is a good opportunity to use material that may not be suitable for other uses. It’s fun to do and is a safe procedure: you leave most of the healthy existing root ball until the tree strikes new roots along the trunk. Only then do you cut off the old roots, usually after two years or so for prostrata junipers. You can do creative things with your raft. The trunk doesn’t have to be straight; it can be bent in interesting ways. The tree Bob used was a six or seven year old cutting. One picture shows Bob and the tree before he worked on it. The other shows the tree in its new temporary home, a shallow box. Note that the trunk is buried but will be exposed after it roots. Not shown are the “volunteers”, a few of our newer members, who Bob recruited to help him prepare the tree.

Updated Website

Daniel Martinez, our new webmaster, has given the club’s website a brand new updated look.

Coming Events:

April 12: Saturday Workshop with Ann Erb

9 AM until noon, Room 8, Goleta Valley Community Center. Ann Erb, instructor. Last of four workshops on the second Saturday of the month with the club’s own talented Ann Erb. Contact Ann Erb or Tom Post if you want to come.

April 19: Saturday Workshop with Guest Instructor

9 AM until noon or 1 to 4 PM., Room 7, Goleta Valley Community Center. Kathy Benson, guest instructor. Contact Wally Kunimoto if you have a question.

May 3-4, 2014: Gardena, CA Dai Ichi Bonsai Kai: Annual Exhibit

“Serenity through Bonsai” at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center, 1670 W. 162nd St. Hours are 10 AM – 4 PM, both days. Novice to master bonsai exhibits. For more details about the club and show visit their web site.

May 13: Tuesday Evening Meeting

Last-minute show preparation. Specifics in next month’s newsletter.

May 17-18: Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara

Our annual show and plant sale at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. 11:00 AM -4:00 PM on Saturday; 9:00 AM -4:00 PM on Sunday. Mel Ikeda will do a demo a 1:00 PM on Saturday and Ann Erb will do Sunday’s demo. Plant sale, silent auction, and an informal exhibit of California natives as possible bonsai will be included. Please plan to show a tree, and, as usual, volunteers will
be needed to help set up and tear down the show. The show tree entry form is included with his newsletter. Fill it out and return it to Ann Erb as soon as possible.