January 2007 Newsletter

January Meetings

All 2007 meetings will be Joint meetings and will be in the large upstairs room at the Heather Farm Garden Center, Walnut Creek. Meetings are scheduled on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, from 7:30PM to 9:30PM.

Meetings start at 7:30PM with a brief business meeting, and end at 9:30PM.
Please be ready to meet at 7:30PM.

Wednesday, January 17th - 7:30pm. Joint Class Meeting.
                                          Lecture 7:30-8:00pm -To be announced.. .
                                          Workshop 8:00 - 9:30.
                                          Refreshments and help with cleanup and close:
                                          Marcia Cozens & Rebecca Harris.

From the President

2007 Monthly Meetings

This year, rather than delivering a lecture with material most members have previously heard, ‘K’ would like to try something a little different for the first part of our club meetings. Each month, he would like one or two of the members to introduce a topic of their own choosing, and lead a short discussion and question session. The topic could be anything that interests you: a particular tree, a species, soils, pots, a style, trees in nature, etc. We can try this out for a couple of months, and see how it goes.

For January, ‘K’ would like each member to come prepared with 2 questions for group discussion. Again, any topic is fine. If you want to know about it, we’ll talk about it!

Potting Sessions

We have scheduled 4 potting sessions for this winter and spring to assist you in preparing both donation and show trees for the Spring Show (March 31 – April 1):

           January 13
           January 27
           February 10
           March 3
All potting sessions are held at the Tassajara Nursery at 9:30 AM.

Note: Dues for 2007 are now due. The Board determined that to meet increased costs for the meeting room annual membership fees should be increased to $50.00 for a single member and $75.00 for a couple. Please use the form below to mail your check to Jim Stalker or bring your check to the January Club meeting.
Thank you for your support. Steve Huskins

Things we have learned - Transplanting or repotting bonsai trees. Reprinted from February 2003.

One of the frequent questions is about the bonsai potting soil mix. Several years ago in a workshop, Sensei talked about potting soil and Jim Stalker made his notes available.

Transplanting or repotting is one of the critical activities in the culture and care of bonsai. For our special climatic conditions now is the time for transplanting. The period for deciduous trees is a little earlier than for evergreens, and begins in mid to late January and will end for most by mid February. For individual species you may want to seek K’s advice if you cannot repot now.

K’s Bonsai Soil Mix Formula

Basic: Cactus mix - 10 parts (cups, quarts, etc)     65%
          Perlite -           3 parts                                 22%
          Sand -             2 parts                                 13%

For Conifers – To the basic mix shown above add: 1 more part of sand and 2 more parts of pumice.
                        to 15 parts of basic mix –     83%, add
                              1 part sand -                    6%, and
                              2 parts of pumice -         11%.

For Deciduous trees – To the basic mix add 2 more parts of planting/potting mix
                                    to 15 parts of basic mix –               88%, add
                                          2 parts planting/potting mix -    12%.

Diablo Bonsai Club Look Ahead Schedule

Wednesday, February 21st. 7:30PM. Joint Class Meeting. Lecture: to be announced.

Events Elsewhere

January 13-14 , Saturday & Sunday, Hayward.Bay Island Bonsai 8th Anniversary show “An Exhibit of Fine Bonsai” at Centennial Hall, 22292 Foothill Blvd. Hours are 10AM-4PM both days.

January 27-28, Saturday and Sunday, Oakland Bay Area Bonsai Associates: 25th Annual Bonsai Exhibit at Lakeside Garden Center (Lake Merritt), 666 Bellevue Ave. Show hours are Saturday 5:30PM-9PM and Sunday 10AM-4PM. Dennis Makishima, bonsai consultant for the BONSAI book by Sunset Magazine and bonsai cultivation expert, will do a critique of the main Raffle prize tree and trees pulled from the exhibit.

Diablo Bonsai Club Officers

Steve Huskins - President,    Byron Nobriga - First Vice President
Sylvia Roemer - Secretary,     Jim Stalker - Treasurer,
Club Historian - Lois Naye.    Editor & Webmaster - Don Meeker -

2007 Dues

January is the start of a new year and Diablo Bonsai Club annual dues are now owing. If you have not already paid, please fill out the following form and a check made out to: Diablo Bonsai Club and mail it to: James Stalker, 87 Tuscany Way, Danville, CA 94506, or bring it to the January meeting. Please remember that payment must be made by January 31, 2007, or you will not be in the 2007 Club Roster. The Treasurer and others who process the payments and club records are volunteers, they need and deserve your cooperation. Any who do not pay dues before or at the January Meeting (Jan 17, 2007) will not be eligible to participate in Club activities after that meeting. If it is necessary for you to pay at a later date please contact the Club President Steve Huskins or the Club Treasurer Jim Stalker and make arrangements.