Bonsai Society

of Dallas
Monthly newsletter November 2007

Message from the President

By Sylvia Smith
BSD CALENDAR:

• Preparing your trees We had another successful auction! I want to thank our fearless auctioneer who
for Winter I think has done a wonderful job for the last 6 years. He knows how to get the
November program crowd going and he goes through a lot of material in a short period of time...
8:30 AM Saturday, Nov 3rd thanks Howard. Also, I can’t thank our helpers enough for all of the hard work
North Haven Gardens they put into getting our auction set up and running smoothly. It’s a lot of work
and they made it look so flawless! Thanks to John Miller, Ted Colomina,
• The Forest for the Trees Timothy Phan, James Bonney, Sandi McFarland and our honorary club member
December program Glen McFarland, who really works hard for us even though all the bonsai
8:30 AM Saturday, Dec 1st belong to his wife! Thanks to all those other helping hands that were not
North Haven Gardens mentioned and everyone who participated. We could not do this without your
help and your donations.

Let’s not forget that it’s time to get our memberships renewed. Those who
IN THIS ISSUE: joined during the auction will be on the 2008 membership list. Please make
sure that you send your membership form in the mail as soon as possible. We
• Message from the President would like to have all membership dues in by January so that we can have an
• November Program updated membership roster to give to all of our members. This will be a good
way to stay in contact as we have some fun buying trips in store for the coming
• November Bonsai year. Just click on this link to the membership site and print out the PDF
• News from the LSBF membership form to mail to us with your check.
http://www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com/join.php
• Events of Interest
• Auction Recap See you in November.

Sylvia Smith
BSD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sylvia Smith, President

slysmith@earthlink

Ted Colomina, Treasurer

November Program
[email protected]

James Bonney, Secretary

[email protected] Preparing your trees for Winter

John Miller, President Emeritus

Conducted by: Sylvia Smith Time: 8:30 AM - 12 PM
[email protected] Place: North Haven Gardens Date: Saturday, Nov 3rd

Sylvia Smith will be discussing how to prepare for winter and the work that
Would you like to get this newsletter via needs to be done on your trees at this time.
email? Has your address changed?
Comments? E-mail [email protected].

Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com

BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 2
NOVEMBER 2007 LSBF Meeting
Notes
November Bonsai
By John Miller
The LSBF had their final meeting of
There is an article in BCI magazine (Vol 46 No 4 2007. They announced that LSBF
Oct-Nov-Dec 2007) that should be required reading members no longer have to join the
for all. It is by Robert Steven in Readers Forum regarding using the textbook ABS to participate in the 2008
rules for bonsai. These rules are important for the beginner to learn what convention. They also discussed
makes for a good bonsai. However, as Mr. Steven points out there are many future LSBF convention meeting sites
times when breaking the rules will create a much better bonsai. You need to (2009 will be in Houston and 2010
know about nature and the why of things to do this. For example, crossing will be in Ft. Worth), and announced
branches usually creates confusion in one’s eye, but in the case of creating a that the 2008 Visiting Artist is Mike
windswept it may be necessary to result in a believable design. Another Hagedorn. More info will follow at a
example: on a multiple trunk style, the height of each trunk is proportional to future date.
its diameter. However, it may not be possible to reduce the smaller trunk
height due to lack of branches or to remove it because that would give you an
ugly ‘u’ base. You may be able to leave the smaller trunk’s height but you
compromise by keeping the foliage more sparse (because trunk size in nature is
dependent on the amount of foliage above it).

Fall and winter is the proper time to do wiring, styling and plucking work on
pines. Repotting is saved until growth starts in the spring and candle pruning
Events of
in summer. Interest
Have your winter quarters clean and ready so
that you can put your trees there quickly in the
event a freeze is forecast. But don’t put them • Dallas Bonsai Club
there too soon as they are easier to care for November meeting
where they are. Saturday, Nov. 3rd
After moving the bonsai, it would be a good idea
to spray the benches with lime-sulfur to kill • Daylight Saving
insect eggs and mold spores. If you are putting Time ends
the trees under them for the winter, move the Sunday, Nov. 4th
trees away before spraying them. The cold 2:00 AM
should be good enough to stop insect activity on the trees so the area will not
become re-infested when the trees go back to await the colder weather.
• Veteran’s Day
Most important in winter is to keep the Sunday, Nov. 11th
soil moisture at a proper level. This is
sometimes hard to do because the trees do
not use as much water as when they are
• 2008 ABS/LSBF Seminar
growing. However, the cold winds will dry out the tops Meeting — New Braunfels,
quickly. I believe that most winter damage in Texas is due to Tx., Nov. 17th
lack of water rather than to low temperatures. Mulch helps
keep the roots warm and retards evaporation, but it makes for difficulty in • Thanksgiving Day
seeing if the soil is damp enough. Most soils with enough organic material to Thursday, Nov. 22nd
keep the tree happy in the summer will be too wet if watered daily in the winter
and wet cold means root rot. Try to position them so you can check the soil. If
you are not watching the soil in their pots you may either get root rot fungus or
it dries out—either way, you have a “finished” (for you beginners that reads
dead) bonsai. It is easier to care for if you have them under roof, that way you
know you need to tend to watering.

Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com

BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
NOVEMBER 2007

The above-average temperatures this fall may have stressed your trees. If you
Auction
have a tree that is weak and unhealthy you should not attempt to style it in any Recap
way; just get it happy by adjusting its soil, feeding, and getting rid of any
parasites. Styling just adds to its stress and problems.

When trees go dormant which indicates a reduced sap flow they The club auction last month was a
may be pruned, that is have major limbs removed. great success in view of the
Trimming may also be done while the leaves are off the challenges of scheduling and the
trees and you can see what you are doing. Evergreen weather. The profit was pretty good
types will probably still be active. Pruning them considering the low turnout. The rain
should be held until later. didn’t help matters much, but we did
have about half a dozen non-members
The general wisdom is that dormant trees need no that were just making purchases at
fertilizer. However, as long as the soil is not frozen North Haven that morning jump in on
there will be some root activity. I do not add any the auction. We managed to sell
fertilizer to dormant trees but I will leave the organic fertilizer cakes on everything except for a few reserve-
until spring in case they happen to get some good out of them. The organics priced items. As far as the Grand
will not break down much in cold weather anyway. Evergreen types (e.g., Total; the club pulled in $4,058.30 in
pines, junipers, yaupons and live oaks) however continue some activity and sales. $1,865.70 is the clubs, with the
therefore can use a small amount of low nitrogen fertilizer. remaining amount to be paid out to
members.
A horticultural oil spray should be applied during the
winter to control scale. It will also get any Out of that grand total, our guest artist
overwinter insects or eggs that may be trying to get Peter Warren bid $315. Prior to the
thru the winter on your plant. This purpose is what auction, he worked on one of the
lime-sulphur was first used for, and some Japanese junipers (at no charge to the club),
still use it, but the oil is safer on bonsai and may be which sold for $120. He also donated
used on evergreens where the lime-sulphur should back to the club about $100 in auction
not be used. However, do not use oil-based spray on items that he’d won, which can be
buttonwoods. used for door prizes at club meetings.
Basically, Peter spent his hard-earned
By this time any tropicals you have should be under cover. Most do not like cash on our auction and was happy
temperatures below 50 degrees. All tropicals should be checked and treated for with the great deals that he got. And
any insect problems since any insects will multiply fast when they get into we got a guest artist totally paid for on
warmer quarters. Spider mites and scale can donated auction items!! Not bad!
be especially damaging if the plant is moved
into the house where the humidity is low. The evening round robin with Peter
yielded four participating club
Semi-tropical plants like crape myrtle, members and an additional four as
pomegranate and pyracantha need to go observers. Three of the trees that
dormant to stay healthy over a long time but were worked on came directly from
they cannot take much cold on the roots. the morning’s auction. We want to
They will be killed by temps somewhere thank Peter for his generosity and for
between 25 and 30 degrees. These I set the help he provided at the auction
down on the ground and mulch for light freezes and then bring into a protected loading and unloading trees and
area for the colder winter. Sometimes I will let them go dormant for a month tagging auction items. We hope to
and then take into the greenhouse to start early and I can enjoy their new see him again soon!
foliage in January.

Take advantage of low prices when nurseries are clearing out space for Xmas tree sales. You can sometimes find some
bargains there especially if you remember that trees with broken/dead tops can make nice bonsai starter material. Look on the
discard pile in the back. "

Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com

BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 4
NOVEMBER 2007

Pegasus Pottery
By Sandi McFarland Generous Businesses Give Discounts
“Specializing in carved stoneware” to BSD Members
Cups, plates, bowls, etc.
And now creating small bonsai pots!
Let me make something special for you! Present your BSD membership card at the following
participating businesses for a 10% discount on
1405 Limetree Ln. merchandise:
Irving, TX 75061
972-438-9782 • The Bonsai Smiths
[email protected] • www.pegasuspottery.com • Dream Gardens
10% Discount to BSD Members! • Ray Hernandez’s Bent Tree Bonsai
• Pegasus Pottery
• Sanderson Creek Bonsai
We are so grateful to these businesses for their
generosity to BSD members! If you have a business
and would like to offer a discount to club members,
please contact George Straw at [email protected] or
James Bonney at [email protected].

Place your ad here!

Business card size—$5 per month
Half page—$20 per month
Full page—$35 per month
Howard and Sylvia Smith For more information, contact James Bonney
www.BonsaiSmiths.net • Cultivators of fine trees
at 972-527-2132 or [email protected]
[email protected] • Collection maintenance
Tel# (972) 392-1430 • Private instruction
Fax# (972) 661-0694 • Classes, lectures & demos

Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com

 BONSAI SOCIETY OF DALLAS
www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com
MEMBERSHIP FORM

Please mail to:

Bonsai Society of Dallas
P.O. Box 836922
Richardson, TX 75083-6922
Or Turn in at Club Meeting

Bonsai Society of Dallas meets on the first (1st) Saturday of each month.
Time: 9:00 AM
Place: North Haven Garden Center
7700 Northaven
Dallas, TX

Date: ___________________

Name(s):________________________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________________________

City:_____________________________State:_____________Zip Code:____________

Telephone:___________________________E-mail:_____________________________

Date:_________________________ Individual Membership: $25.00

Joint Membership: $30.00
____Renewal
____New Membership

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Do Not Cut: For Treasurer Use Only

Member Receipt:

Name:_____________________________________________Date:________________

Amount Paid:______________________Membership Year:_____________________