nfbc bonsai events
TRANSCRIPT
NORTH FLORIDA BONSAI CLUB January 2021
NFBC Bonsai Events
• January 11th NFBC Meeting @ 7pm • Juniper Cleaning, Wiring and General
Care
• Soil Mixing Day • We now have all the materials and a soil
mixing day will be scheduled
• February 8th NFBC Meeting @ 7pm • Trident Maple Root over Rock
demonstration
Florida Bonsai Events
• BSF Board Meeting Jan 9th
• D&L Seasonal Intensive Programs • Dates vary based upon species
• Kawa Joy of Bonsai • Feb 2021 – exact date TBD
• BSF Convention • Memorial Day Weekend
Xavier’s Winning Tree from
the Decorating Contest
Two other beautifully
decorated trees that were
part of a 3‐way tie for first
place in initial voting
January Meeting
This month’s meeting will focus on junipers. We will be discussing general cleaning, wiring, and maintenance work. Bring your junipers to work on or discuss.
Thanks to the Karate Kid junipers have become the quintessential bonsai tree for most beginners. When some folks are just discovering bonsai they often believe junipers are “bonsai” trees rather than the technique being applied. A very understandable mistake. This month we hope to dispel some of those common myths and teach you a little bit more about caring for the common juniper species.
NFBC is having a call for volunteers. Our officers have all served at least a 2yr term. We have a lot of members with fantastic ideas that we would love to have get more involved. A fresh infusion of ideas is what helps keep our club growing.
Please consider lending a hand in whatever capacity you are able. Members are not required to have “years” of bonsai experience to participate in leadership positions. A variety of perspectives and bonsai backgrounds is what helps to provide a better-rounded curriculum that applies to more of our membership.
December Events Recap Our annual holiday celebration was another great event.
The tree decorating contest had good participation. It was really hard to pick a winner and we had a three way tie for first place in initial voting. It took a second vote to pick the winner and even then it was incredibly close. Thank you to all who participated, the trees looked great.
The raffle was a new addition this year and the raffle tables were FULL. We had a variety of pots, trees, soil and tools. There was some really nice material available and hopefully this is something we can make a part of future holiday celebrations.
Even though we couldn’t have a big potluck like years past there were still a ton of great snacks. There was a little something for everyone and it brought some joy to our hearts and stomachs.
Soil Mixing Event The club is currently out of bonsai soil. We will be scheduling a day to mix additional buckets. In the meantime please bring back your empty buckets and lids to the upcoming meetings. The more buckets we have the more soil we can make at one time.
Seasonal Advice This is a quiet month for bonsai work since January is normally our coldest month.
Tropical Trees - We shouldn’t be doing any work on tropical trees. Our primary goal this month is protecting trees as temperatures drop below 45 for our most sensitive species (i.e., buttonwood, black olive, etc.) or the low 40’s for other tropical trees. A frozen tropical tree will sustain serious damage that is sometimes fatal.
Deciduous Trees - These species need a winter dormancy period to remain healthy. Once deciduous trees have gone fully dormant it is a good time to do structural pruning since you can see the full winter silhouette and identify potential areas for improvement.
Conifers and Broadleaf Evergreen Trees – These species need a winter dormancy period to remain healthy. It is also time to begin preparing for repotting. Make sure you have the pots, soil, tools, you need once the early repotting window begins later this month.
North Carolina Arboretum Traveling safely right now is more difficult and it limits the ability to make trips that we otherwise might have. Some places that are still available to us are
arboretums and gardens where we can stay outside and remain distanced from others. Xavier and his
family took advantage of an opportunity to visit the North Carolina Arboretum.
He was kind enough to share some pictures of the trip. Please enjoy this virtual visit.
2021 Membership tracking The following members have paid their dues for 2021.
Bruce Washington Joseph Stumpf Mike Bentzien Vicki Neuer
Dave Sanders Josh Brown Michael Allan
David Ruth Justin Lee Ron Price
Jami Jenkins Mark Phillips Sandy Rodriguez
Jay Dealing Matt Ray Tina Mattucci
If your name is not on the list and you have paid your dues, please contact me at [email protected] so we can get it corrected.
National Bonsai News The only US based bonsai magazine, International Bonsai, is going digital after 42 years in print. The new online format will be called International Bonsai OnLine and will be FREE to anyone. They have digitized one of the most recent print magazines so you can see an example of the content if you are not familiar with the magazine. I welcome everyone to subscribe at www.internationalbonsaionline.com
Bonsai Classifieds If you have something you are interested in selling/trading please send pictures and contact information for inclusion in future newsletters.
NFBC Membership
- Membership is $36 for the year
o We have started collecting towards the 2021 dues now
- Visitors are always welcome at meetings and events
Soil
- The cost is $25 for a five gallon bucket. Please contact an officer a few days ahead of time if you would like to have a bucket brought to the next meeting.
Bonsai Supplies
- Tristan has wire for sale in multiple sizes.
Trees
- Josh has bonsai and pre-bonsai available. Please contact him at [email protected] to schedule time to come take a look.
Vendors
- American Bonsai Tool (www.americanbonsai.com) is providing our club a 10% discount on products. Use the coupon code ‘NFBC10’ at checkout.
NFBC Officers
Tristan Kincaid President
Bruce Washington Treasurer w/ Ron Price
George Armstrong Secretary w/ Tina Mattucci
Josh Brown Website