NEWSLETTER                                                             October 2003

 

TIME: Every third Wednesday of the month, 7:30pm

PLACE: Adult Recreation Centre - Corner of King and Allen Sts., Waterloo

SUBJECT: Succulent Bonsai- Guest Speaker- Les Betka
 

President’s Message

What a fantastic end of summer we have had, with full sun for all of 

September and so far into October.  We’ve had three really good frosts 

in Stratford so far. All your tropical trees should be indoors and it is time

to think of putting away your hardy trees; I usually wait until the end of 

October. Our photography session went really well thanks to Dave 

Hooper’s son, Mike, who worked hard all night and took some great

digital photos and made prints. We had about twenty trees. I look forward to 

seeing these pictures on our members’ gallery on the club website (address

above). Thanks to George Vanner for providing a great velvet backdrop.

This month we welcome Les Betka to talk, demonstrate and present a 

slideshow on succulent bonsai. Succulent bonsai are usually fat trunked 

plants and trees that store water to survive periods of drought. Common

succulent bonsai that come to mind are jade and baobob trees. Les has

travelled all over North America to photograph and collect some of these

unusual and seldom seen plants of the desert. He will be showing some 

of his award-winning bonsai at our meeting. Cuttings of these unique species

will be available for sale. As always, the members of the Guelph club are 

welcome at our meeting. Members are invited to bring in any succulent 

bonsai they have, for display or questions and answers. The Guelph 

Bonsai show was very well attended. There were 14 trees from KW 

(a record number). Thanks go to Hong and Eldon for their displays.Next 

month’s meeting will be our annual silent auction. Members donate cuttings

, trees, pots, wires, books, etc. and the proceeds go to the club. This is a 

great place to get a bargain.

Nigel Saunders  

Upcoming Events

1.October 16-17 Toronto Bonsai Society Show and Sale

Toronto Botanical Garden, Edwards Gardens
Lawrence Avenue at Leslie Street
Saturday, October 16, 12:00- 5:00p.m.
Sunday, October 17, 10:00-5:00 p.m.
Admission $5.00. $4.00 for seniors and students. Children under twelve-free.
Parking- free

This is an exhibit of bonsai with demos and sales.

2.October 20, KW Bonsai presents Les Betka - Tropical Succulents.

See Nigel’s message for details.
 

3.October 31, Toronto Japanese Club, 52cd Annual Flower and Bonsai Exhibit

Sunday, October 31, 12:00-5:00 p.m., official opening 1:00 p.m.
Admission $5.00, children under twelve-free
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
6 Garamond Court, Don Mills, Ontario
416-441-2345
Kobayashi Hall
Bonsai demo- 2:00 p.m.
Ikebana demo- 3:00 p.m.

4.June 3,4&5, 2005- Workshops with Brook Zhao (Qingquin Zhao) presented by the Guelph Bonsai Society. For more info contact June Brett (1-519-836-4487) regarding the content and cost of the workshops. There will be a $50.00 deposit…. Nigel “highly recommends” this well-known bonsai artist’s book “Penjing Worlds of Wonderment’ published in 1997 by Venus Communications.

 Note- Please check out the club’s website; it is pretty nifty. At some point Jimi is going to post some pictures of club members’ bonsai on the site.  www.kwbonsai.com

Cheers, Lynn Howlett