President’s Message
September 2025
It's show time everyone! Yes, Midori's annual bonsai show is but weeks away! With that in mind, we have many things to organize, along with club members prepping their trees to make sure they are ready for the big show. These will be very busy weeks, planning for all the needed equipment and volunteers so that we all can enjoy ourselves and have fun when the day of the show arrives. As always, we will need everyone's support and availablity as we get closer to the October 4th date. We started to send around a sign-up sheet at the last meeting for tree placements within the room displays. Ray Stager, our facility organizer, will be at the next meeting recruiting volunteers for the various jobs needed for both Friday evening prep and Saturday, the day of the show. Please, it takes everyone's volunteering spirit to ensure a well organized and smoothly run show,
Friday Evening 7:00 pm, at the Quinlan Community Center.
Mark your calendars now for that evening. This will be our first chance to get into the show room to erect our tree displays and whatever else can be done ahead of the show day. That way, on the morning of our show, all we have to do is place our trees in their designated locations. Plan on spending a couple of hours at the center that evening, working together. More details will be discussed in the next newsletter and at our meetings as to who will be doing what that evening.
Saturday Morning 8:00 am, the doors will be open.
We're asking everyone to be present at 8am at the center, ready to bring in your trees and display materials for placement. John Thompson will have the sign-up sheet and will call out names one at a time. As your name is called, please be ready to bring your tree into the show area and put it in its assigned spot. This will take time so please be patient. Wait for your name to be called.
Merdad Chavosh will be organizing the shohin display. Trees in training will be located in the back of the room with Carl Morimoto.
The Ikebana club will be with us again during the show. They support our show every year with beautiful arrangements which will be displayed along the far wall of the room. Please be supportive however you can when working around them, we are very fortunate to have them present their art form along with ours.
For Our First Thursday Meeting
We have many new club members who have not experienced the excitement of a bonsai show. Don’t panic! Our senior members will be here for the first-timers, sharing their knowledge and experience. They will explain how to prepare our trees and arrange a proper bonsai display. And no matter how many times we seniors have done this, we still can learn new methods and techniques from other shows and share our ideas and suggestions with the audience.
To our rescue comes Juan Cruz who will be handling our program for that evening. Need help with preparing your bonsai pot? Don’t know how to clean it or what to oil it with? How do you make sure you are showing the right side of the pot? Juan will be discussing all these things. And then there is the completed display. How is it properly arranged? Which side does the accent plant go on and why? These questions will be asked and answered first hand with a real live set-up that evening.
Juan will need club members to bring in their trees, tree stands, accents, and whatever you have that will give Juan many variables to work with. This will be a fun evening for everyone, learning how Juan works with the many elements that go into a formal bonsai display.
For Our Third Thursday Meeting
This will be our next to the last meeting before our show in October. This is a good time to bring in the trees you plan to show October 4th. If you have any questions about your trees, this is the time to get them answered. We are here to help you make your trees look the very best they can possibly be!
Here is a suggestion if you are in need of a tree stand. JT has quite a collection of tree stands, and over the years has helped many club members with this very important part of a bonsai display. Call him, take your tree to his house, and he'll help match a stand to your tree.
One more thing to remember at the September 18th meeting, that evening will be an important time to volunteer for one or more of the jobs that need to be done for a smoothly run show. We will have a sign-up form where you can review the needed tasks and choose where you can best help. Ray Stager will be up and around that evening getting needed volunteers, so please be ready to help out in any way you can.
Have a great time this mouth readying your bonsai trees!🌳