November 2025

Congratulations Midori Club members! Another successful yearly bonsai show is completed and now we're headed for a well deserved Holiday Season. This time of year sneaks up on me rather quickly, I'm always caught off guard wondering how Thanksgiving could be but weeks away. But I’m looking forward to the seasonal foods and family gatherings, and the club celebration that marks the end of a very successful year for the Midori Bonsai Club. As a quick reminder, our Christmas Party and Auction is next month, start planning now!

I can't thank everyone enough for the support and energy put forth bringing together the club meetings we so much appreciate every month. This will be my last year as your President, a running of six consecutive years. I only signed up for two years originally way back when, but the club lost so many senior members at that time, and then covid struck, so I saw the need to continue until now. This club has been such a joy and inspiration to my life. It's truly been a place for me to develop my skills and associate with friends. A place that feeds the bonsai passion that bit me 20 years ago. Here's to 20 more years, everyone!

I was hoping that a good number of our club members took the time to spend at least a few hours last weekend at our Golden State Bonsai Federation Rendezvous meet up. What a wealth of information and demonstrations that took place for the three days of the event. Please, everyone, take advantage of such wonderful opportunities. The more that participate, the more likely it will be available again for your continued bonsai enjoyment. I came away with 5 new entry level trees that I'm very excited to start developing for the future.

In addition, I want to thank John Thompson for providing his bonsai pepper tree for the Rendezvous tree display gallery.

We have a new newsletter assistant, his name is Keisuke Matsushita. Tung informed everyone this month that Kei will be starting immediately with this newsletter. Tung has gotten busier by the month with his graphic design business (a good thing!) and now sees the need for additional help bringing everything together. Let’s thank Kei for stepping up to volunteer his time, and a big thanks to Tung for the many years he has given his all for the club!

First Thursday Evening, November 6th 2025

And you thought you couldn't grow a redwood tree as a bonsai? Yes, redwoods are a challenging species, but what an incredible tree to grow and enjoy the tall rustic beauty and green foliage.

To our rescue comes Sam Tan, our speaker and demonstrator for this month's program. Sam introduced his pygmy cypress to our club last November, receiving a great response for his speaking ability and the detailed knowledge he possesses on the subject.

This time Sam promises to introduce his technique for developing redwoods. Redwoods are tricky, and require especially tailored methods throughout their growing periods for pinching and cutting back new growth. Sam plans to bring with him a couple of trees he's very proud of as examples, along with a large screen computer presentation showing the process. So stay tuned everyone for Thursday's meeting, redwoods might be in your future!

Third Thursday Evening, November 20th 2025

As usual, we will have our normal workshop for everyone to bring in trees for help and assistance. Please keep in mind that we want everyone to participate, but how can you if you only have but a few trees to work on during the year? I encourage everyone to reach out and start developing a fuller collection. That will give you something to work on progressively each month, which will help you to continue progressing with your bonsai knowledge and hands-on skills. And that's how bonsai becomes more fun, and you feel more involved with the group. Don’t forget that our Christmas auction is but a few months away—a great opportunity to get a few new trees!

Seiji Shiba stone lantern

The Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt will be unveiling the gifted Seiji Shiba stone lantern on November 8th from 11am-noon. There will be 12 members of the Shiba family present. There will be light hors d'oeuvres from Ann's Catering. Everyone in the Bay Area bonsai community is welcome. Seiji was a much loved, talented, and active club member of the Midori Bonsai Club for many years. Please attend if you can!🌳