With spring just around the corner, please everyone, pay close attention to the many Bay Area bonsai activities that are listed in our monthly newsletter. Also, our annual Tree Improvement Program that we all look forward to each year. Everyone is invited to participate!

My yard looks like a yellow flowered oxalis field. And my bonsai pots have some too. Put a reminder on your cell phone to check for weeds and other needs every week.

Welcome to a new year, Midori Bonsai Club! We're putting last year behind us and introducing exciting new programs that will hopefully move everyone forward with this bonsai craze we all love.

This year, Juan Cruz will devote the first program to transplanting. I’m looking forward to learning something new or a clearer way of expressing the process.

This month’s first program will be on Transplanting. This is a vital activity that jump-starts the bonsai year.

Best rain year in recent memory. And snow at the higher elevations! Even with the cold weather most trees are popping and we only have a short window open to transplant certain trees.

We should have plenty of water this year even if we don’t see much in the next couple of months. Still I hope there is more on the way in February and March.

Transplanting is the perfect bonsai activity for kicking off the year. Start it now and you will have healthier and happier trees with fewer problems throughout the year.

This JT’s Tree Tips is all about transplanting and repotting. What to do and what not to do this winter season.