I have always been a fan and I much admire the shohin trees we see at Bay Area shows. They are amazing to see in their beautiful, small pots.

For the month of June, our first Thursday meeting will once again feature our club's Silent Auction program, where club members bring in their unwanted excess bonsai trees, pots, and any other bonsai related materials they want to sell and pass on.

For the month of April, our club will be entertained by our own Mehrdad Chavosh who creates realistic carvings on bonsai trees. Also, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Cupertino will be taking place this April 30th and May 1st.

March is the month when a bonsai hobbyist starts to see their bonsai trees become more active with swelling buds and new leaves starting to appear.

Our first Thursday meeting in February will be presented by John Thompson. He’ll be covering all aspects of repotting for this important, timely procedure.

We have so much to be thankful for at this holiday season. Thankfully, we have our bonsai hobby and trees to take us outside and keep us more diversified and balanced

Happy Holidays to everyone this final month of 2021, a year that has seen so many components of our normal lifestyle changed.

Last month’s auction was a complete success that went on throughout the evening with great enthusiasm and vigorous bidding. I wanted to thank the many club members that went over the top allowing the club to take 100% of the sold items.

I couldn’t be happier seeing the outcome of our attendance this past First Thursday meeting. After a span of 16 months without any sort of an in-person meeting we saw new visitors and club members totaling 35 altogether.

Hot Dog! July is finally here! And with that the Midori Bonsai Club will once again resume our normal club meetings.

June 15th is but a few weeks away with new guidelines and our bonsai club is ready to once again start its normal programing with the month of July.

May is upon us, and still we are in limbo as to when the state is going to open up larger formal gatherings that will facilitate our club’s monthly meetings.

I was just thinking the other day how bonsai and our personal care for our trees and their continued development has brought us all closer with a relationship to the natural tree world of our living environment. Yes, we are caretakers to their vital needs and development.

With the weather starting to approach in the 70’s this month and above, spring is certainly in the air for us bonsai enthusiasts who look forward to seeing new growth taking place with our trees. My favorite time of year — a renewal and new season for our plants coming back to life, putting on their new growth and vibrant new green leaves.

As I sit here this early morning wintery day watching the rain outside finally making its presence, I can’t help but think how happy my trees are, finally satisfied and hydrated. Yes, our rains this year have all gone north to Oregon and Washington, leaving the Bay Area with but a few dribbles.

We’re off to another challenging new year ahead of us with the pandemic increasing throughout California. Fortunately, we can see relief with the vaccines starting to be distributed. So hang in there everyone, meetings will get back to normal!

Our club’s biggest concern at this time is the mental and physical health of all our club members. Even though we’re stuck at home, and not meeting together, we can still remain active and focused on our bonsai trees and their care.