| Bonsai Basics Class 2008 Unless stated otherwise, Class meets at 7 PM on the third Tuesday of each month at St. Christopher's Church in Roseville. (See second map under Maps to Our Meetings.) For questions, contact cherylsykora@aol.com - All MBS members are welcome at Class! 2008 Class Topics March 18th – POTTING BONSAI All aspects of potting will be discussed in a handout available at the March monthly meeting to provide a familiarity of potting before participating in the BB session. BB session will be devoted to potting participants’ trees. Participants are welcome to bring trees that need re-potting as well as nursery trees in nursery soil for their first potting as a bonsai. If participants have a special potting mix they wish to use they may bring it. Tree size should be limited to shohin or small regular bonsai. NO TWO-MAN TREES! April 15th – WIRING AND SHAPING TECHNIQUES We will go over the basics of wiring and practice wiring on non-living material. Participants with some wiring experience are encouraged to bring their own trees for assistance in wiring and shaping. The nonwiring technique of “clip and grow” will also be discussed and illustrated. May 20th - DECIDUOUS TREES The May session will concentrate on deciduous trees as bonsai. Participants are encouraged to bring deciduous trees to this session for shaping, trimming, etc. June 17th – SUMMER ACTIVITIES June is a busy month for bonsai. Pine decandling, azalea trimming, wiring, and other aspects of June care will be the focus of this session. July 15th – SUTHIN WORKSHOP Suthin visits in July for year 3 of the 3-year session in tree development. Suthin is a well known Shohin artist and Bonsai Master. Students will get the opportunity to work with Suthin at this session. There will be a charge for this session, which has not yet been determined. August 19th – PROPAGATION Propagating trees using air layering, cuttings, grafting, etc. will be the topic of this session. This will be a demonstration as it is too late in the season to do most of these. Sept 16th - WINTERING Storing and care during the cold winter months is important in the Midwest. This will be the topic for September with a visit to a winter-care facility. October 21st – FALL CARE Removing leaves, needles, cleaning the soil surface and wiring certain species are all part of fall bonsai care. This session will be focused on fall care with participants encouraged to bring trees to get them ready for winter storage. November 18th – INDOOR BONSAI AND ADVANCED DISCUSSION ON FERTILIZERS, POTTING MIXES, ETC. Trees are generally in winter storage at this time. The November session will discuss species that can be kept indoors during the winter. Further discussion on fertilizing and the pros and cons of various potting mixes will also be discussed at this session. Back to Main Page |