Hi All,
11 members attended tonight’s meeting and it began with the AGM. It didn’t take too long as most of the posts were accepted by the previous incumbents and voted in willingly by the members. There was no other outstanding business to discuss so the AGM was finalised and closed.
Key points:
Position of chairman was upheld by Roy Hutchinson and we all thanked him for his continued support in Heading the Society. Roy has a great network in the Bonsai community, many years of experience to call upon he is indeed an asset to the Society.
Alan Craddock remains as Vice Chair and Roy’s right hand man and also continues as Treasurer and book keeper. Roy was thanked by the members for his continued commitment to the Society and keeping the funds safely. Along with Roy, Alan has been in the core of the society since its founding in 1986.
Berice volunteered to be in-charge of refreshments and I’d like to thank her for doing a sterling job for years keeping us fed with cake and drinks at meetings.
Other members have background positions running the website and admin appointments and the Society would like to thank them for their continued support.
It was good to see that every member present brought a tree or planting to the meeting and some interesting discussions were had. Roy brought along two nice junipers for display and Alan had a great winter image of a well established gnarly looking Blackthorn on the top table.
Going around the room Alan had an old hawthorn raft rather overgrown with under planting that he was weeding preparing for repotting in a fine oval pot that Roy had brought along, hopefully we will see the result soon.
James brought along a very healthy Box honeysuckle Lonicera in a training pot that had been left to grow on and got rather busy and out of control, he was advised and assisted by Roy on its trimming and initial styling. By the amount of debris removed it was evident that a major reshape had taken place and its thick and interesting truck could now be clearly seen.
Mick and Jean came along with a nicely developing Yew with nice shari that was showing signs of healthy budding, they will be busy keeping this in check and shaping over the summer.
David had a small maple that was already beginning to leaf up, he must watch out that we don’t get a late frost and protect with fleece or similar to stop the fresh leaves being “burnt off.”
Nigel brought along a nice fine needled white pine but he was in a bit of a dilemma as the root ball had compacted into a hard brick and was seeking advice on how to deal with it. Roy and I gave a few suggestions but I fear Nigel was reluctant to disturb it as he seemed rather sentimental over his precious pine, maybe he should bring it to the next workshop for further inspection. If left like that the root compaction will prevent the tree from receiving the proper nutrients, oxygen and water it requires for good health.
Berice came with three trees, a Chinese elm that had the trunk removed down to its first major branch and had now become a windswept or maybe later a semi-cascade image. The large cut wound had began to heal but needed further refinement to help it heal and improve the overall image. She also had a medium size mature Korean hornbeam that needs some further refinement when the buds burst so I helped her by just removing dead wood and some surplus twigs for now. lastly she had a small maple which I think Alan had helped and advised on by removing excess branching to improve the overall image for further development.
Richard seems to have a good amount of Yamadori or Urban-Yamadori(garden collected) in his collection and brought in an Orange Dream maple that had not pushed its buds yet but had some dead twigs to remove a job for the next few weeks as the weather improves and the Maples begin to push growth on. he also had a Myrtle that had a distinct scent when the leaves were rubbed rather like “Bay” to me quite pleasant, he spent most of the evening trimming the silhouette down to improve its image.
Ron prefers smaller trees and came with a beech in a prostrate style, very young and will need some development. Ron is a recent member and keen to learn so I’m glad we can guide him along with advice to bring his trees on.
Matt had a grafted white pine which although very healthy, in my opinion had neither style or direction yet and I think that’s why he brought it in. After studying it for a while we agreed that some directional shaping with heavy wire was required on the trunk line and some radical decisions on which branches to keep was needed to improve its style. It will be interesting to see its next transition. he also had a traditional S shaped Chinese elm that needed a tidy up and its image refining with some branch shortening and out of place twig removal, the end result was a more pleasing image overall.
I’m still trying to consolidate my collection down to a small Shohin size trees due to limited space and brought a couple of Chinese elms still in full leaf and a Dwarf jade (Portulacaria afra) although strictly a succulent does eventually form a woody looking bark so in my eyes can be classed a bonsai material, always a bit controversial but I like them anyway and it is one of the few I can actually keep alive indoors.
Note for your diaries the next full day workshop will be held on Saturday 21st March 2026 at the regular meeting hall. Final details to be given next meeting.
See you all next meeting.
Kev Denney