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2011, Issue 1
January, 2011
of Greater Clearwater and the surrounding areas
澄んだ水盆栽会
Sundamizu Bonsai Kai
Winter 2010 was a cold, tough one. Oh wait, that’s also how we ended the year too. We spent the
first few months meeting at Dave Collom’s house until we found our new home. I think Dave’s wife
is a VERY understanding woman!
April was a very busy month. First and foremost, we moved into our new home. The people at Moc-
casin Lake Nature Park have made us very welcome and we couldn’t ask for a better facility. We
also have the pleasure of having staff and volunteers join us periodically. We hope to have them join
us even more in 2011.
Much of this year was spent building our club and expanding into the community. Including:
April, we participated in the sister city’s program between Clearwater and Nagano. We had
a display and received many favorable compliments from the visiting Japanese dignitaries.
This also set us up for a long and evolving relationship.
We also participated in the Palm Harbor Newcomer’s Club ―Make, Take, Tell, Sell‖ lunch-
eon. One of our members, Syd Freifeld joined us as a result of this event.
In June, thanks to Clif and Esther Searfoss, we participated in the Natsumatsuri Festival in
Tampa.
July brought a mid-summer festival at Clif’s place. Two full days learning all about Crape
Myrtles. We met new friends from all over the south east from many other clubs.
September, we had our first guest speaker, Jay Beckenbach from Gainesville, shared lots of
fun and ―cheap‖ ways to do bonsai. It was almost as much fun as hearing the ways our own
members do bonsai on the ―cheap‖.
November, of course, was the multi-club auction. Fantastic as usual.
December, we were guest artists at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center.
In addition to all that, we had our regular meetings such as root on rock, propagation, a pottery session
At Bob Apholz studio and much more.
2011 should be even more exciting starting with the open workshop and beginner’s class in on Jan 8th.
Ode to 2010
Open Workshop Saturday, January 8th Open Workshop:
Need to work on one or more
of your favorite trees but can’t
seem to find the time at home?
Want some styling ideas from
other members because you just
don’t know what to do with
your tree?
Or maybe your tree doesn’t
seem to be wintering well.
What should you do?
Come to the open workshop
Saturday. There will be lots of
help available.
Beginner’s Class:
Do you know someone who
wants to learn about bonsai?
Bring them to the beginner’s
class this Saturday. It’s just
$10. They go home with a tree
that he/she styled and they’ll
have made new friends to help
keep it alive.
And don’t forget, lunch follow-
ing for all who can join us.
This Month 1
Year in review 1
Bonsai Factoid 1
Schedule of Events 2
Last Month:
DFAC
2
Feature Article:
Month of the Trees 3/4
Club Info 4
General Info 6
Inside this issue:
Bonsai Factoid Want to make a bonsai candi-
date look better before it’s
ready to be put in a bonsai
pot? You like it enough to
want to do everything you can
to enhance its appearance and
not be just in a training, right?
Well, how about putting it in a
bonsai pot even if it isn’t ready
to be called bonsai? You
would probably want to use a
cheaper one, and definitely
choose a bigger one. There’s
no law, you know? If it is
large enough to allow your
tree to continue vigorous
growth without holding back
the roots it will be, in effect, a
training pot.
Besides, many bonsai are
planted in pots that are too
―large‖ according to the rules.
They will grow faster, their
trunks will thicken up faster,
and they often look better to
boot.
2011, Issue 1 Page 2
Fun at DFAC The Sundamizu Bonsai Kai was the visiting
artist group with a demonstration and sale.
If you haven’t ever visited the Art Center,
you should. There are new exhibits all the
time. They have classes for all levels in
everything art from painting, jewelry,
woodworking, fiber and much more. You
can check it out at dfac.org.
Thanks to Dave, Bob and Clif, we demon-
strated bonsai styling and pottery. We also
had several tree sales.
Our club donated 20% of the profits to the
Art Center for inviting us to participate in
their holiday event.
Thanks also to those who brought in trees
for show.
It was a well attended event by the local
community and we hope to do more with
DFAC in the future. Bonsai is an ancient
art form that has a natural fit with the Art
Center.
2011 Schedule of Events—Local & Out of Town
January 8: Club Meeting– Open workshop & beginner’s class
January 14-16: 9th annual Joy of Bonsai-Kawa Bonsai Society, Flagler County
Extension Office, Bunnel, Fl; contact: [email protected] or 386-569-
1639
January 29/30: Florida Mid-Winter Conference: The Landscape in Miniature;
see attached flier; Bonsai at Pasiminan, Dade City, Fl
February 11: Club Meeting—slabs
March 2—May 15: Epcot Flower & Garden Festival
April 2-3: Spring festival: Azaleas; Bonsai at Pasiminan, Dade City, Fl
April 9-10: USF Botanical Gardens Annual Spring Plant Festival, Tampa, Fl
April 15-17: Mid-Atlantic Bonsai 28th Annual Spring Festival, Grantville, PA
April 30-May 1: Green Thumb Festival, St. Petersburg, FL
June 10-12: BSF Convention
Bob Apholz caught everyone’s attention with the pottery demon-stration
Bob was able to answer questions while he worked. Amazing!
Dave kicked things off for us.
Joe Spencer brought in a flowering bougainvillea
Clif carried on the styling demo.
Some of our club members’ display trees
We had some excellent trees for sale. They made great holiday gifts.
2011, Issue 1 Page 3
This month, instead of profiling a tree of
the month, given the weather experiences
we’ve all had recently, it seemed more
appropriate to outline the month.
In other words, there are times when it
seems reasonable to step back and think,
not of specific trees for bonsai, but the
more general considerations which lead us
to think about growing a particular plant, or
kind of plant, for bonsai.
Of course, there are all the considerations
about the look of particular trees, and their
growth habits: size of leaves and flowers,
displayed color, vines versus hard trunks,
bark texture, and so on, and there are con-
siderations about diseases and their treat-
ment, and soil choice, and watering, etc.
But there is one consideration that we may
think paramount at this time of year, and
particularly this year: hardiness and tem-
perature considerations.
So much for global warming!
Actually, in the choice of any material for
use as bonsai, in any environment, hardi-
ness (or lack thereof) needs to be consid-
ered strongly. For example, if you know
that a plant is plenty hardy for where you
live, will it survive the summer heat, or the
related consideration of humidity? And, of
course, if you plant to leave it outside, will
it survive the winter?
In the meantime there are so many things
we can do to help a tree live beyond its
normal ―USDA‖ approved hardiness zone
limits. Too hot? Some mist in the hottest
parts of the summer days, or placing it
where there is often a breeze, or plenty of
shade (if the plant can take it) can make a
large difference.
When I first moved to this part of Florida, I
had a number of Zelkova, and the books
said Zelkova wouldn’t take the heat. Well,
they will take some shade, so I planted
most of them (to keep the roots cooler) and/
or put them on a shady side of the house,
and they all did fine.
We’re right on the edge of being too hot for
most Japanese maples, but some do well.
Others, by mist, shade and picking your
microenvironment in your yard carefully,
may well flourish also.
And many other trees, too, can take more
heat (or lack of winter cold which is neces-
sary for some plants) than recommended.
We know of deciduous trees like Japanese
flowering apricot, and trident maples thriv-
ing as far south as well below Sarasota.
Don’t experiment recklessly, but there is
great latitude to where you can grow a
plant by being thoughtful.
Mist on the coldest winter nights will not
only help the tree stay warmer but keep
your pipes/hoses from cracking as well by
the slight but constant water flow. Orange
growers keep their trees toasty by spraying
ground water temperature under them. It
may build up ice but the constantly added
water will keep the ice (and the tree) at
only freezing temperature. Since most
orange trees aren’t damaged until the tem-
perature hits 28⁰, they , or at least the inte-
rior of the foliage and the lower trunk (the
most important part of the orange tree –
and bonsai – will stay well. With bonsai,
the whole tree will be safe, with the right
choice of mistheads. We’ve talked about
the use of mistheads for bonsai before, and
this is perhaps the most important one.
Your citrus bonsai will be fine, as will
many only marginally hardy plants. The
lavender star flower, Grewia occidentalis, a
wonderful choice for bonsai, will take
some cold, but not down to 20⁰ and below,
which we’ve experienced recently. We’ve
kept ours outdoors, though and with mist
they’ve stayed healthy.
Of course, putting your not so hardy plants
on the ground on the cold nights, and, even
better, mulching them in, will help tremen-
dously. In the super hard freeze of 1983, I
found out how hardy the southern indica
azaleas were. Even put on the ground and
mulched heavily, they didn’t survive the 12
night of December 24. However, they
survived 20⁰ the next year, and again re-
cently quite well. It’s good to be overcau-
tious, though.
Even if you plan on growing your bonsai
indoors, it’s still helpful to consider the
temperatures in which your plants will
grow best. Simply cooling a fully tropical
plant can shock it into dormancy or at least
non-growth. So keep your indoor button-
woods, for example, in as much sun as
possible, and a warm window or room.
Another way to protect plants is to make a
small tent over one or more of them; it’s
amazing how much the heat from the
ground can help. There is even a material
marketed as ―frost‖ protection you can buy
to help keep your bonsai warm, and avail-
able from a number of hardware stores and
garden centers, but cheap thin film plastic
sheeting does almost as well. If using the
plastic sheeting, though, make sure you
remove it in the morning before the sun
cooks the bonsai beneath. Further, you
might discover a little burn from the cold
on the outermost foliage which was touch-
ing the plastic, if any was. Still, what’s the
loss of a few leaves relative to the loss of
the tree.
If you are farther to the south than Tampa,
you may think yourself fairly secure, but
even as far south as Fort Myers, they were
under threat of frost recently, so it’s wise to
take precautions.
More importantly still, is the fact that the
last few years’ weather has seemed to be
much more volatile than previously.
Not only on a seasonal basis, but day by
day, and even hour by hour. NOAA
weather forecasts have been off very
Month of the Trees by Clif Pottberg
2011, Issue 1 Page 4
Month of the Trees by Clif Pottberg frequently this year, for example, in their
highs and lows predictions.
As a result, it is wise to be more careful
and bundle up your bonsai at night more
than you think likely to be necessary. At
least let the ground around your bonsai
(because of a blanket or tent) protect your
bonsai.
Just remember to be doubly careful to wa-
ter your bonsai regularly. If you assume
your trees will hold their moisture because
they are enclosed, you may be right; how-
ever, exposed to heat in the sun they will
need more and will need plenty even under
a hard freeze. Many bonsai have been lost
because the soil in their pots was frozen
and thus filled with water. That is true, but
the water under those circumstances is in
an unusable form. That’s why growers of
bonsai in the north often put their bonsai –
even the hardiest ones which don’t need the
cold protection – into a cold frame (which
should be called a ―not so cold‖ frame) to
keep everything from freezing solid for so
long that the plants can’t drink through
their roots and die by drying out.
The old-timers in Florida used to say that
Florida was ―five months of hell and seven
months of heaven‖; however with the very
cold weather in the middle of winter, the
heaven part is now in two parts: spring and
fall, and the total length of time of the
―heaven‖ part has shrunk, by the evidence
of the last few years, to about six months.
Well, maybe it’s just because I’m getting
more sensitive to the extremes, but wow!
Did anybody else have to go out to check
on their bonsai or greenhouse every night
for a week or more of sub 20⁰ weather
when a few nights each winter of just be-
low freezing is the ―norm‖?
Maybe it’s me, but ―Florida‖ and
―frostbite‖ just don’t seem to rhyme.
Still, armed with this knowledge we can
keep our bonsai secure, safe and warm –
even if our toes are icey!
Make use of Your Club
Many club members are shy to ask what benefits they can make use of besides just coming to
the meetings.
Here are some of them:
Library. It is accruing quickly and you are free to make use of what we have. If you know a
book you want to read and our library doesn’t have it, we’ll ask others of the nearby clubs if
they have a copy we can borrow for you.
Past issues of the Sundamizu Bonsai Kai newsletter/magazine. There is a lot of good infor-
mation on many different subjects. They are all in electronic form, but you are welcome to
ask for downloads of all of them, and you’ll also have a history of the club.
Listings of all bonsai and related activities anywhere around. There is much more going on
than just at Sundamizu. For example, all the other clubs welcome guests, so if you see a
program you like being given somewhere else, feel free to go. If you need more information,
call them or us.
Raffle. We almost always have a raffle where you can win more interesting plants to work
on. Not all of them are just beginner seedlings, either. Some are ready for serious styling. If
there is a kind of plant you’d like to see offered, ask about that too and we’ll try to arrange it.
Please see the attachment about our
midwinter landscape confer-ence
on all aspects and traditions of
the landscape:
bonkei, bonsai, saikei, penjing,
peng t'sai, hon non bo, thiếu
cảnh, cayh cảnh, trough gardens,
and microenvironments,
This will be a conference that
explores all aspects of the total
landscape - the various tradi-
tions, the art of the art, the
plantings, and several demon-
strations.
...as well as a workshop for you
to create your own, with all the
headliners as teachers.
The midwinter landscape con-
ference flier is attached in
Adobe Acrobat format.
...and look for more information
soon about our Spring Festival,
An Extravagance of Azaleas
April 2 and 3, 2011
If you haven’t paid your annual dues
yet, please do so this month.
The dues are $24.00 for individuals or
$36.00 for a family. That’s only $2.00
per month, a real value for so much fun!
Please pay at the next meeting or send
a check to Esther Searfoss (our new
Treasurer) at 920 Jerry Smith Rd, Do-
ver, Florida 33527-5807
Annual Membership Dues
澄んだ水盆栽会
Sundamizu Bonsai Kai
of Greater Clearwater and the surrounding areas
2011, Issue 1 Page 6
Sundamizu Bonsai Kai means Clear Water Bonsai Club
(Pronounced soon‖da mi’ zu) Lois Powell: 727-742-3301
Clif Pottberg: 352-424-6000
Meets 2nd Saturday of each Month, 10am
Moccasin Lake Nature Park
2750 Park Trail Lane, Clearwater
Directions to Moccasin Lake Nature Park
From Southbound US 19 or McMullen Booth Rd (CR 611):
turn west on SR 590 for 0.8 mi
turn left on Calamondin Ln for 0.3 mi
turn right on Edenwood St for 364 ft
turn left onto Beachwood Ave for 0.2 mi
turn right at Park Trail Lane
From Northbound US 19:
turn east on Drew St for 407 ft
turn left on Fairwood Ave/Park Place Blvd for 0.6mi
turn left at Park Trail Lane
Proceed to the back of the parking lot. This is closest to the
classroom. If you have large material/plants you are bringing,
we will open the gate for dropoff and then you can return to lot
to park.
Annual Membership is $24 per individual or $36 per family
and includes:
● Monthly meetings
● New friends
● Lost of fun