Board Members:
David Parham, 3 year
Steve Sanders, 2 year
Andre Chenault, 1 year

Michelle Gray, Ex Officio
Mike Blake, Webmaster
Andre Chenault, Newsletter Editor

October Meeting:
w Monday October 1, 2007, 7:00pm, at the Tulsa Garden Center, 2435 S. Peoria

October Program:
Tray Construction: a clay workshop conducted by Mike Flanagan and Charles Sitter

The meeting began with our five guests introducing themselves and telling a bit about their interest in bonsai.

For show and tell Mike Flanagan brought his Chickasaw crepe myrtle, which was in full bloom at this showing and a grove of bald cypress that has begun training. Marcus brought some karsted limestone he collected in Missouri that will make great viewing stones or planting accents.

Old business brought up a reminder that the fall member show is on October 27 and 28. Mike Blake reluctantly volunteered to be show master. We will give him our support and assistance—right?

Sign up for the Shiba Workshop on October 6th and 7th was available. Do not miss this event; these workshops are the most valuable learning experiences that you are going to get in Oklahoma. The workshop is only $50.00 a session. Joann White has volunteered to host Lindsay Shiba. All we need now is your attendance.

The Sherrod’s still have trees for sale. If you want to help a couple of members in distress and get a good specimen to take to the workshop at the same time, call Ron and Cassie.

The report on the Centennial Botanical Center celebration was favorable. The affair was attended by horticultural enthusiasts of every stripe; certainly the right crowd to show what GCB has to offer. Thank you Marcus and Tom, for representing us at the event.

Our program was Bonsai 101. Mike Raska’s presentation emphasized some points not often listed in the books. Bonsai is, by his definition, an art, and in personal terms a relationship between one tree and one caretaker. As personal as this relationship is, within the discipline there are many strictures.

Bonsai defined, is a tree or plant in a shallow container styled naturalistically. The total effect is based equally on three main features roots/nebari, limbs/ramification and placement, and the top/apex. Select trees on visual strength and character. Indeed let those qualities guide all your styling decisions as well, for it is those qualities that will develop your tree into an object of art.

A tree never tells its age, and a polite viewer will never ask. Age is the principle deceit of bonsai. It is also the first question asked by a viewer. A tree can be seen in the light of three ages:

1. Chronological age or the age in actual years; this is not as easy to determine as one might think. Was it a layered cutting? Or a specimen collected in the wild? Dating the wild is usually a guess and a wildly inflated guess at that.
2. The length of time the tree has been in training as a bonsai seems a reasonable measure since before training it was merely a whip of a tree.
3. How old is the tree as a bonsai? This can have a start and a finish date in the wood pile of life.

The roots of bonsai culture are from China and Japan, but your tree’s roots are in the soil you mix. Like the air you breathe, garden soil is 20% oxygen, but good bonsai soil is 50%. This creates what is called free draining soil. When combined with Oklahoma’s climate, traditional pot sizes may limit the water capacity too severely.

Bonsai is, in the most inclusive sense, a cultivated life. In its most intimate moments the subject being cultivated is difficult to ascertain; is it you or the tree.