Monday October 3, 2005
7:00pm at the Tulsa Garden Center,
2435 South Peoria
October Program:
Members should bring trees to work on.
September Meeting Highlights
- We had one visitor at this meeting, Rachel. The ficus she won later in the raffle only fueled her enthusiasm.
- No old news was surely good new news. Moving into the fall’s activities, the sign up sheet for the Bonsai Masters Workshop on October 1st and 2nd was passed around. There are still a few slots left. Each session is $50.00. A sale at Juniper Hills was mentioned as a good place to find something to style at the work shop if you don't already have something.
- The October meeting will be a member’s workshop. This might be an excellent time to get your show specimens groomed for exhibition. The show will be the weekend of October 29th and 30th. We need to think about what each of us can do to help show master Ken Cole make this a great success.
- We will conduct elections for new officers at the November meeting that will precede a program on tree carving. I understand that we may bring specimens of our own to grind on with guidance.
- Steve Sanders passed out membership applications for Tulsa Garden Center (TGC). Clubs receive a discount on meeting room rent if 75 percent of its membership also belongs to TGC. There are discounts for events and classes as well as checkout privileges from the best horticultural library in Tulsa.
- Mike Blake recognized Tom Howard’s presentation for the Hosta Connection. His presentation was expert and thorough, and as a bonus Tom has developed an excellent handout covering bonsai culture from A to Z. Tom rarely makes regular meetings, but manages to be our best ambassador at large.
- Mike Flanagan brought a deciduous holly with berries starting to change from green to red. He also brought in what he called a Farkleberry, (a.k.a. Vaccinium arboretum?) and a winged sumac.
- Roy Hayes cautioned admirers to be careful around his crabapple in fruit, because it took him one whole day to glue the apples on the tree.
- Norman brought the elm that will be used in the carving demonstration in November.
- Marcus had an Alberta spruce.
Justin Lovelace gave an interesting presentation on fall color in trees. Given an understanding of optimum conditions for color development in trees, perhaps we can try to enhance the color of our own deciduous tree display. The equation is: A wet summer + sunny fall days + chilly fall nights = brilliant color. If that does not happen for you this year, think about creating those conditions next year.
September Bonsai Care
Our friends at
Great Swamp Bonsai Society
in Morristown NJ makes the following suggestions. [Realize that the Gulf Stream keeps it warmer than we imagine for the north; the USDA locates them in zone 6.]
General:
It is time to begin hardening-off your trees for the cold months ahead, and preparing a safe place to keep them. Do not attempt collecting, repotting, air-layering or drastic pruning at this time of year. This summer has been a stressful on our plants, so preparing them for winter is more crucial this year.
Feeding:
Following the needs of outdoor plantings, it can be said that deciduous trees may benefit from a low-nitrogen fertilizer, [0-10-10 tomato fertilizer is what I have read, but try to find one] feeding after the leaves have fallen but prior to November 1; this can promote bud formation and strengthen the trunk and root system for winter. Similarly, evergreens may be fed a low-nitrogen fertilizer, until the end of October. Most reference books refer to a single autumn feeding.
Repotting and Training:
Many needled evergreens are successfully wire-trained during the autumn months, but most sources say wait until October or November. However, if you did any wiring in the spring, check for marks and remove if necessary.
Tropicals:
Be prepared to bring tropicals in when the temperatures drop below 55 degrees. While most tropicals can survive lower temperatures, it is best not to stress them before they come inside for the winter. This is the time of year when trees are nearing the end of the growing season, and leaves are getting yellow and spotted, worn from the heat and sun. Do not panic; this is normal.
Editor's Note
Justin mentioned once that it was hard to get to know each other within the context of regular meetings. I agreed. Beginning in January I will be running profiles on our members. What I will attempt with this column is to a mini-biography of members. This has twofold benefits. We will become better acquainted with each other, and I will get to see the bonsai collections in situ. I want to keep the stories smaller than an essay, but longer than a haiku. There are exceptions though. Some personalities, as I found in Roy Hayes’ case, cannot be expressed in a few words.