MV Bonsai Club
Monthly meetings are typically held on the second Saturday from 1-3 p.m. Our former meeting site, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica, is closed; plans for reopening remain uncertain at this time. Future meetings will likely be held at St. Margaret's on Jordan Rd. in New Hartford or at D'Alessandro's Nursery. Check here or on Facebook for scheduled meetings.
Happy Spring, Bonsai Enthusiasts!
This is an exciting time of the year as our little trees come back from their winter rest!
To celebrate we will meet at D'Alessandro's Nursery, 1346 Higby Road, on May 14 from 1-3 p.m. Tony will host our meetings till Fall in his huge new green house. If the weather is nice we will spread outside.
- We will spend our first 15 minutes discussing our activities for the balance of the year, including our MWPAI Summerfest Bonsai Show in July.
- We will have a 30 minute wiring demonstration followed by a treasure hunt for bonsai stock throughout Tony's majestic nursery.
- For those of you who want to bring a tree(s) to work on, the club will provide soil and wire and there will be plenty of enthusiastic help available. The nursery also sells young bonsai stock, soil, pots and other bonsai surprises. Buy a bonsai project and get suggestions for your next steps.
Rain or shine we will be comfortable. Plan on paying annual membership dues. Bring a curious guest. Lets gather in this beautiful setting together with our trees and have a bonsai blast!
*Use the LINKS tab above for some good resources for bonsai care. The Eisei-en guidebook is just one of the many listed.
Many thanks to everyone who helped make our 2021 annual club exhibition so beautiful and successful.
Held in the Munson-William-Proctor Arts Institute's Easton Pribble Room every year in association with their Summer Arts Festival, this year's July 31-August 1 exhibition displayed wonderful bonsai from a number of members and was very well attended. We appreciate all of the members who helped plan, set up, staff, attend and take down the show.
Our June meeting was held at the Utica Zoo
On May 8, at the Deerfield Wilderness Town Park, we had our first in-person meeting in a long time.
Thank You Mark Arpag for your review of member trees and demonstration/initial styling of our club Colorado Blue Spruce!
We also very much appreciated the trees you brought from your own collection in honor of World Bonsai Day — what a beautiful display.
A little inspiration from the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, February 2020 (photo C. Brown)
Sincere thanks to Mark Arpag for his wonderful and inspiring presentation and commentary. Many thanks also to D'Alessandro's Nursery for hosting our club meeting and providing a lovely 'social-distanced' space.
Mark provided commentary and advice on member trees and a tutorial on shohin display using our newly acquired shohin stand.
D'Alessandro's Nursery, 1346 Higby Rd., Frankfort (up the road from our usual meeting location by 10 minutes or so)
Please note, the Colorado Blue Spruce demonstration by Mark Arpag has been rescheduled for April 2021.
Our annual exhibition is held in conjunction with the MWPAI Summer Art Festival each year. Sadly, this year MWPAI has cancelled this event. So we'll think about 2021 and how we can make it a fabulous show!
In the meantime, if you have any questions or tree concerns, you may contact our president, Doug Whitfield, at dougwhitfield@frontiernet.net.
Also, please take advantage of our LINKS page!
Award-winning Japanese White Pine, Pinus parviflora, at the Kokufu-ten, Tokyo, February 13, 2020
Award-winning Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles japonica 'Chojubai,' at the Kokufu-ten, Tokyo, February 13, 2020
KOKUFU-TEN PHOTOS BY C. BROWN
THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR 2019 HOLIDAY GATHERING AND AUCTION!
New officers are:
President - Doug Whitfield
Vice Presidents - Nancy Knapp and Deverie Hunt
Treasurer - Art Doremus
Librarians - Tyler Hunt and Christian Hunt
We appreciate everyone who came to listen or participate in our November 2019 meeting/bonsai critique led by Nancy, Carl and Bill. More photos on our Facebook page >>
Thanks to everyone who attended our BONSAI 101 – Focus on Ficus
and many thanks to Carl for his presentation
Many thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to our annual exhibition at MWPAI!
Many thanks to club members Rick, Tom, George, Ralph and Dominic for their presentations at our May 11 meeting. Check out our Facebook page for photos! >>
Members of the MV Bonsai Club are very grateful for the wonderful extended meeting with Mark Arpag on April 13! Many thanks to Mark for reviewing member trees and his most informative demonstration on our club juniper — which was ultimately taken home by lucky member Ralph Pope. More photos! >>
Mark takes a careful look at Doug Whitfield's (club president) tree and Mark with winner Ralph Pope
For our club, this is the year of the cedar — the focus will be Northern White Cedar, thuja occidentalis, pictured below. Our thanks to Art Doremus, Doug Whitfield and Carl Hoffner for their interesting and informative presentation on cedar on March 9, 2019
Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), Lake Placid, NY, February 2019
Thank you for attending our annual exhibition at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute on June 30 and July 1, 2018
MVBC is grateful to American Bonsai Society board member Pauline Muth, from PFM Bonsai, for attending our exhibition and awarding Best of Show to our member Carl Hoffner's beautiful American Larch.
The Mohawk Valley Bonsai Club was invited to have a display table at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute members' opening reception for the exhibition Kimono! (June 9). We are grateful to MWPAI for this wonderful opportunity.
Some past meetings and items of interest:
Thank you Dave Alexander for your wonderful larch
demonstration.
Thank you to Rick Short for his essay "Father-Son Pairing" which accompanies December's newsletter.
Our thanks to Carl for his presentation on Chinese Elms! More photos >>
Thank you Carl and Doug for your juniper demonstration. Pictured below are the winners of the two demo trees: Nancy Knapp won the tree designed by Doug Whitfield; Rick and Wendy Short won the tree designed by Carl Hoffner. More photos >>
Our study group at D'Alessandro's Nursery was informative and enjoyable. Check out our photos on Facebook.
Photos from our shohin roundup meeting:
A bonsai is considered a shohin if it measures approximately 20 cm or 8 inches from the top of the pot to the top of the tree.
The image below is from the Gafu-ten shohin exhibition which was held in Kyoto in January 2016. More shohin photos >>
Our thanks to Art Doremus for an interesting and informative presentation on insect and fungal problems — how to recognize and control them.
Reference links from the presentation:
fingerlakesbonsai.weebly.com/bonsai-info.html
www.bonsaiempire.com/basics/bonsai-care/advanced/pests-diseases
www.bonsai-and-blooms.com/bonsai-tree-diseases.html
www.bonsaimary.com/plant-pests.html
nebonsai.com/home/pests-and-diseases/
Bill Jones workshop on windswept style junipers. More photos >>
Pre-bonsai search party at D’Alessandro’s Landscape Nursery, where we enjoyed a presentation on mugo pine by club member Doug Whitfield. More photos >>
Mark Arpag shohin demonstration and workshop
More photos >> Videos on our Facebook page >>
(Below) January 2016; Chojubai (flowering quince) displayed in tokonoma at Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en bonsai museum in Tokyo.
(Below) January 2016; flowering Ume (Japanese apricot) displayed in tokonoma at Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en bonsai museum in Tokyo.
Browse the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (Saitama, Japan) website:
Mohawk Valley Bonsai Club Mission
Providing opportunities to have fun while developing skills, the Mohawk Valley Bonsai Club is a forum for learning, inspiring, building knowledge, and connecting with the greater bonsai community.
The group first met in a park in July 2005 and has grown to include newcomers to the hobby as well as those with 20+ years of experience!
Club Officers 2020
President Doug Whitfield dougwhitfield@frontiernet.net
Vice Presidents Nancy Knapp nanknapp41@gmail.com and Deverie Hunt 18blackflowers@gmail.com
Librarians Tyler Hunt and Christian Hunt
"The object is not to make the tree look like a bonsai, but to make a bonsai look like a tree." — John Naka