Virtual Fall Bonsai Show

Spectacular fall color is one of the rewards of working with deciduous trees in northeastern Ohio. Despite our notoriously unpredictable weather, we do get some amazing color this time of the year.

Once again this year the Akron Canton Bonsai Society is presenting its Fall Virtual Bonsai Show. You can see pictures of some of our trees in all of their colorful autumnal beauty on our gallery site http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai.

Just click on the "Fall Bonsai Show" icon and you can see fall pictures of member's trees from this season and last season. It's fun to compare this year's photos to last year's and note how the color can vary.

The virtual show is at the time of this post, a "work in progress." We'll be adding pictures as we get them from our members. So check the gallery link often in the coming weeks.

We really do love our trees-- especially when they look like this.

Craig Coussins Visits the ACBS

International bonsai star Craig Coussins visited the ACBS in October. At our club's regular meeting, he assisted and collaborated with members on some of their current tree projects in an open forum that flowed late into the evening.

On the following night, he held a public demonstration where he worked his magic on a large garden juniper, creating a fine cascade style bonsai. Also, he presented a slide program on Chinese gardens.

See our gallery site for more photos of Craig's visit along with photos of our past shows:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai

Special October Meeting --- FRIDAY, OCT 2nd

ACBS Notice

AKRON CANTON BONSAI SOCIETY a member of Bonsai Clubs International

October 2009

October Meeting: FRIDAY 2 October

7 – 9 p.m. Cuyahoga Valley Art Center

Main Floor Gallery

Craig Coussins

Internationally Renowned Bonsai Artist

Founder, Scottish Bonsai Association

Role of Honour, Federation of British Bonsai Societies

Author, Five excellent books on bonsai

Craig will do a demonstration of bonsai techniques.

Craig Coussins is well known for his ability to recount interesting tales, answer

questions and tell good jokes while working on bonsai. The completed tree will

be raffled at the end of the meeting. Craig will also be available to autograph

copies of his books. I’m told that this will be Craig’s final tour. So unless you

plan to visit Scotland anytime soon, this is one you don’t want to miss.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - PUBLIC PARKING READILY AVAILABLE

Plan to arrive early because this event is part of Cuyahoga Falls Oktoberfest

ACBS 2009 August Show

The Akron Canton Bonsai Society held its August exhibition at the North Canton Main Street Festival this weekend. We had many types of hardy and tropic trees.

It was great to see both new and established members participating. Plus there was a steady stream of visitors. Once again this year, kudos to our "show boss," Mike A. for his good direction. You can see photos of the show at our gallery site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai

Just click on the August Show icon and you'll see about 80 pictures of members trees and other bits and pieces of the event.

ALSO, check out the recently posted folder titled "Members' Trees" on the gallery site: http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai. Gib set up his equipment at the show on Saturday and took "bonsai portraits" for members who wanted them. The photography is so good that I'm thinking of getting some wallet sizes made of these to carry around with me :-)

Akron Canton Bonsai Society
Presents a
Bonsai Exhibition
August 22nd & 23rd 2009
Sat. 10am - 8 pm & Sun. 11am - 5 pm
North Canton Main Street Festival
in the IBEW Union Hall, North Canton, OH

The exhibition will feature local bonsai artists and contain examples of various bonsai styles and species, including, pines, elms, flowering and tropical trees.

Admission: Free

Email: akroncantonbonsai@gmail.com

August 6th Meeting

PREPPING YOUR TREE FOR A SHOW

(e.g. OUR show on 22, 23 August, North Canton Sidewalk Fair)

BRING A TREE YOU’RE INTERESTED IN SHOWING^*

(or just bring a tree you’re interested in working on)

^* The show in open to ALL MEMBERS. We hope that everyone who

is a member of ACBS will present at least one tree. We hope that

all non-members will stop by the show to see the quality of our

trees.

As usual, we will be meeting at the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center in Cuyahoga Falls at 7:00 pm.

ACBS Picnic 2009

Gib's fine bonsai garden was the setting for the Akron Canton Bonsai Society's summer picnic and afternoon tree. It was attended by several members on a perfect July afternoon.

Several years ago at one of our club meetings, a landscape architect offered ideas about creating bonsai gardens to display favorite trees. Obviously Gib must have been playing close attention. His neatly landscaped backyard includes several gardens and tree display areas that were a real treat for the group--and a lesson in how to show off your trees.

Also, the tree jam focused on a large collected yew. Dan and Larry spent worked diligently--with no shortage of advice from others-- on some shaping and planning for how the tree will develop in the coming years.

Pictures of the picnic can been seen on our gallery site: http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai

June ACBS Meeting

June 4th 7-9 pm at the Cuyahoga Valley Arts Center

BRING YOUR OWN TREE Let’s just relax and bring our own trees to work on and show to each other. You might bring your Hokkaido Elm to show around, or the Octopus style Shimpaku that we worked on last month. Or . . . . whatever. Right NOW is the best time to work on material, especially if you want to pot it.

Need advice on a tree? Bring it. You may get more ideas than one little tree deserves.

Akron Canton Bonsai Society

First Thursday of Each Month

(except December)

7 – 9 p.m.

Cuyahoga Valley Art Center

2131 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

ACBS is a member of Bonsai Clubs International

Ken's Mangled Style Workshop with Shipaku Junipers

Here are a few shots from Ken's workshop at the May ACBS meeting. Ken called this style of tree "mangle-ations" or "mangled style." He also related that he believes the Japanese word is "Fuko abuncho ?"

Whatever you call them, it was a lot of fun and the members put together some good trees. The 1st pictures are before and after of some of last night's trees.

Also with some of the trees, a srtipped "shari" was created before wiring and shaping. As the tree grows the shari will turn into an interesting feature of the trunk when the raffia is removed after the growing season and as the tree ages.

Octopus Style Workshop at May 2009 Meeting

Our own Ken Huth will lead a workshop with shimpaku juniper on Octopus style (tako-zukuri) $15 will do it all: tree, raffia, wire, fun, help . . . . the whole bit.

No one has done more for ACBS than Ken Huth! And once again Ken swings into action. You may have seen him working on this at the last meeting. He started with a young shimpaku juniper whip, wrapped it with raffia, then wired it and . . . . then he did the twist – round and round and back and forth. It brought the height of the tree from about 24 inches down to about 8 inches. WOW! (Yes, you do hear considerable crunching and snapping, but that’s why you have the raffia wrapped around it – to hold all of the pieces together. ;-) The next step on the plant shown would be to thin the branches, then wire them into the usual, first-branch, second-branch, back branch, etc. This is an EXCELLENT technique to learn! The technique is the same that you can use on branches that are too long and have too much space between the secondary branches. Besides it looks like great fun!! And Ken is looking forward to leading this workshop as much as I’m looking forward to taking it.

So join us, 7-9 pm at the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center 2131 Front Street Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

ACBS displays at Komono Museum Exhibit

During the acclaimed "Komono as Art" exhibition at the Canton Museum of Art, the Akron-Canton Bonsai Society presented a bonsai display on April 25th 2009. The display featured several members' trees and was well received by both the art museum officials and members of the public.

This early spring timing was a first for our club (usually we display in June and August), and it presented some unique problems in that members were a limited in what they choose to display-- it snowed here in north east Ohio just last week. However, the early season timing also brought some real treats. Most notably, Gib's yellow-blooming cotoneaster pushed out more and more blossoms as we moved into the second day of the event. Also, some species, such as the Japanese maples, were just breaking out and sported their colorful young spring foliage. We had a fine selection of pines, tropicals, forest plantings, azalea, boxwood and others.

ACBS members also offered demonstrations on how a bonsai might be created from nursery stock. You can see pictures from our display (and the March 8 display) as well as "before and after" shots of the demo trees at our gallery spot
http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai


Information on the "Komono As Art"exhibit can be found at www.kimonoexhibit.com

April 2009 meeting

April meeting . . . . (2 April) CVAC 7 – 9 p.m. Cuyahoga Valley Art Center (enter from the lower parking lot side).

Bonsai Insect Pests and What To Do About Them

Got Pest Problems with your trees? Sticky leaves? Black spot, Cobwebs hanging off the branches? Well . . . . knowing what’s going on and how to stop it is the only way to end the problems for good. You may remember Debbie from our November meeting. Debbie is a plant pathologist who works in Kent, OH. This time she will talk about plant insect pests, how to detect them, how to get rid of them, and maybe even how to prevent getting them in the first place. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE . . . . she will also bring her microscope and diagnostic tools so we can view the problems with our trees. Be sure to bring a tree that you think may have a “pest problem.” This will be a rare opportunity to ask all those questions about plant pests from someone who REALLY knows the answers.

So . . . . . bring your tree for diagnosis.

Cuyahoga Valley Art Center
2131 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, OH


ACBS is a member of Bonsai Clubs International