June 2016 ACBS Exhibition Photos & Video Posted

Two Satsuki azalea bonsai in bloom, yews, pines, junipers, a concord grape, as well as our club penjing project assembled, sprawling and looking lush--these  are just some of the cool trees in our June show.









We invite all of our internet bonsai friends to take a look at the pictures of our June show on our gallery site at this link.

ALSO, take a look at this video tour of the exhibit, now showing over at our Youtube site.   You will wish you were there.  

Akron Canton Bonsai Society' Annual June Show-- June 10-12

The Akron Canton Bonsai Society

Presents

A Bonsai Exhibition

June 10th to 12th, 2016

at the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center
2131 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Admission: Free  Show runs concurrent with the Irish Fest 

The exhibition with feature local bonsai artists, and contain various examples of bonsai styles and species.
http://akroncantonbonsai.blogspot.com/

We would like to invite all of our internet friends to attend our annual show.  Following the exhibition, we will post photos and videos of the show on our gallery and you tube sites.  

Nothing Says Spring Like Bonsai--or Reason No. 50-something: Why I love Bonsai

by Michael Rusnak

Fresh Japanese Maple leaf after a rain

For me bonsai makes spring a more exciting season. It begins with seeing the trees start to leaf out. I know this sounds crazy, but at other points in the year, I forget how amazing the spring break out can be. The bright young leaves and their color just makes me happy to look at it. I believe this euphoric response has something to do with the color, and maybe light in addition to seeing the trees pop out. It is sort of an instinctive reaction. Its kind of like the feelings I get when the weather first turns cold in the fall. I'll get an urge to make all sorts of comfort food-- pot roast, stews and baked macaroni and cheese.

Ginkgo Leaves coming out in a swirl

Anyway, one of the cool things about bonsai is how it brings these ordinary things to eye level. I wanted to preserve the moment, so I played a little bit with my camera, It had rained all night, making the leaves heavy and weeping. Plus their bright greens stood out in contrast against their dark trunks.

My particular favorites are fist the larches with their vibrant pale green foliage. Then there's the colorful small unfolding leaves of the Japanese maples with slight red highlights on the tips. They look better than the flowers of many plants. And there is nothing like the small rosette-like leaves of the grapevines starting to unfold. One other cool shot came from the ginkgo. They come out in a small round package of leaflets that were still holding a few drops of rain from the night before. Again the foliage has such a fresh shades. Something to remember on those winter days. 

Concord grape leaflets look like rosettes--spring colors

Bonsai does it again.

It was a great morning. I even made a little video tour of my backyard bonsai garden and growing area on ACBS's YouTube spot at 

 

https://youtube/MBVPihEzyaI

 

ACBS's Own Ken Huth Leads Pine Project

By Michael Rusnak

Ken does it again!

Like so many other times in the past, ACBS's own Ken Huth put on a fun and

Ken shows one s

successful workshop at the February club meeting. This time it was with small scots pines. Ken demonstrated how he starts these small projects by wiring triple strands around the trunks of some potted seedlings and around some of the smaller side branches, he then giving them some movement.

He included such wiring tips as positioning branch bends within an “elbow” of the wire. That elbow helps to support the branch at stress points and lessens the chance of it breaking or snapping off as you apply pressure.

 

He turned the group loose and it was on. Many did three or four starter trees, and it will be fun to see how they progress this coming season. Ken also gave several of our newer members a neat hands-on lesson in wiring. 

 Ken also talked about some of his experiments with steel wire –only 5 bucks a role a the hardware stores. Plus it's quite strong.

Creating a Bonsai from a Trunk with One Branch

Juniper at 2007 ACBS show

At 2014 ACBS show

 Michael Rusnak

 If you didn't quite understand the idea of creating a tree skeleton and tilting the trunk, here is another example by one of our own.  Bonsai Ace Dan Tullius shows how it is done on this big discarded, and collected juniper.

 Dan shows us the way: Check out what you can do when you only have one branch—Dan has angled the dead trunk and let the single branch become the new trunk. A simple but beautiful design, he has then worked with the branch's shoots to grow the foliage, done some carving on the dead wood, and made a first rate tree.

Dan shows us the way

Another one branch example from Graham Potter's Blog

2015 Virtual Autumn Show

Please take a moment to check out our 2015 Virtual Autumn Show over on our gallery site at http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai. 

There are some good shots of the bonsai sporting their colors, especially if we were lucky enough to catch them on a rare Fall sunny day here in Northeast Ohio. 

One of the great things that the art of bonsai does, is that it brings ordinary things up to eye level, and in that way it forces you to notice details that might otherwise be overlooked, details like the delightful colors and translucency of the foliage.  The steep light angles also can highlight the textures of the trunk on the older bonsai which can be seen in some of the photos. 

We didn't have as many submissions this year. Some members have reported that they lost deciduous trees, especially maples, over the past two winters.  The last two winters that have been unusually severe .

Enjoy.

ACBS's Landscape Penjing Now on Disply at Conservatory in Avon, Ohio

by Michael Rusnak

The ACBS's club penjing landscape is on display for the month of September and into the Fall season at the Conservatory of the Miller Nature Preserve in Avon, Ohio. The Conservatory and Nature Preserve are part of the Lorain County Metro Parks system, and is located in Avon, Ohio on Route 83 on 78 acres of wooded land, according to the Nature Preserve's website.

The ACBS's landscape penjing is made up of seven separate tray plantings and is a pool-table-sized miniature landscape when fully assembled. It was designed and coordinated by ACBS member Carlton Buck as a club project in 2012. Carlton, who has always been fascinated with Chinese tray plantings or penjing, wanted to create a project that included the collaboration or multiple club members. Made up of seven tray sections, each of which was planted and maintained by a different club member. Sections can also be displayed individually or all seven can be assembled as a expansive and unified landscape planting. The penjing was first exhibited at the ACBS's June 2013 show case. Carlton shared the accompanying photos of the penjing, as exhibited in Loraine.

The Miller Nature Preserve is located at 2739 Center Road in Avon, Ohio. The conservatory is open 10 am to 6 pm daily, admission is $2.