2010 Christmas Party

Our annual Christmas party was last weekend at our house. I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed plenty of good food. Looking forward to a new year of bonsai programs and events. The first will be on January 8th in Baton Rouge for their Mid-Winter Symposium with Guy Guidry. I will share further details when I get them. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Boyd

Minutes of October 2010

Johnny opened meeting at 7:oo p.m.

Johnny gave a presentation on Shohin--(tiny thing) 8" or less. He spoke about balance, asymmetrical , rustic looking, should be able to be carried in one hand. He advised to soak entire pot in water.

We had 3 visitors from UL.

Meeting ended at 9:00 p.m.

Minutes of August 2010

New Member: Lyle Savoie

Johnny gave a presentation on Basic Bonsai Design. He talked about material selection, deduction and line of your tree.

There was a mention about the New Orleans auction for the following Saturday

Meeting ended at 9:00 p.m.

LABS 2010

Good turnout for the LABS in Baton Rouge yesterday. I think we had a total of 13 BSA people there at some time during the event. That's pretty good for a club of our size. As always, the day was enjoyable and informative. The air layering demo/lecture by Johnny and I went off without a hitch. Hopefully, people got something out of it. Johnny even donated the air layered chinese elm that we removed. As it turns out, it was won by Alex. Plenty of vendors there. As I promised myself, I didn't buy any trees. However, I made up for it by purchasing pots. Nice to see and touch the pots before buying them, unlike on the internet.

Hope to see everyone at Wednesday night's workshop meeting. That is, if I can get someone to take my call.

Boyd

JULY

Titled the last post "June". Obviously, it was the July meeting.

June meeting

Great turnout for last night's BSA meeting. Nice to see new members showing such an interest in bonsai. Thanks again to Christine for supplying the food and drinks. We talked about the upcoming LABS event in Baton Rouge on July 17th. Should be a great day with lots of good speakers and bonsai topics. Several vendors are also going to be present, so bring some spendin' money. We also decided to hold our annual auction at our September meeting, which will be September 1st.

I gave a presentation entitled "Back to Bonsai Basics". Since we have a recent influx of new members, it seemed to be a good time to talk about some of the basics of bonsai, as it relates to styles, design, care, etc. Hopefully, everyone was able to take away something from the talk, even the bonsai "veterans".

Next up: July 17th LABS in Baton Rouge
July 21st BSA workshop meeting-Bring something to work on

Minutes of June 2010

Meeting started at 7:00 p.m.

Johnny welcomed old and new members to the club. Our new members are Sam and Yvette Duck, Trent Belisle, and Jerek and Mary Beebe.

Johnny asked Vic to tell the club about their trip to Brussel's Rendezvous. Vic won the best workshop tree done by Mark Nolander. He spoke about how great the workshops were and the men that demonstrated and lectured about the trees. He also stated how nice and large the facility is.

On July 17 there will be a state meeting at the Wildlife and Fisheries. Johnny and Boyd plan on giving a talk to represent our club.

At the meeting tonight a selection of trees was offered to the entire club as workshop trees to try air layering and grafting or whatever else you might want to try. There was a range of Junipers, Maples, Boxwoods, Raintree and elm.

The Snack List for the year is as follows:

This Snack is brought to the 1st Wednesday of the month meeting. If you would like to sign up for any month that is vacant, please let Boyd know which month you would like to bring snacks.

February-----Boyd

March--------Vic & Jane

April---------Johnny

May----------Bruce & Debbie

June----------

July----------Christine

August-------

September--Mike

October------

November---

Meeting ended at 9:00p.m.

2010 Festival des Fleurs

Posted the pics from the recent Festival des Fleurs to the right. Thought we had a good show. Now we'll find out if we rounded up any new members.

2010 Workshop-Guy Guidry

The workshop for 2010 at Guy Guidry's - Northshore Bonsai was a big success for those that were able to attend. The weather was perfect, the setting was superb, everyone was able to purchase the trees that they wanted, and our host gave everyone wonderful advise and attention.

We also had a great lunch from Bear's. Those that were able to attend from our group were Johnny, Boyd, Mike, Vic, Jane, Bruce and Debbie.

Bruce and I learned a new technique, grafting roots on rock and look forward to doing many more since we purchased some of the rocks from Africa that Guy had to offer.

I also enjoyed watching everyone learning try different techniques on their trees. Especially Mike's carving his newly purchased cypress.

Great Day, Great Company and a fully loaded car to come home.

Minutes of April 2010

Discussion opened with Johnny reminding everyone about the Festival de Fleur on May 8. It was also mentioned that members could bring their own trees to work on as demo's for the Festival de Fleur.

The Daylily Festival was tabled as to whether the group will be attending.

The workshop for Guy Guidry was discussed and was set for April 17. Members were to bring their own tools and wire and trees that they needed help with.

Members brought trees to the meeting to discuss with group:

Boyd - Shimpacu-raft, Trident Maple

Johnny - Golden Lach

Alex - Red Maple Forest

Mike - Chinese Elm, Japenese Maple

Tim - Chinese Elm, Black Pine, Trident Maple

Food was supplied by Johnny-Thank You

Meeting ended at 9:00 p.m.

Minutes of March 2010

Dues were collected for the current year 2010.

Food List was passed around for first meeting of the month.

There was a discussion about Festival de Fleur--May 8, 2010

The discussion entailed whether or not we would have a raffle tree as well as a demo tree. Most were in agreement for both.

Boyd went over upcoming events and passed out a list of the events with the dates.

Debbie informed everyone about the blog and website pictures. If anyone wants to upload pictures they need to contact Debbie to get the password for picasa.

Boyd also informed everyone about a possible LSU Horticultral/exhibit of Bonsai's.

April 7------ BSA meeting 7:00 p.m.

April 17----- BSA (Saturday) "road trip workshop" Guy Guidry's place

April 21----- BSA workshop ?

April 24----- LCBS auction

May 5-------- BSA meeting

May 8-------- Festival de Fleur

May 19------- BSA workshop

May 28-30- -Brussel's Rendezvous 2010---($150)

Meeting ended 9:00 p.m.

April Workshop

On Saturday, April 17th, BSA will do a "road trip workshop". We will have a day at Guy Guidry's bonsai nursery in Covington. Mark it on your calendar and make plans to attend. We will discuss details at our next meeting.

Minutes of February 2010 meeting

January 2010 meeting was cancelled because too many members were sick and could not attend.

Minutes of February 2010 Meeting

Opened meeting 7:00 p.m.

Dues were collected

Meal provided by Boyd Snellgrove

Discussion of Festival de Fleur to take place on Saturday May 8, 2010, not on Sunday because of Mother's Day. It was discussed that the club would donate $125 to Festival de Fleur.

Also there was a discussion about future workshops.

Mike Baumbach gave a report on the finances for the year 2009.

A sign up sheet for future meals for the 1st of the month meetings was offered for those who wanted to participate.

Some members brought trees to repot.

Meeting ended at 9:00 p.m.

Next meeting

Hope to see all of you at our next meeting, which is this Wednesday, March 3rd at 7. Vic and Jane are signed up to bring the food and drink. I will be doing a short presentation on trunk chopping and growing a new apex, especially as it pertains to bald cypress.

Boyd and I have started and almost finished repotting of deciduous trees. On advice from Dana Q., we have begun to incorporate akadama into our soil mix. The mix that we used was approximately:
Akadama 40%
Pine Bark 20%
Hadite 40%
We have begun adding a small measure of charcoal (horticultural) to the finished mix. No more than 5% of the total. The mixture is very free draining and will necessitate the need to be very careful with routine watering this year. However, the akadama does retain a considerable amount of moisture. There are several sizes of akadama available, and we went with a combo small and medium sizes. I'd suggest the smaller size for mame/shohin size trees. Yes, it is an additional cost. Hopefully, we will get a positive result with the trees that warrants the additional expense. You can find the charcoal at Chastant Brothers on Pinhook in Laf. One bag will last you a while. Very inexpensive. I break up the bigger chunks before adding to the mix. It is also a recommended procedure to mist the trees after repotting with the HB 101 everyday for up to 3 weeks. Don't overdo as a drench in the soil, as we're told that it will build up salts in the soil. 1/3 of a cap/gal is suggested. HB 101 is available at Brussel's and is very expensive $28 for a 3.38 oz. bottle, however the quantity that you are using is quite small. HB 101 is not really a fertilizer, but is listed as a ''natural plant concentrate". Don't confuse it with SUPER thrive, that I do not use. Take care and happy bonsaiing. Johnny