THE NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2018 ISSUE. CHRISTMAS CARDS. Last year members were generous in their support of ST. MARY S HOSPICE when we displayed what we might call their alternative Christmas card. We will be doing the same again this year so the drill is:- 1. See the St Mary s poster displayed at the AGM. 2. Write your Christmas message thereon and 3. Instead of sending a Christmas card to everyone place an equivalent donation in the collection box. Thank you for your support. It s an excellent charity. THIS MONTH S MEETING. December is of course when we hold our AGM and you will already have received appropriate paperwork. This is an important meeting for lots of reasons, especially now that we are having the premises opened especially for us on first Thursdays during the winter. Please make every effort to attend. The Committee will be elected at this meeting and if anyone wishes to be nominated/put themselves forward for such a post then they need to arrange to have the nomination form completed and returned to me. In an attempt to introduce a little entertainment into the evening we shall be holding a BRING AND BUY which will give you an opportunity to sell anything that you no longer have a use for or perhaps acquire something which will be of use. In the past we have auctioned off unsold items at the end of the evening and I see no reason not to do the same again this year. We would hope that members would make a % contribution to club funds on any sale proceeds. Please also see the note at the end of the letter about a proposal to be made at the meeting. Please note that there is even more reason to attend this meeting now that Wes informs me that he has acquired a beautiful handmade pot as 1 st. prize in the raffle and Sylvia has put together a hamper including wine and chocolates as the 2 nd prize. There will no doubt be more prizes too. If anyone has any interesting PHOTOGRAPHS please do feel free to bring them along for the enjoyment of other members. The table display is WINTER IMAGE.
NEXT MONTH S MEETING. Our first meeting of 2019, which will be on THURSDAY 3 rd. JANUARY, will feature a presentation by DAVID CHESHIRE. David has just returned from what he describes as an excellent trip to Japan. His talk will feature a short piece on carving but, having met and talked with the only female bonsai master (mistress??) in Japan he will impart the knowledge that he acquired on pruning and maintenance of mame and shohin. There will also be a short video about the bonsai master in question. So, what s not to like about that? Her name, if you want to read more about her is CHIAKO YAMAMOTO. The TABLE DISPLAY will be ANY TREE so, just bring one along, whatever you fancy. We shall be delighted to see it! RON CURETON. You will have noticed, I m sure, that Ron has not been present at recent meetings. After several abortive attempts I have managed to get in contact with him and found that he was in good health and spirits. Unfortunately, at his age, he does not relish the prospect of a 50 mile round trip on motorways at any time let along during winter nights, to get to the Cricket Club for meetings. Realistically, as he lives in Lichfield, there is no other member that I am aware of who might offer to bring him along, but if I am wrong about that do let me know. For the time being therefore we wish Ron all the best of good fortune and thank him for his contributions to the society in the past after all he has been a member since 1975! BONSAI TIP OF THE MONTH. Don t forget that your evergreen trees will continue to develop, albeit more slowly, during winter months. It s important therefore to give them a little gentle feed from time to time but don t overdo it. My trees are now in their winter quarters. If your trees are still outside make sure that they don t dry out, the wind can be as bad as the sun for this. GARDENING TIP OF THE MONTH. Leaf mould is a wonderful medium for improving the quality of any soil. Collect fallen leaves and store them in a cage of wire netting or in black bags. If stored in bags make sure that when collected the leaves are wet and poke a fork through the bottom of the bag to prevent waterlogging. Turn a heap stored in wire netting from time to time. Leave for a year and spread/dig in next Autumn. Any manure spread now should be well rotted. Dahlias should be lifted by now, stalks removed to 6 inches, tubers stored upside down to drain for a fortnight and then kept in a frost free environment for the rest of the winter. Don t forget to label the tubers before you cut the tops off!! You just about have time to plant the last of the tulips, but don t delay.
SVEN S THOUGHTS ON THE STOURBRIDGE SHOW I was quite impressed with the quality of the trees I must say. The way they were displayed was very well done. My favourite was the English elm, the ramification on it is spectacular. In line with the tanuki topic from a previous newsletter... The big English yew bonsai was a tanuki and very well done in my opinion. (The image below, captured by Sven, is of a large group of Cotoneasters created by former MBS member, Mark Beddow.) From Sven Vanroy. EDITOR S COMMENT. I must say that I was also impressed by the quality of the trees on display at the Stourbridge event, which was also attended by Corin Tomlinson (who was demonstrating) and that chap from Tewkesbury who makes the intriguing and unusual pots. SPOOKY OR WHAT? As some of you may know we have had an apple tree in our back garden ever since we moved in to the house. In fact the tree, a Bramley s seedling, was probably planted when the houses were first built, in the early 1900 s! Over the last couple of years however, the tree has been showing its age and was quite frankly dying, so we decided it had to come down before it fell down.
The tree surgeons were booked to come on the morning of Tuesday 13 th November. Imagine our surprise therefore when we woke that morning to find that overnight the tree had fallen over all by itself, fortunately causing no damage to surrounding features in our garden or next door! The tree has now been dealt with and I would have no hesitation whatsoever n recommending the company which carried out the work. They are David Lukeman Tree Care of Hollywood. Tel: 0121 430 3593 or 07976 904 989. I have incidentally been able to keep the stump with three low trunks which will form platforms for bonsai display now that it has been righted following the fall. The trunk on the right of the picture has been removed in its entirety. We are glad that the tree told us that it was time to go before, although only just before, the man with the chain saw got to work. It makes us feel a lot better about the whole thing. Over 40 plus years it has been an old friend to us in the garden, producing wonderful spring blossom and marvellous crops of apples. It has also provided play opportunities for the children when young and latterly shade for the bonsai underneath it. It also looked good, with a great shape to it. The tree which saw the surgeon coming! JUDITH S VIEW OF THE STOURBRIDGE SHOW. The Stourbridge Annual Show was, as always, a very good event and very well attended. Lots of lovely trees, beautifully displayed; 2 excellent demonstrations by Corin Tomlinson; a bring & buy sale; a display by the South Staffs Society and a stand selling some very nice, unusual pots.
Add to this the obligatory tombola, a constant supply of refreshments and lots of opportunity to catch up with old friends, so, whether you went for an hour or the whole day, there was lots to enjoy. (The chap selling the unusual pots was Graham Simpson of Dragonfly Bonsai Pots of Tewkesbury. Tel. No. 07926 646772/ email grahamsimpson@outlook.com - Ed ) AUTUMN. I'm not sure whether it is my imagination, but the autumn colours this year seem particularly splendid, and seem to be lasting longer than usual too. Driving around the countryside on a sunny day has been a real pleasure lately. The down-side is that, to date, I have collected 7 large bags of sycamore leaves from my garden, in addition to the ones already in my garden waste bin. Fortunately for me, I have a friend who has an allotment and he took them off me to rot down for leaf mould which saved me a trip to the tip. However, the next task will be the birch leaves which are much slower coming down. The ones on the ground are currently so thick that I can't distinguish the lawn from the path in several places, but as there are still a lot clinging to the trees, I have decided to wait till they all come down so that I can collect them all together. And please don't tell me that the best way to collect them is with the lawn mower because there are so many that I would spend all my time emptying the grass box, besides which, raking them up is good exercise, isn't it? Judith Davison. ANNUAL SHOW 2019. At the time of writing we are still trying to tie the Botanicals down to a date for the show next year. In the meantime I can tell you that a proposal will be put to the AGM concerning the involvement of Redditch Bonsai Society. The proposal is:- 1. That they be allowed to exhibit trees at the show. 2. That those trees will be displayed separately from MBS trees. 3. That, if judged, they will be judged separately from MBS trees. U.K. BONSAI ASSOCIATION. Many of you will have received an invitation from the above, which is a recently formed group, to join them free of charge. Judith will be talking to you about this group at the A G M, so you will then learn more about who and what they are before deciding whether to join or not. Richard Gilkes, Ed. 25 th November 2018.