Every year the Susquehanna Bonsai Club puts on an excellent annual picnic for club members.
Great Picnic! Great Auction!
The Food: Outstanding as usual. Thanks to Bob Findley for coordinating that part of it!
The Venue: Except for an uneven mow job, Sean’s home, landscape & bonsai collection were fantastic. Thanks for the hospitality Sean!
The Specifics, submitted by Darlene Tyler:
club members relaxing under the tent having a good time
Sean Smith : Yew demo at club picnic
English yew (Taxus baccata) is slow growing with one flush a year, and has a hard wood which is used to make tool handles. Sean got the yew from a nursery about eight years ago. Some branches were removed earlier to create deadwood and the top was split and wedged with a chopstick to create more movement.
The deadwood on the front of the tree is interesting but the top of the tree is leaning away from the front. By tilting the back of the pot up so the top of the tree leans slightly forward and repotting the tree in that orientation next spring will correct that problem. In order to save time, Sean will leave the jin and shari formation in the deadwood area for a later time and work on styling and wiring. When wiring yew, go between the leaves to prevent damage to the foliage. The deadwood areas are marked with chalk for future shari and jin carving.
Yews bud back well and propagate easily and are not susceptible to disease and insect damage, but cannot tolerate drying out. Monitoring water is critical to keeping the yew healthy and alive. Yews grow well in part sun or filtered light and akadama soil. Repot next year and then every three to four years or no more than every two years for young trees. There are many fine roots under the trunk. When the root pad is established in its new orientation, the tree can be planted in a shallower pot.
Sean donated his yew for raffle. Congratulations to Dave Loeffler for winning it.
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith working on a yew
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- Sean Smith and the finished yew he styled at club picnic.
Auction at club picnic
Auctioneers Jim Doyle and Jim Gillespie opened the sale with a dwarf geranium and a bonsai pot which sold for $10. A box of pots sold for $20, a viewing stone and diaza for $40, a Sara Rayner pot for $35, a larch for $55, a black pine for $135, a Japanese wisteria for $65, and Bonsai Today # 1 – 76 sold for $150.
In total the Auction and Demo raffle brought in $1,384 for the club! Thanks to past SBC presidents, Sara Senft, and Dick Gutherion for donating pots, books, and
journals for the auction, thanks also to members who brought and bought items.
And a big thank you to Jim Doyle and Jim Gillespie for, as usual, a very entertaining auction.
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- Jim Doyle auctioning off a geranium and bonsai pot
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- Jim Gillespie auctioning off a pot
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- Jim Doyle auctioning off pot
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- Jim Doyle with more items for auction.
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- Jim Doyle with some items for auction.
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- Viewing stones and such getting auctioned off.
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- Jim Doyle auctioning off a larch
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- Jim Doyle hard at Ipad-ing….. I mean working.
Thanks for reading!
Susquehanna Bonsai Club 