Text Box: P.O. Box 9591 Mobile, Al 36691 E-Mail..ACBSbonsai@aol.com Web site azaleacitybonsaisociety.com Text Box: Azalea City Bonsai Society Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Phone:251-344-5873 Fax: 251-342-6431 Text Box: Dedicated to the art of bonsai Text Box: The dead leaves and small branches on most trees, dead spots in the lawn and if you look close into the foliage of your bonsai dead twigs are mute testimony to the stress of the past 12 months. The return of the afternoon rains has brought back some life into the foliage and a flush of weeds in the soil. If you are still excited by your bonsai, still pushing aside other things to do to be able to spend time in your bonsai area, you are a real bonsai artist. We are now in the “middle” of the hot months. We still have August, September and probably all of October before the chill of our change of seasons washes over our bonsai benches. We are still dancing on the sharp edge of the blade with our watering chores. One slip, missing a pot and you could find the tree wilted past the point of recovery. We could see a return to temps staying in the high 80’s not 90’s by early September. With a bit of moisture in the air this could bring on the start of our fall growing season. Organic fertilizers take 6 weeks to be available as nutrients to plants. If you fertilized with an organic about the first of August it would give your bonsai an excellent soil condition for the short but important fall growing season. Bonsai need to be in excellent health before our short winter or before they are repotted . If your bonsai have been moved into more shade to endure the heat of August they will need to moved back into more sunlight when the temps moderate after September. If you have questions about how to handle your Tropical bonsai during the late summer, fall and winter ask Fred Morales your care questions when he presents our August program on Tropical Bonsai. Joe Day

Stuck in the Middle