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Text Box: each bonsai and ask “ what will make this bonsai better this year” do I put it into a different pot that is larger, deeper, not so deep, alter the soil a bit, fertilize differently , move it to more shade, more sun , on and on and on. Past experience is the best teacher with each tree but it only tells you how good it grew last year and each year before...not… how great it could grow if you made all the correct decisions. Past years are never this year. Everyone growing plants that they care about becomes a weather watcher. I’m always amazed how every spring, summer, fall and winter is so different from the last one

Text Box: last years weather. How do you cope with weather you can’t predict? You adapt your care routine every day. I worked on my bonsai area a lot this year. I didn’t want to, but last years weather damage changed the amount of sun my area receives. I had to find another area of dapple shade for those bonsai that grow best in less than all day sun. Adapt and move forward. I also created a new stock plant area to make watering easier this year. The very dry, hot, hot days last fall made it very clear a spread out collection was an invite to disaster. Keep on keeping on..fight the good fight. Joe Day

Text Box: with the help of a number of good computer programs put together a great bonsai program. The great thing about a program on a DVD is you can present the program at many clubs, use it as a computer record of your collection or years later watch yourself grow older and older and then really old. Now! Is the time to keep the camera ready for your ever visit

Text Box: ACBS purchased a very nice computer, computer projector and screen. The February program by Russell Coker on Style was great. It provided all the proof we needed that the ability to see sharp, clear photographs on a 6 by 9 foot screen certainly enhances the visual aspects of any program. This enhanced ability to show pictures makes it very important that you take more pictures and have them on file. With lots of photographs of your bonsai work and bonsai you can

Text Box: Into the bonsai area and recording every restyling or first styling of your bonsai. Spend a bit of time setting up a good file system for your photographs. One year of digital photographs can mount up to hundreds of photographs. Knowing what you are looking for is difficult, knowing where to find it is critical. Joe Day

Text Box: Fighting the good fight

Text Box: The reason you choose a pot for a tree is a balance between beauty and function. Function, keeping the bonsai healthy, is much more important than beauty. Some species will tolerate very dry conditions without damage to the tree, most will not. You can’t make a big, deep bonsai pot small but it

Text Box: can look much smaller than it actually is. This visually smaller look is created by some combinations of color, texture, raised features on the sides, short feet, or indented sides. We will have a teaching program dedicated to this subject this winter if we can find a time to schedule it.
Joe Day

Text Box: Doing stupid thing because someone suggest it isn’t just for kids. Over the years I have seen many bonsai artist put bonsai in pots that were too small to maintain living conditions over our long hot summer. The main reason most choose the “too small” pot was a suggestion by someone that the bonsai would look better in a smaller container.

Text Box: “The main reason most choose the too small bonsai pot is someone’s suggestion”

Text Box: First spring in bonsai, 26th year in bonsai it’s the same fight every year. How do I move this bonsai forward in both health and appearance during this years growing season. The longer you work on a bonsai the more difficult this becomes with individual bonsai. A cut back nursery plant, a collected tree, these plants will put on lots and lots of growth and change a lot the first growing season. Every year the plant demands a lot more of the person responsible for the daily care. I truly think a bonsai 10 years old takes 10 times the knowledge and care to make it a better bonsai each season. Every spring you have to look at each