The spring weather is giving way to our summer pattern and depending where you live that could mean anything from hotter and dryer to cooler, overcast and windy. It is a good time to take a careful look at your trees and see how they are adjusting to the changing season in your particular place. Don’t take anything for granted. Watering for example. It is not so simple as it sounds and different trees will have different needs. Take note of how long each of your trees stay wet and keep track of the outside conditions. If you live in a warmer climate area you can begin defoliating Japanese maples to promote finer branching and smaller leaves. Around the immediate bay communities we usually partially defoliate the outer leaves and leave weaker inner growth on to support the tree. A good feeding before hand is recommended. In cooler coastal areas this process should be undertaken lightly and monitored carefully to see how quickly the trees develop new foliage. If you have not done it before just take off a little and wait. Warm weather is the engine that drives new growth. Come to our June eighth General Meeting and bring your deciduous trees for a program on summer defoliating.

Also as the seasons change so do other things in our lives. I’m sad to say that our own editor of the Fog City Bonsai (our club newsletter), Ben Petrosanta, will be leaving San Francisco and The Dorothy Day Community Bonsai Garden which he created and has spent many years developing. Ben has been newsletter editor since April of 2000 and will publish his last for the month of June. During that time our newsletter has been in the top ten bonsai club newsletters rated by The Golden State Bonsai Federation including taking top prize one year and winning Ben an award and our club praise. Please be sure to wish Ben well on his new ventures and to thank him for six years of service to our club.

If any of you out there has an interest in publishing the newsletter from your home computer you can speak to myself or Eric Shrader or Ben about what is involved. Much of the information in the newsletter is also available on our web site and indeed much of the assembly of the printed newsletter is now downloadable from the site. The whole process involves a couple of hours a month and should pose no difficulties to anyone with basic computer skills. The newsletter could also be a creative challenge to anyone who has such ambitions and would enjoy the process. The editor has great discretion over the design and distribution of content and we would welcome your input. We would be most happy if some member or members could take over the July issue. Please let us know soon.

In June, if you’ve kept up with the newsletter or web site you would know that the Collection North is celebrating the tenth anniversary of signing the lease for their home at Lake Merrit in Oakland. Saturday June 24 starting at 10 am there will be demonstrations by three bonsai experts, vendor sales of bonsai related materials and at 7 pm a dinner to commemorate and honor this great achievement. BSSF club member Linda Ferzoco has reserved a table for BSSF club members wishing to attend. A donation of $50 includes dinner and a $30 donation to the collection’s endowment fund. There are ten seats at the table call Linda to reserve a seat.

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