With six to eight weeks more of growing time left in the summer I’m continuing to watch my trees grow. Regular feedings, pinching new growth where apropriate and given the current cycle of warm weather attempting another round of defoliation on maples and elms (probably the last for this year). My junipers continue to fill out and need some thinning as well as a redwood that has just exploded with growth. All this new growth should be watched and thinned periodically to direct it where your design for the tree indicates growth is needed and opened up where you want to create views into the structure of the tree.

Our first web site newsletter went out this past month thanks to the efforts of Aaron Newton, Eric Sdhrader, and Linda Ferzoco. The newsletter will be evolving into a new form as we go forward as a hybrid of articles already on the web site and additional current information. We would like very much to have another club member involved in the assembly of this information from a pdf, which Aaron can set up on the site, to a more readable format for print. Any member with a computer and printer can easily accomplish this and have the license to add their own flair should they like to. If you can contribute to this process please contact me, Aaron and or Eric and Linda and we can fill you in on details and help get you up and running. We will also be asking the membership to speak up about receiving an e-mail version only of the newsletter and forgoing the mailed paper version. This will save both time and money so think about it and you will be asked at the next general meeting to sign up. There are many members who still do not access the web and for those we are committed to sending out a mailed newsletter going forward.

September is just a month away and we should all be thinking about the annual club auction. BSSF has one of the most successful club auctions going owing to the generosity of our membership in donating workable material and in purchasing trees to work on. This vital fund raiser for our club would not be possible without the donations we count on from all members and especially those with too many trees to properly care for. This year we can be especially grateful to past member Ken McKormick for his generous donation of forty trees he has grown, mostly from seeds collected during his years as a forest ranger. There are a wide variety and some unusual species. Among them some which he has successfully grown indoors which we do not see much of around here. In addition to checking your collections for trees to donate we invite all attending to donate any food or beverages to help make the evening all the more special. The club will be providing a basic buffet so you can skip dinner come down early and graze while you preview the trees to be auctioned

At the August meeting we will also be talking about changes coming to our annual Garden Show display that the membership should be aware of. Eric has written a article about this subject.

Finally I note with much sadness the passing of former BSSF member Frank Carrison. Frank was a dynamic member of our club up until six years ago when he relocated to Sacramento. He continued to be active in bonsai clubs and activities after leaving San Francisco and also to be a valued friend. Many of us got to see him at the Collection North Fund raising dinner recently and were shocked and saddened to hear of his death not long after.

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