Our first Society meeting of 2018 is this Monday at 7PM.

Join us as we host Chris Baker, the Curator of the Bonsai Collection at the Chicago Botanic Garden, as he presents on soil compositions and preparation.

As always, our meeting is at The Chicago Botanic Garden in the Regenstein Center.  Hope to see you there!

It's that time of year! Our Annual Holiday Party is December 7th.

More details on our 2017 Annual Holiday Party page.

While the bonsai season is winding down for 2017, we're already hard at work scheduling and planning the General Meetings for 2018!

The full schedule of the meetings is now available on our Meetings page.  While topics haven't yet been announced, mark your calendars so you don't miss a meeting!

Have a suggestion for a meeting topic? We'd love to hear from you!

Our November Society meeting will be held on November 6th at the Chicago Botanic Garden and is the last meeting of 2017.  The meeting will start at 7PM with Bonsai 101, and the main meeting will be the elections for our Board.  The following positions are open:
President
Executive Vice President
Vice President in Charge of Special Events
Vice President in Charge of Monthly Programs
Treasurer
Secretary
3 Member-at-Large Positions

Hope to see you at the meeting!

Join us for our October meeting on Monday October 2nd. At 7PM our Bonsai 101 session will cover purchasing new trees, as well as fall care for bonsai. At 7:30, we will have our annual White Elephant sale. Bring items you no longer want to sell to other society members. Hope to see you there!

The 40th Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition was held August 18-20th.  Being one of the largest exhibitions in recent history, we're proud of the quality of the trees exhibited by members of the Midwest Bonsai Society, as well as other Bonsai enthusiasts from around the region and country!

We've prepared a Exhibition Review page, which includes a gallery of selected ribbon winners.

And don't forget to save the date! The 41st Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition will return to the Chicago Botanic Garden August 17-19, 2018 - it's never too early to start planning and preparing trees!

Join us Monday for our August Society Meeting. Past president Cat Nelson will be speaking about accent plants - with a specific focus on preparing them and other accessories for the August Exhibition. We'll also dedicate time during the meeting to preparing your own trees and displays - so please bring items you are planning to show! Reminder, only 2 weeks until the 40th Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition. More information on our page dedicated to the August Exhibition.

Due to the Labor Day holiday, we've moved the September Society meeting up one week - our "September" meeting will be held at 7PM on August 28th.

We'll be doing a recap of the 40th Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition that happens just a week prior.

More information is available on our Meetings page.

We're only three weeks away from the 40th Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition, held as always at the Chicago Botanic Garden!

Join us August 18-20 for one of the largest Bonsai Exhibitions in the United States.  Trees from around the country will be on display, along with vendors, workshops and demonstrations, all centered around the Chicago Botanic Garden's world-class Bonsai collection.  Guest Master Kathy Shaner will be presiding over the judging of the trees.

More information is available on our page dedicated to the August Exhibition.  See you then!

Due to the migration of Boxwood Blight into the areas of Lake and Cook Counties, Illinois, the Chicago Botanic Garden has instituted a policy disallowing all Buxus plant materials brought in by visitors, vendors and others to the Garden, to protect the Garden's collections.  This has immediate impact to the Society, Visiting Guest Artists, and attendees registering trees for our twice-yearly exhibitions. Read more about Boxwood Blight at our dedicated page.

Only three days to our May Exhibit! Online tree registration is now open. Details on tree registration, as well as other pertinent details on the Exhibit, are available on our May Exhibit page.

Only a few weeks until our 13th Annual May Bonsai Exhibition - Join us for a "Bonsai Learning Experience" - Full details of the Exhibition are available at our May Exhibition Page

Guest Artist Phil Mahliot will be presenting at our next meeting (May 1st, 7:00PM) on the care of conifers comparing and contrasting Pines and Junipers.  After the main presentation he will hopefully have time to comment on a few trees for our members.  If you would like to bring a Pine or Juniper for Mr. Mahliot to critique, please do so, but please be mindful of our time constraints.  Mr. Mahliot will have first choice of the trees he reviews.  If there are more we will have a drawing for the order of presentation.

Full details are available at our Meetings Page

Our annual repotting meeting, usually held in April, will actually be held on March 27th, due to a scheduling conflict at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Bring trees, supplies, pots and other materials; the Society will provide unsifted Turface if you need potting medium.  Members will be available to help you repot if you aren't familiar with how to do it.

Hope to see you there!

As we continue to refine the programs for this year's meetings, we've updated our Calendar to reflect the currently scheduled programs at each meeting.  Interested in a topic that you don't see? Send us an email! http://www.midwestbonsai.org/meetings/

Mark your calendars! The 13th Annual Midwest Bonsai Society's May Exhibit returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden on May 20th and 21st, 9AM to 5PM.

We have the full details of all workshops and vendors available on our May Exhibition page.

See you at the exhibit!

Continuing for 2017, the Chicago Bonsai Club will reconvene the third Wednesday of each month, starting in March.

Join us at the Garfield Park Conservatory's Community Room, from 6PM to 8:30PM - bring your own tree to work with other Chicago-based Midwest Bonsai Society members.  The program is free!

The full schedule of meetings is available here.

Though we've recently had 1) chilling temps 2) multiple snow storms and 3) unseasonably warm weather - the MBS Board is making preparations for our 2017 Meetings! While the topics are still being finalized, our schedule is solidified - view it here, and make plans to attend!  Check back often as we develop our topics for each meeting, including Bonsai 101 - which helps new members with the basics of Bonsai care.

The annual Midwest Bonsai Society Holiday Party is Wednesday, December 7th, 2016.  The setup is at 5:00 pm, dinner at 6:00 pm.

Where: Takiff Center, Aiken Activity Room, 999 Green Bay Road, Glencoe, IL 60022.

More information on our page about the Holiday Pot Luck.  See you there!

After some scheduling changes for our last few meetings of 2016, the Society is happy to welcome Guest Master Andy Smith from South Dakota to our November meeting.

Please join us November 7th at 7PM at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  We're excited to have Andy speak and demonstrate on a tree.

For more on Andy's trees, please visit his website at http://www.goldenarrowbonsai.com/