This Saturday and Sunday May 14th and 15th, the 16th Annual May Bonsai Show returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Open from 9AM to 5PM each day, vendors from around the Midwest will have items for sale to help you restock your supplies that may have dwindled these past few years. Demonstrations will teach about the art. Seats are still available for some of our Workshops. More information is available on our dedicated webpage for the May Show.
Focusing on trees in development, the May Show looks to educate the public about the art of bonsai - and to do that we need your trees! Tree registration is Friday May 13th between noon and 6:30PM - speed-up the process by preregistering your tree via our online form, available at the bottom of the May Show page. While you are there, make sure you read the important information about preparing your trees for the show.
We hope to see you, and your trees, this weekend!
Read MoreMay 2nd is our next General Society meeting at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
7:00 PM, Bonsai 101 Program: “Wire and Wiring Techniques” presented by Victor Zurczak.
7:30 PM, General Program: Choice of two hands-on Workshops. Either “Preparing your trees for May show” or “Work on your own tree, not in May show”. Victor and other senior members will be available to answer questions and assistance.
More information is available on our Meetings page. We hope to see you there!
Read MoreOur April General Meeting is shaping up to be a great one. Come join us April 4th at 7PM for our exciting programming. More information can be found at our Meetings page.
Location: Chicago Botanic Garden Regenstein Center Burnstein Hall
Bonsai 101 Program: Soil and Pot Preparation presented by Victor Zurczak
General Program: Root over Rock Planting workshop by Victor Zurczak. Come to just observe or create your own tree. BC Bonsai will have trees, rocks, muck, soil and pots available for $50.00 and Victor will guide us through the process. Please feel free to bring your own tree and material to create a root over rock or any tree from your collection to work on and get advice from Victor or other experienced members.
Read MoreAs we begin nearing the growing season, our March General Meeting program, to be held March 7th between 7 and 9PM, has been announced! Our Bonsai 101 program will focus on a general approach to bonsai - a program certain to help both new and seasoned bonsai practioners. After that program, we will transition into a Mame workshop put on by BC Bonsai. Materials costs will vary between $30 and $50 for this workshop, depending on the pot and plant selected.
Further details available on our Meetings page.
Hope to see you there!
Read MoreDon’t forget that we have a help line service that you can access by emailing us at midwest.bonsai@yahoo.com One of our senior members will answer your questions and/or offer suggestions. We have coupled this with a new blog feature where we publish these questions and responses for all members to view. To see previously answered questions, navigate to Bonsai Helpline.
Read MoreOur first General Meeting of 2022 will be on Monday February 7th at 7PM at the Regenstein Center at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Our Bonsai 101 Program will be on tools for the Bonsai Workshop presented by Victor Zurczak. The General Program will be on sharpening bonsai tools by Jim Beck. Learn about sharpening tools and bring in a tool for Jim to sharpen.
Read MoreA reminder that our Holiday Pot Luck dinner is Monday December 6th at the Heller Nature Center, 2821 Ridge Road, Highland Park. We will start setting up at 5PM. Plan on dinner for 6PM. Bring a dish for the pot luck if you can. If you cannot bring a disk come anyway! There will be plenty of food. Also, bring a White Elephant item you wish to donate to the raffle. The Nature Center is a great venue. They have lots of electrical outlets if you are bringing a hot dish. See you there!
Heller Nature Center 2821 Ridge Road Highland Park, IL, 60035
Read MoreFollowing-up on the announcement within our newsletter and email this month, the October General Meeting will be held tomorrow, October 4th, to accommodate our guest artist.
The program will start at 7PM in the Pullman Room at the Regenstein Center with a Bonsai 101 session by Linda Camp on keeping Tropical Plants Alive during the Winter. At 7:30 the program will switch to a presentation by our guest artist, David Kreutz on Satsuki Azaleas. David comes to us from Satsuma Bonsai-en in Metro St. Louis.
The presentation will be live in person, and a WebEx will also be sent out to active members who wish to attend remotely.
Hope to see you there!
Read MoreExcited for Mike Lane’s presentation at our General Meeting, tonight, August 30th, between 7 and 9PM at the Chicago Botanic Garden. MBS Members can also join via WebEx!
Read MorePlanning to show a tree in this weekend’s 43rd Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition? Pre-register your tree using our easy-to-use online form, and bring it to the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Regenstein Center tomorrow, August 19th, between 3-7PM.
There is no fee to enter a tree, nor any residency or membership requirements - the Exhibition is open to all!
More details on the registration process, including key information about watering and the ban on Boxwoods at the Chicago Botanic Garden, is available on our page dedicated to this year’s Exhibition.
We’re looking forward to seeing your trees this weekend!
Read MoreOne week away, the 43rd Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition opens August 20th at Noon.
If you haven’t yet reviewed our webpage dedicated to the Exhibition, the full schedule of events, list of vendors, workshop sign-up links, volunteer schedule, and tree registration are all available there!
Reminder: If you are interested in displaying your tree, please use our on-line form to pre-register your tree before bringing it to tree registration on Thursday August 19th between 3PM and 7PM.
Read MoreIf you haven’t yet checked our webpage dedicated to our August Exhibition, all details are now live, including Workshop schedules and signup links, details about our Guest Master, schedule of demonstrations, full list of our Vendors, and other pertinent details, as well as our online tree registration form.
The Exhibition is open Friday August 20th between 12-5PM, Saturday August 21st between 9AM-5PM and Sunday August 22nd between 9AM-5PM, at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, IL.
We hope to see you there!
Read MoreTomorrow, Monday August 2nd, the General Meeting of the Midwest Bonsai Society will be held at The Chicago Botanic Garden, in Burnstein Hall - our first in-person meeting since the Fall of 2019.
Join us for an interesting program:
7:00PM - Bonsai 101 - 5 Wire Tie-down presented by Robert Wright
7:30PM - Accent Plants presented by Linda Camp
We hope to see you there!
Read MoreJune 26th Bonsai Event - It's on, Rain or Shine! Our dedicated page has full details on the event.
Don’t let a little precipitation discourage you from coming. We are able to locate our tent on a paved surface, so we should not be bothered by the rain. In fact, the forecast suggests rain early and late, with many rain free hours during our event time.
Time: 10AM to 4PM
Location: 1708 Ashton Court, Wheaton, IL
Read MoreHot off the presses! The Midwest Bonsai Society Board has heard, positively, from the Chicago Botanic Garden, that Horticultural Society Events will once again resume this August. That means the 43rd Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibit is on! Mark your calendar for August 20-22!
Read MoreIt’s on! While the Chicago Botanic Garden is not yet holding events for horticultural societies (such as the Midwest Bonsai Society), we will be holding a small “June Bonsai Event” this year at an outdoor location in Wheaton, IL.
Mark your calendars! June 26th, 10AM to 4PM.
Vendors will be selling their wares, a few members will be selling trees from their personal collections, BC Bonsai will have a workshop, and overall, this is an event to get us all meeting again.
Full details are on our page dedicated to the event - June 2021 Event
Read MoreNearly a year has passed since COVID-19 began affecting all our lives. While the Society’s Board has met regularly throughout the pandemic, we’re starting to see the fruits of our labors in changing our programming and methods to reach our members in this new time.
Read MoreLaunched a few months ago, our senior members are available to answer questions you may have about caring for and maintaining your bonsai trees.
Struggling with how much fertilizer to give your tree? Are you concerned about how to take care of your tree in the winter? Does your prized tree look sick? Simply email us at midwest.bonsai@yahoo.com and one of your members will get back to you.
Look to our site for previously answered questions. You’ll find them at Bonsai Helpline.
Read MoreIn the late fall we received a question from a Chicago Botanic Garden patron who was planning-ahead to taking care of their first bonsai, a Juniper tree, in the winter. After researching online, they asked questions about watering, fertilizing the tree, and where to keep the tree over the winter.
Answer:
Welcome to the Bonsai community.
It sounds like you've gotten some good advice so far. You are correct to water whenever the soil feels dry right up until temperatures stay below freezing, at that point the plant will dramatically slow down its water intake. Watch the temperatures outside for long periods above freezing where the plant may begin taking up water again and could need a watering.
Outside in a cooler as you described is a fine way to keep your tree over winter. The only things I would add are to bury the pot fully in the straw, up to the lowest branch of the tree to reduce possible evaporation from the soil, and to ensure the cooler has an open drain so it will not fill with water and potentially drown the tree. Junipers will actually benefit from receiving some light over the cold months, so a spot with some sun would be best, and by all means, let the rain and snow fall naturally on it.
As for fertilization, once a month with miracle grow mixed for houseplants will do fine. There's no need to fertilize over the winter, however, as the plant will not take up any nutrients during dormancy. April is probably the best time to start feeding again.
Read MoreThis past fall we received a question about over-wintering a Satsuki Azalea. Writing in about a tree they received in the spring, after keeping the tree outside all summer, the writer noticed that the tree was starting to have yellowing leaves, and some were becoming dry. They weren’t sure how to take care of the tree over the winter in Chicagoland.
Answer:
Azaleas require a wintering period, but are not as cold hardy as we would like around here. It is important to try not to let the root ball freeze, while still giving the plant the cooler temps it needs to lignify and set buds. Azaleas like winter temps between 33 and 40 degrees. The best solution I have been given would be an attached, but unheated garage with a small grow light for the plant. (Apparently they will weaken if kept in full darkness) I would put the pot in a box and surround it with styrofoam peanuts or something else to buffer any sudden temperature swings and check it occasionally to see that the soil stays moist.
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