Welcome!

3 December 2019 Annual Planning Meeting:
We had a very productive Annual Planning Meeting again this year; thanks to Mr. White for heading this up! We have a lot of exciting events planned for this up-coming year, in 2020. Thanks to all who attended and participated.

• Members, please don't forget to plan on submitting your annual Membership Form and Dues, either at one of our up-coming meetings, or via USPS. Thank you! Annual Membership forms help us to ensure your contact information is current for communications.

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14 November 2019 Holiday Dinner:
We had a great time at our annual holiday dinner this year! Lots of fun, gifts, food, and fantastic fellowship. Thanks to all of our officers for all your work putting this great event together again this year, and for making it so much fun for all!

• Members, please don't forget to attend our next annual planning meeting, to help us make next year another exciting success!

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• Bonsai Calendar: When to work on your Bonsai trees (Website)
  Bonsai Empire
  This is a great website, especially for new members.
  

  Visit site...
• Flowers on Pine Candles... Leave alone? Take off? (Article)
  "The first. Best to leave them alone. It's true that flowering weakens a tree a bit. But pine candles are also quite delicate when growing..." (Michael Hagedorn, Crataegus Bonsai, MAY 2016)
  

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• Schefflera, "The Indestructable Bonsai" (Article)
  "Schefflera and Brassaia are two related species of plants both commonly called 'Schefflera'. They are found in nearly every nursery and garden center's indoor foliage area or in the terrarium plant section..." (Jerry Meislik, APR 2016)
  

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• Pines: Big Difference Between 'Decandling' and 'Breaking' Pine Shoots (Article)
  "There's a storm of confusion around these two techniques, and it's one of those things we don't want to get wrong. Pines take a couple years to get back on track, once off track, and so they make us look at our mistakes for a long time..." (Michael Hagedorn, Crataegus Bonsai, APR 2016)
  

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• Juniper Styling Tips: Pinching vs Cutting - Which is Best? (Article)
  "Pinching or cutting your juniper foliage and needles. Which one is the better method? Traditionally, the technique for pushing back growth in junipers was to pinch the needle tips of the juniper foliage. By doing so, it would push the foliage back so that the branch would not get as long..." (Eastern Leaf, DEC 2015)
  

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• What is a 'Money Tree' Plant? (Article)
  "The Money Tree (Pachira aquatica) is a plant that has many legends and beliefs originating from China. Although there are many tales and stories as to its beginnings, the most common story is that a truck driver in Taiwan had decided to braid the trunks of five small trees in a single pot. A more legendary tale floats around of a very poor farmer who was very down on his luck and spirit. One day, he found a very curious looking plant with braided trunks..." (Eastern Leaf, DEC 2015)
  

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• Dormancy and Dropping of Leaves (Article)
  "Fall has just started and the weather may be cooling down in your area. For all trees, the decrease in temperature and season change will start to affect your bonsai tree..." (Eastern Leaf, OCT 2015)
  

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• Repotting: Common Pitfalls (Article)
  "Repotting season is a conflicting time for most bonsai enthusiasts. For some, it's a happy time since some are finally able to pot their finished tree into a bonsai pot. For others, it's doing routine maintenance to ensure the health of the tree..." (Eastern Leaf, OCT 2015)
  

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• How to Repot a Bonsai (Video)
  "Repotting your tree is one of the most important things you can do for your bonsai tree..." (Eastern Leaf, OCT 2015)
  

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• Preparing your Bonsai Pot (Article)
  "Preparing your pot is an essential step to repotting your tree. In this tutorial, we'll go over the steps to properly prepare your pot for a new tree..." (Jason Chan, Eastern Leaf, OCT 2015)
  

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• Two Watering Tips for your Bonsai Trees to Beat the Heat (Article)
  "1. Water your tree more than once a day...
  2. When you water your tree, make a few passes at it..." (Eastern Leaf, AUG 2015)
  

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• Clip and Grow Method: Developing a Pad Layer (Article)
  "The clip and grow method is a great way to familiarize yourself with the growth patterns of your tree. For beginners, it's also a great method to train your tree without needing to apply wire to your tree..." (Eastern Leaf, AUG 2015)
  

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• Developing Branches on a Black Pine (Article)
  "To develop ramifications on your black pine bonsai tree you often have to deal with leggy growth..." (Eastern Leaf, JUL 2015)
  

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• Wiring a Bonsai Branch (Video)
  "Wiring is one of the essential techniques for working with your bonsai tree..." (Eastern Leaf, JUL 2015)
  

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• Fertilizing Mistakes - Black Pines (Article)
  "The most common issue ... is when new enthusiasts fertilize improperly. E.g. when a tree looks sick or weak, fertilizing it too heavy in hopes that the extra food will save it. Most often this causes the complete opposite result." (Eastern Leaf, JUL 2015)
  

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• Eastern Leaf Knowledge Center (Resource)
  A resource-center of popular articles on tips, techniques, and methods for caring for your trees... (Eastern Leaf, 2016)
  

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• Bonsai: (Pronounced 'bone-sigh') The art of growing trees in trays or pots. Derived from 'bon', meaning 'tray' and 'sai', meaning 'tree' (Pessey & Samson, 1992, "Bonsai Basics", p16).
• Besaki: Beautiful Stone; used in formal display. Viewing Stones offer a story and serve as companions to the Bonsai in formal display.
• Jin: Deadwood branch.
• Kusamono: Companion Plant; used in formal display.
• Mycorrhizal: Fungal associations between plant roots and beneficial fungi. The fungi effectively extend the root area of plants and are extremely important to most plants. Original soil contains this beneificial fungi close to the roots; care should be taken whe repotting, to maintain a good portion of this resource.
• Nebari: Exposed surface roots, located at the base of the tree.
• Ramification: The training and development of secondary branch structure from the main branches by regular pruning, encouraging thick foliage and pad-development.
• Schefflera: The 'Indestructable Bonsai'. A popular in-door/tropical species of tree used in Bonsai. 'Dwarf' variety of the full-sized Brassaia.
• Shari: Deadwood on trunk.
• Suiseki: Companion Stone; used in formal display. Note, the word 'stone' is used in Bonsai terminology; not 'rock'.
• Yamadori: Wild trees collected for training as Bonsai.

• Japanese Bonsai Terms, from 'Bonsai4me'...
• Bonsai Terms, from 'Bonsai Experience'...
• Bonsai Quick-Reference Guide, from 'Bonsai Empire'...

• Calendar of Events Page

• Additional Boise Air Terminal weather info...