Calgary Bonsai Society

Hi my name is Eric, I have been on a 5-6 year hiatus from bonsai from when I moved from s'toon to Calgary alot of collection died. We are building another home in cranston with some nice locations in the house where the Mrs. said a bonsai would be nice.... So I did some research and found there's no Bonsai community in Calgary. I thought what the hey I can start a forum and see what happens. Look forward to chatting with you folks.

Eric

there are people in town that are into bonsai.
the main problem here is that no one has actually carried the materials,
so it has gone by the wayside.
I hope to remadie this by bringing in pots, tools, wire, and any trees that i can reasonably
get. I work at Garden Retreat it is at 201-60th ave sw across from Chinook Mall

Feel free to drop in, I work tuesday-saterday, 9-5
TTFN Scott

Hello Eric, Scott and any lurkers that haven't registered yet;

To introduce myself, I have been into bonsai for the past twenty five years or more with not a lot of enduring success. I did have the start of a respectable collection several years ago but was away for work over the summer and had to leave their care up to my daughters who weren't too good at getting the watering, etc. right and I lost most of my trees either that summer or over the following winter.

I do have a few trees that I would still classify as 'twigsai' and a few others that will likely be ready for their first styling this spring and I'm hoping to get out to K Country on a collecting trip this spring as well so with any luck and a lot of work I may have something worth displaying in the near future. Nothing like some of the trees in my old collection but...

Anyway, looking forward to chatting with you folk further in the near future. Hear's hoping this thing can take off and we actually get an active bonsai club in Calgary again. It would be nice after going it alone all this time.

Regards
Fletch

scottstoner wrote:there are people in town that are into bonsai.
the main problem here is that no one has actually carried the materials,
so it has gone by the wayside.
I hope to remadie this by bringing in pots, tools, wire, and any trees that i can reasonably
get. I work at Garden Retreat it is at 201-60th ave sw across from Chinook Mall

Feel free to drop in, I work tuesday-saterday, 9-5
TTFN Scott

Scott Welcome!!! I will come in and see you... can you get trees??? I'm looking for some mature specimens

fletch wrote:Hello Eric, Scott and any lurkers that haven't registered yet;

To introduce myself, I have been into bonsai for the past twenty five years or more with not a lot of enduring success. I did have the start of a respectable collection several years ago but was away for work over the summer and had to leave their care up to my daughters who weren't too good at getting the watering, etc. right and I lost most of my trees either that summer or over the following winter.

I do have a few trees that I would still classify as 'twigsai' and a few others that will likely be ready for their first styling this spring and I'm hoping to get out to K Country on a collecting trip this spring as well so with any luck and a lot of work I may have something worth displaying in the near future. Nothing like some of the trees in my old collection but...

Anyway, looking forward to chatting with you folk further in the near future. Hear's hoping this thing can take off and we actually get an active bonsai club in Calgary again. It would be nice after going it alone all this time.

Regards
Fletch

Fletch Welcome!!

It is good to see a member with years of experience. You are going to collect some trees...hhhhhmmmm keep us posted I'd love to find a "wild" bonsai .

Hello, My name is Fred and I have been doing bonsai here in Calgary since I retired, about 2002 I, too, have wanted to find a community of people to share this hobby/obsession, but the finding has been difficult. A few years there was a bonsai club here in Calgary, but it folded about the time I started. My first bonsai was one given to me about twelve years ago as either a Christmas or a birthday present - a juniperus chinensis, done in a very chinese style cascade. While I was away working outside the country it went through a variety of caregivers and finally died. I now have quite a few trees but few of them even come close to being real bonsai. One of the difficulties has been a lack of knowledgable people to learn from or consult with. Consequently, my learning has been by reading and killing trees. Fewer are dying now - I have learned how to care for them in winter and how to water, though bugs still catch me by surprise.

I am going to the Northwest Bonsai Convention in Victoria the first week in October this year and have signed up for workshops there. For anyone interested, this is a great way to learn and get some trees that are going to be good bonsai.

Recent contact with Fletch and a couple of other people has helped me find some soil ingredients I had not been able to get locally. I, too, hope someone locally starts getting bonsai material here,

I look forward to getting together some day with others interested. And I, too, would like to consider the collecting trip Fletch was thinking of putting together.

Elf

Elf wrote:Hello, My name is Fred and I have been doing bonsai here in Calgary since I retired, about 2002 I, too, have wanted to find a community of people to share this hobby/obsession, but the finding has been difficult. A few years there was a bonsai club here in Calgary, but it folded about the time I started. My first bonsai was one given to me about twelve years ago as either a Christmas or a birthday present - a juniperus chinensis, done in a very chinese style cascade. While I was away working outside the country it went through a variety of caregivers and finally died. I now have quite a few trees but few of them even come close to being real bonsai. One of the difficulties has been a lack of knowledgable people to learn from or consult with. Consequently, my learning has been by reading and killing trees. Fewer are dying now - I have learned how to care for them in winter and how to water, though bugs still catch me by surprise.

I am going to the Northwest Bonsai Convention in Victoria the first week in October this year and have signed up for workshops there. For anyone interested, this is a great way to learn and get some trees that are going to be good bonsai.

Recent contact with Fletch and a couple of other people has helped me find some soil ingredients I had not been able to get locally. I, too, hope someone locally starts getting bonsai material here,

I look forward to getting together some day with others interested. And I, too, would like to consider the collecting trip Fletch was thinking of putting together.

Elf

Fred, Welcome here it's great you can be part of the community. Speaking of community as the weather gets nicer we'll definitely organize a "huntin trip". If you need any supplies scott stoner on here, he works at garden retreat. They are a joshua roth dealer and pots pots pots lots there! plus Scott has a wealth of knowledge regarding trees where to feed wild trees in the city also. It is well worth the drive down to garden retreat (across from chinook)

Eric

Hi Everybody,

My name is Jeremy and I have been growing trees in pots for about 3.5 years. I have talked to Mike (Fletch) on BonsaiTalk in the past and he has been a good help.

I wouldn't say that any of my trees are bonsai although some are closer than others. Like Elf, I've read a lot on bonsai (everything at library twice). To all those who were on the Public Library's waiting list for Vertree's JM book, "I'm sorry". Study and practice are pretty different, however, particularly in Calgary.

I would like to start collecting native trees but I don't know where it is legal to do so.

I've killed about 9 trees in the last three years. I have 7 right now (I live in an apartment downtown so that's about all I can manage). I grow mostly traditional (oriental) trees: 2 JMs (1 Deshojo and 1 Palmatum palmatum), 1 Chinese Elm, 2 Shimps, 1 Black Pine, and a Euonymus that is still in dirt at my folks place. Growing the non-zone hardy trees has been challenging but fun. I have found a nice way to handle the JMs through the winter (it works well but it ain't cheap).

My biggest problem is I am afraid to experiment on my trees for fear of killing them. This has resulted in a lack of practical knowledge. I periodically take risks and try my hand at pruning and wiring. The results are usually not very good (but I haven't killed any trees yet from these procedures). My wiring looks nothing like how it's supposed to, and when I prune, the dormant buds I hope to awaken, never seem to.

Still, I'm trying.

When I first started I thought that getting my trees to that "finished" state was the whole purpose of doing bonsai, but the more I get into this, the more I find that I just like growing trees. It's satisfying to watch my JMs wake up after the winter and to see how quickly my Elm responds to pruning. It's just cool to witness life in a simple and uncomplicated way.

It would be nice to talk to other people that are interested in this very challenging and satisfying art form.

Hey there,

My name is Chad and I'm new to both Calgary and bonsai. I stumbled on to this site while looking to get into the hobby and research for some books and internet sites to help me get started.

I see the forum has been a little quiet since the new year, but perhaps two new members in quick succession will help spark some traffic!

Hey Guys, Sorry I haven't been plugged in I've been in the middle of a move within calgary. Chad and Jeremy thanks for joining and welcome to the club. Small at the moment, As time goes on it will grow and bigger and bigger. Looking forward to chats with you folks on here.