2021 Update

We had a gazebo with display of bonsai at the Bovey Tracey Garden Club summer show at Parke View Meadow, Bovey Tracey on Sat 14 August 2021 and met lots of interested visitors.

Good news Members of SDBS
First of all thank you to all those who replied to our questionnaire, it was very helpful.

The Youth hall is now booked for the usual days, 1st Monday evening 7.30pm and 3rd Saturday morning 10.30am for the months September to November to see how the numbers and events work out.  Not December. We shall be having more workshops as decided by members at our first meeting in September.
Dates are:
Mon Sep 6 – trees needing advice re styling or condition.
Sat Sep 18 – workshop, bring a tree/trees and tools, help will be provided.
Mon Oct 4
Sat Oct 16
Mon Nov 1
Sat Nov 20 
We ask that everyone wear a mask, please.We shall not serve refreshments, if you wish you can bring your own.We shall have hand sanitiser available.Only 2 tables will be set up initially to give room for people to have personal space.Door and windows to be open where they can.If you have special concerns not covered here, please do what you need to protect yourself.
At least 50% of our members responded to the enquiry and all of those are willing to wear a mask. We have based the above advice on your responses.   
Please bring no more than 2 trees to the meetings until we know how the spacing works according to how many attend.It is possible only room for 1 tree each to be displayed, we shall have to play it by ear!  But we need the second tree available (keep in the car)  just in case we need more to fill the 2 hours. We shall need to adjust in several ways so please be patient and helpful, thank you.
We look forward to seeing you all again and anyone else interested in this fascinating hobby. If you have a tree needing advice—bring it along, but check our guidelines above first please.
Have a think about some subjects for the other weeks please

As usual our door entrance will be £1 per person, members and guests.

During Lockdown 2019-2021

Sadly during this extended period of lockdown and not being able to meet, two of our male members have passed away. We hope that in due course their wives will continue to meet with us. Our thoughts are with them in their loss.

September 2020: See the updated page on Airlayering—of an Amelanchier (snowy mespilus) as today the branch has rooted well and was detached from the tree and is now planted in the garden. It was not intended as a bonsai, but the technique could be used of course.

In 2019 we were contacted by the Head Gardener at Overbecks, a National Trust garden near Kingsbridge, South Devon, asking if we would like to take part in their forthcoming (2020) themed gardens on the Japanese way of growing. Of course we would! Happily Peter lives locally to them and he arranged a series of displays over a weekend or so. Here are two of the displays for April and May that he planned to do, but as you know C-19 took over and spoilt it. April’s was the superb bridging pot containing his raft hawthorn. May’s display was a collection of some bonsai pots by British potters. The June display would have been the accents, lovely to see.

Meanwhile Jim our Chairman has been pruning and caring for his trees and sent pics of three that we will never see at the club because they are too big to get in a car and too heavy to lift!
1. Trident maple from Ray Jacobs at the Plymouth show in 1998.
2. Japanese maple plaited trunk from Bill Coles a valuable old member who sadly passed away a number of years ago and was a great experimenter. You can see the trunk barely shows the plaited technique now, it was from at least 20 years ago, if not more.
3. Hawthorn collected by members for Jim on a very wet day about 25 years ago on a water board site with permission.

This is a repotting of an old field maple (Acer campestre) by Peter.
1. Hollow trunked. 2. Cut around edge to release from pot. 3. Out of the old pot.
4. Tease out the roots remove soil. 5. Remove extended roots. 6. Remove crossing roots.
7. Clean surface with water and soft brush. 8. New pot meshed and wired for tie in.
9. Check soil levels, I prefer to leave slightly lower to aid watering in summer.
10. Secure in pot with wires, if crossing large root add padding. 11. Add soil and grit mix. 12. Moss added with gaps for feeding. 13. Finished and displayed.