Bonsai club founded in 1981, in Santa Rosa, CA. Dedicated to learning and promoting the living art of bonsai. Visit our website to discover more about the club.
During the Sonoma County Home & Garden Show, Sonoma Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, March 15, 16 and 17, 2019, Art Kopecky led a group of volunteer REBS members in setting up and displaying bonsai. Club information brochures and the annual REBS August bonsai show postcards were handed out to promote club membership and attendance at the annual show.
During the recent Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 35th Annual Bonsai Show, August 25 and 26, 2018, held at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, Master Bonsai Artist and Club Sensei Kathy Shaner performed two demonstrations – a collected Sierra juniper on Saturday and a Procumbens juniper on Sunday, from 1 to 3:30 p.m.
Let’s look more closely at the Sunday’s performance on the Procumbens juniper (also known as Japanese Garden juniper or Common juniper).
The demo tree was a healthy green and full of foliage. There were several primary branches. Kathy first dug into the surface soil to discover the nebari girth (strength of the surface roots and trunk base). She removed some of the length in the foliage to give a better look at the movement of the trunk.
By removing the dense foliage, one could see the strength and interesting movement of the trunk.
Kathy cautioned about removing too much of the foliage in the initial styling. Here the apex appears as a rounded mass of foliage at the top. The primary side branch is left alone for the time being to protect the health of the tree.
After a bit more styling, it is time to raffle the tree. Kathy and Raffle Chair Wayne Culp build on the excitement in selecting the winning raffle ticket.
Club member Jim Scholz was rewarded for buying the raffle tickets by adding the Procumbens juniper to his bonsai collection.
Congratulations, Jim.
During the recent Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 35th Annual Bonsai Show, August 25 and 26, 2018, held at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, the San Francisco Suiseki Kai displayed an impressive suiseki (viewing stones) exhibition. Two long rows of viewing stones were on display within the great exhibition hall. The viewing stones were collected from Northern California and Japan. My favorite display was that of a beautiful Japanese Chrysanthemum stone by Hideko Metaxas.
The Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, California, celebrated its 64th annual teriyaki BBQ and bazaar on Sunday, July 8, 2018, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with their delicious teriyaki BBQ chicken dinner plate, bonsai display, exhibits, plant sales, handicrafts, and raffle. There were performances on the outdoor stage of taiko drums, martial arts, folk dance and music, flute and guitar music. More than 3,000 chicken dinner plates were purchased by the visitors in attendance and take out crowd. The bonsai display was set up by Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS) members Art Kopecky with the help of Wayne Culp, Chris Garret, George Haas, Jim McGlashan, Michael Murtaugh, Janet Price, and Mary Alice Wilson. A variety of bonsai species were on display. REBS brochures and postcards for the 35th Annual Bonsai Show were handed out generously to the visitors. REBS members demonstrated bonsai techniques by working on individual bonsai.
Michael Murtaugh working on pruning and thinning a Chinese elm bonsai.
Jim McClashan pruning a Procumbens 
juniper.
The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS) of Santa Rosa, California, cordially invites you to join us to celebrate the 35th year for the exhibition of Japanese living art of bonsai held on August 25 and 26, 2018. The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society was founded in 1981 by a small group of bonsai enthusiasts in Sonoma County. The first exhibition may have been the displaying of 45 bonsai but has since grown to more than 200. We have been displaying bonsai at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Ave., in Santa Rosa, now for 35 years. The exhibition is the largest in the US of its kind. Our mission is to teach and promote the living art of bonsai. Our Sensei Kathy Shaner has been involved in bonsai for over 30 years. She was trained in Japan under the apprenticeship of Bonsai Master Yasuo Mitsuya and became the first woman and non-Japanese citizen to be certified by the Nippon Bonsai Association as a professional bonsai artist and instructor. The exhibition will be open on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Demonstrations by Kathy Shaner will be held from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., both days.