by Earl Ekman

On May 23rd, we will have our first beginner workshop for the year. It will take place on Tuesday at Bon Air Library from 7 PM until 9 PM. We plan on a large number of beginners at the workshop. Yew Dell is planning on 2,000 people at the opening weekend and plant sale, and we plan on every one of them visiting our show at the Castle in Yew Dell. Based on this turnout, we expect a large sign up for our workshop. Hopefully, all our members will be at Bon Air on the 23rd to help with the training. We will need lots of help.

This year's garden tour is planned for Saturday, June 10th. The club will be visiting the gardens of Midge Goeth, Tom McCurry, and Earl Ekman. The picnic, sale, and auction will be at the home of Earl & Sandy Ekman, the last stop on this wonderful tour. The tour will start at 2 PM at Midge's Garden. At 3 PM, we will proceed to Tommy & Helen McCurry's garden, and at 4 PM take off for Earl and Sandy's Home. Sandy and I have a new Koi pond, and hopefully it will have some nice Koi in it by this date.

Please bring a vegetable or salad dish and a desert. The club will furnish a meat dish, paper plates, utensils, napkins, chips, and drinks. If you think of it, please bring a folding chair. There will also be a sale of trees for members who want to sell or trade and an auction of items if you want to donate something to the club. Don't miss this date as it is one of the highlights of the year.

April was a great month for all us bonsai people. It was a lot of fun digging trees at Tommy McCurry's, and the Demo/workshop put on by Matt Ouwinga was terrific. He styled a Scott's Pine and a Trident Maple and proved to be a very talented and knowledgeable bonsai master. I hope we can have him back in the near future.

Once again I would like to thank George Buehler for this fantastic newsletter. His articles in last month's issue were extremely helpful. His article on mistakes I've made along the way made me think about the things I've done and vowed not to do again. His timing was good since this is the season we are making a lot of these same mistakes. I really like his article on bonsai tips. The tips are great reminders on things we should be doing. Thanks again George.

The club has a lot of pots acquired from a past member, and they are for sale to the members. There is a list of items, description, and price listed on page XX of this issue. If you are interested, call our treasurer, Tommy McCurry.

I have finalized a design for our 35th year logo. The design voted the favorite was submitted by Linda Kossmann. She is making some minor changes, and we will be printing up some shirts for club members to purchase.

I am going to get some costs on making up logo pins for the club. Will let you know what I find out.

Best Regards - Earl