by George Buehler

As I sit here writing this message, the temperature is 95 degrees with a heat index of 104. My tropicals love this temperature and say 'bring it on', while some of the deciduous trees are saying 'where is that shade?" At this time of year I adjust my automatic watering system and cut back on the watering time at noon and added a short spritz at 5 PM to cool the soil (and more importantly the roots). On the plants that are hand watered, I make sure that I spray the pot to also cool it. The weatherman says that the temperature will cool down for the next couple of weeks, so I will readjust the watering timers to water thoroughly at noon. This routine seems to work well for my collection.

After seeing Midge Goeth's garden during the June garden tour, I decided it was time for me to do some changes to my display area. I contacted a landscape designer, and he came up with a plan. It will not be a traditional Japanese garden, but will have some of the design characteristics of a Japanese garden. I have to get approvals for the landscape changes from our home owners association and come up with the money to do the construction. The only thing I am not certain about is whether I want to have a water feature incorporated into the design. Of course, everyone realizes that this project along with Midge's garden project will be featured in a future article in this newsletter. So, as usual, more of this later!

Speaking of Midge, she convinced Tom McCurry to share his experiences with Azaleas in her monthly More Than Just Tofu column on page 6. This reminds me that we have members who have many years of experience and are more than willing to share their experiences. I am going to suggest to Midge that she start contacting these members to give us their ideas. Just think if we could put the experiences of Lee, Tom, Larry, Earl, and Kenny, to name a few, into a book. Wouldn't that be great reading? How about it Midge, are you up to it?

Have you gone to the GLBS web site recently? Our web master, John Callaway, will be making some changes in the coming months. If you want to help the GLBS financially, without costing you anything, see the information on page 2.

The September workshop will be on building stands. This should be a fun event. This workshop was held a number of years. ago and the stands built then were used to exhibit trees at the spring show. The stands you go home with are classic stands. Mark your calendar and plan to attend.

In the calendar of events, I have listed the Indianapolis Bonsai Exhibit starting on Sept. 23, running through Nov. 12. The Indianapolis club has their annual sale and workshops on Sept 23 and 24. They have trees exhibited through Nov. 12. Last year they had about 80 trees on exhibit. It is a trip well worth the gas costs if you want to see a large number of trees exhibited at one time.

I hope you have noticed that John Callaway has had articles in four newsletters. John took to heart my pleading for articles – and I thank you John. The articles have been basic informational articles on how he does things. His article on the area where he works on his trees got me thinking about the area where I work on my trees, and I realized that I was causing myself a lot of extra steps by not having all my bonsai necessities handy. I rearranged my area, built myself a wire caddy (to make it more convenient to wire trees), and put in more lighting. This is what I have been preaching for quite some time. We all do things differently, and we can all learn form different techniques. However, unless we share those techniques – through articles- how do we know that we are doing things not quite right? Send in those cards and letters folks.