2025 Meetings and Events

In general, when the meeting place availability and meeting content allows, the time from 1:00-2:00 pm will be available for informal conversation, tree advice, and sharing. The formal meeting will be from 2:00 - 4:00 pm. Guests wishing to try out a meeting are welcome but are asked to please let the club know at least one week in advance by emailing blueridgebonsaisociety@gmail.com.

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2025 Upcoming Meetings

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April 13:  The North Carolina Arboretum (Education Center Classroom)

• 1:00 - 2:30

  • Bonsai artist Frank McDermott from Rustling Leaf Bonsai will be building a lace bark elm forest on a granite slab with approximately 30-50 trees.  He will be using muck that he makes himself and and will demonstrate  techniques of tree placement by size, how to work the roots, how to apply moss and multiple other components it takes to create a slab forest. The trees he  will be using were collected 2 years ago and trained just for this purpose.  This slab planting will be donated to the club when finished.

  •  In addition, Frank is offering kits for members to pre-order and take home to construct their own Lace Bark Elm slab forest. The cost will be $100/kit for club members and will consist of 12-14 trees of various sizes, 1 granite slab (5-9 inches in various shapes), 1 bag of muck, and 1 bag of moss and will be delivered at the meeting.  To pre-order kits, contact Frank McDermott at Rustlingleafbonsai@gmail.com .  He will accept pre-payment via Venmo or PayPal.​​​

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• 2:30 - 4:00

  • Bring a tree for sharing/advice or to work on​

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April TBD:  Field trip to the bonsai garden and studio of John Geanangel near Columbia, SC.  John is a highly accomplished bonsai professional widely recognized for his expertise in collecting and developing Bald Cypress bonsai and for his creative approach to bonsai in general. John is a wonderful teacher and will offer club members a demonstration/program.  In addition to viewing his beautiful and innovative bonsai displays, members will also be able to purchase trees at all levels of development and  browse a large assortment of rocks and slabs for plantings.  More details to come.

 

May 10 & 11:  The North Carolina Arboretum (Bonsai Garden Pavilion)

• 10:00 - 5:00 at the Bonsai Pavilion

  • A celebration of World Bonsai Day by the Club Members through informative bonsai discussion and several working demos (styling, pruning, wiring) with different trees, to share our knowledge and passion with the appreciative visitors to the Bonsai Pavilion. This is a very fun weekend for all.

• Open to the Public and Club Members

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June 7-8:  2025 BRBS Bonsai Exhibition at the NC Arboretum

• 10:00 - 5:00 each day

  • See more information of this exciting event on the right hand side of this page

• Open to the Public and Club Members

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2025 Completed Meetings

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January 12:  Asheville Botanical Gardens

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• This meeting was canceled due to the winter storm

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February 9:  The North Carolina Arboretum (Education Center Classroom)

• 1:00 - 2:30: 

  • Bring a tree to share or work on

• 2:30 - 4:00

  • Member led discussion by Jonas Johnson on Black Pines. Jonas will discuss and highlight the unique characteristics of this species and when it comes time for pruning, wiring and de-candling. Black Pines have a slightly different timetable of care than most bonsai.

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February 15:  Spartanburg, SC area

• A field trip to Greg & Candy Hinson’s farm for tree harvesting. There were a variety of trees to harvest from the ground and Greg spent time with each person going over the trees’ different characteristics for selection. The Hinsons  generously provided a lunch, drinks and cookies!

• Two(2) lucky people attended after a ticket purchasing raffle at the January 9th meeting.

• The even was only for current Club Members, so be sure to join to have your chance next year!

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 SHOWN - Collected Chalk Maple

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March 9:  The North Carolina Arboretum (Education Center Auditorium)

• 1:30 - 4:00:  The Arboretum’s renowned bonsai curator Arthur Joura, hosted his Spring discussion/ demonstration while he styles a tree. Arthur has decades of experience and he generously shared it with us in this working demo format.

  • Demo Title: Resurrection of the "Chase Grove

  • In 1997 the Arboretum received a donation of a bonsai tray landscape featuring Dwarf Hinoki Falsecypress. The donation came from a well-known bonsai artist in Pennsylvania named Chase Rosade. This large and popular planting was often on display in the bonsai garden, until 2021 when it was taken off display because the unique fabricated container in which it was planted began to crumble. A new container has been made and now it's time to rebuild the landscape and get it back on display.

• The event was open to the Public and Club Members

 

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