Last Day to Register to Vote is May 18.
Sacramento club's annual event includes beginner workshop, guest artist demonstrations
This beauty was a featured tree at the 2023 show of the American Bonsai Association, Sacramento. This year's show happens this weekend, April 13-14, at the Shepard Center. Photo courtesy American Bonsai Association, Sacramento
Sacramento is about to become the “City of Little Trees.”
This weekend, April 13 and 14, the American Bonsai Association, Sacramento, will host its 64th annual Bonsai Show and Sale at Shepard Center in McKinley Park. Show hours are 10 a.m to 4 p.m each day. Admission and parking are free.
One of the country’s oldest bonsai clubs, ABAS dates back to 1958 – the same year the Shepard Garden and Arts Center was opened to the public. That’s seven years before Sunset published its first book on bonsai.
Since World War II, Sacramento has been at the center of bonsai interest in the United States. The nation’s oldest bonsai club is the Sacramento Bonsai Club, which was formed in 1946 by previously interned Japanese Americans. (Sacramento Bonsai hosts its 78th annual show on May 4.) Its meetings were originally held in Japanese.
ABAS was created to accommodate English-speaking garden enthusiasts who were interested in learning how to grow “little trees in pots.”
Its show is a celebration of this gardening art and sharing it with others. Live demonstrations will be held each day.
Special guest artist Tyler Sherrod of Dogwood Bonsai Studios in North Carolina will fashion a bonsai at 1:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. His finished demonstration trees will be raffle prizes. Trained in Japan, Sherrod is an internationally known bonsai artist and renowned teacher.
The ABAS show will feature scores of bonsai, some of them representing decades of growth and artistry. In addition, see a display of suiseki stones. Shaped by natural forces, suiseki stones inspire through their shapes, color and longevity; they often resemble mountains, islands, bridges, animals or other recognizable forms.
Also find bonsai supplies, pots and trees for sale at the club’s vendor and consignment tables.
Learn how to bonsai, too. A beginner workshop ($15) will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday and includes tree, pot, soil and instruction. Register via email to abasbonsaiclub@gmail.com.
Shepard Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, on the north end of McKinley Park.
Details: https://www.abasbonsai.org/.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Flowers in My Back Yard Series
May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens
May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend
April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look
April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower
April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact
April 7: Calendulas do double duty
April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come
March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)
March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots
March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums
March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come
March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy
Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?
Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come
Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers
Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses
Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden checklist for week of May 17
With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:
* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
Powered by California Local
