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President’s Letter for October 2022

As a Board, we are winding down on 2022 but also gearing up for a great 2023.

There are three meetings remaining in the year, with Jennifer Price kicking off the series with a penjing planting on a marble slab on October 5^th.  Jennifer, in her role as Programs Director, is also in the process of lining up an interesting speaker for the November meeting.  And finally, we plan a casual and fun meeting with our friends and colleagues in bonsai at the Christmas Party on December 7^th.

At the same time, the Board of Directors is beginning to plan ahead for 2023. 

We will kick off the year with a silhouette show at Cantigny in February (date not yet set), as we did this year, but with a little twist.  We intend to allow some coniferous trees in the silhouette show, not only deciduous trees.  We want to display their structure as well, so we will need to plan ahead to keep those trees in a bit more accessible location when we put them away for winter storage. 

We will also be having our usual big events later in the year, with the Society’s picnic at Cantigny on June 25^th, and participating in the Morton Arboretum’s Destination Asia Festival with our show in the Sycamore Room, currently scheduled for August 4-6.  Nick DiBattista, your Special Events Director, is currently working to hire our guest judge for the August show. 

Working on these events is critical to spreading the word about our club and getting more people involved in bonsai.  We will be in the pavilion just inside the entrance at Cantigny for the 2023 picnic, which gets a great amount of foot traffic, giving a number of other park visitors that day an opportunity to enjoy our trees displayed at that event, to watch a bonsai demonstration, and to inquire about membership.  The events at Morton in August also generate potential new members.

This is also a great time for each club member to choose to become more involved in the workings of PSBS.  Each of these special projects is a huge job, and we always need many volunteers to step up and share the responsibilities to make these events a success.  If you are inclined to work on these events, seek out Nick at any meeting, or call him at 630-479-2112.  I can guarantee that you will have fun doing so!

Also, if you have ideas for topics you would like to see addressed at the meetings in 2023, let us know.  The reason for the club is to be responsive to your needs and to give the members good and useful information.  In recent months, we talked about topics ranging from rock plantings to muck.  If you have a topic you want to see addressed, either as a Bonsai 101 or as the evening’s main event, please shoot me an email at psbspresident@gmail.com, and we will try to address it. 

Thanks to all the many volunteers who have made 2022 a successful year, and I am looking forward to seeing you all at events as we prepare for an even greater 2023.

Craig