Guest Artist: John Romano.

We welcome John Romano back to our club. John visited us last year for a presentation on Shohin and a workshop. John is a great guy and is a regular instructor at New England Bonsai.

Our June meeting is a two-part program.

NOTE: THIS WORKSHOP IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT

A full day of activities! We are so pleased to welcome John back for this very special day. Here’s the schedule for the day:

9:30 Early arrival for Workshop Participants
10:00 Workshop (SOLD OUT)
12:00 (Approximately) Lunch – On your own
1:00 Creating Shohin Bonsai (See below for details)
We will try to wrap up before or by 4:00 and could use help cleaning up.

Morning Session: 10 am (arrive by 9:30) – 12:30 pm

In our morning session John will instruct a group of participants in the initial styling of Japanese red pine in literati style. He has sourced for us some excellent 15 to 20-year-old seed grown Japanese red pines. They are 24 to 36 inches tall and thin trunked, perfect for literati design. In the morning, there will be a workshop to do the initial styling in a literati style.

This is superior material and the cost of the workshop is $175 for dues paid members. This includes the tree and expert one-on-one instruction in a very small group setting. Other members are welcome as silent observers only.

Afternoon Session: 1 pm – 4 pm

In the afternoon, John is going to do a unique presentation and demo about creating Shohin bonsai from various types of material, including from seed, cuttings, and reducing larger trees. He will also be doing a demonstration of air layering.

Air layering is a wonderful technique that can be used with many types of trees. It’s one of those things that every practitioner should have in their toolbox and I’m very excited that John will be doing a demo.

Lunchtime and all afternoon: This is your opportunity to sell or swap pots, tools and trees. Bring items to sell or swap!

Sales Table(s)
(This was written by the late Jay Gettinger a valued club member who was the “master” of the sales table. I have kept it just as he wrote it and included it in the June newsletter each year since he passed in December of 2020.)

We can look forward to the Sale Table. This is a wonderful time to sell or purchase items from members. Bring your trees, pots, books, etc. Sunday. Mark them clearly. List the price and your name. You can accept offers…You make your own deals. What’s in it for the club? We suggest that at the end of the day you give a donation to the club only for the items you sell. 10% – 20% would be nice, but it’s up to you.

John Romano Bio

John has been teaching bonsai classes and private students at New England Bonsai Gardens since 2000. He founded the Kaikou School of Bonsai New England Bonsai Gardens in 2009. He has studied under many teachers over the years and notably at Taisho en in Shizuoka, Japan with shohin bonsai master, Nobuichi Urushibata.

John has been published in various bonsai publications such as Bonsai Today, International Bonsai, ABS Bonsai, and BCI Bonsai Magazine. He wrote a regular column for International Bonsai Magazine on shohin bonsai called ‘A Little Magic with Shohin Bonsai’.

Note: Please enter through the retail store. At the rear of the store is a door that leads to a staircase to the second floor meeting space. There is an elevator at the rear of the building. There is plenty of parking. Gardener’s only asks that we do not park directly in front of the store. Generally there will be a member at the front entrance to guide people. Gardener’s Supply is a 100% smoke free property so please make sure you leave Gardener’s property (that includes the parking lot) for a smoke break.