There are 18 workshops planned for the WBC 2005 Convention in Washington, D.C.  The workshops are all being led by individuals from around the world who are well known in their respective regions as well as throughout major portions of the world.  Some were students of John Naka and most knew and were influenced by John.  All are excellent bonsai artists in their own right.

There are a variety of workshop subjects which range from kusimono and accessory plantings, traditional bonsai, to slab and “land and water” plantings.  The material ranges from smaller material used for slab plantings to larger material that requires a great deal of work, including cleanup, wiring, shaping and carving.  One key feature for each workshop is that extra material is being provided so that each and every participant will have a choice of material.  No one will be left with just one plant choice.

Roy Nagatoshi’s San Jose Juniper workshop has been scheduled to run for the majority of the conference in order to allow participants sufficient time to complete work on their trees.  The formal workshop will be conducted by Roy in the mornings then the room will be available for the rest of each day for participants to continue working on their trees at their own pace.  Figures 1 and 2 are representative of the trees available for this workshop.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Jack Sustic’s workshop features California Junipers collected and donated by Harry Hirao (Figure 3).  Guy Guidry’s workshop is based on unusual Yellow Flowering Dogwood material grown and collected in Pennsylvania.  These trees promise to become truly beautiful flowering bonsai.  The Pitch Pine material for Marco Invernizzi’s workshop was collected in New Jersey and is outstanding literati bonsai material.  Solita Rosade is presenting a children’s workshop similar to workshops that have been highly appreciated and attended at other conferences, and we expect the same attendance at WBC 2005.

Figure 3

The material for the Ficus workshops was grown in Florida (Figure 4 shows a representative Ficus Nerifolia) as were the buttonwoods and the Black Olives.   The Yews were collected in Pennsylvania and have been in the ground for approximately 45 years.  Some of the Yews have been naturally pruned by deer and all have a great deal of potential. The Sweet Gum and the Redwood trees were grown in California, while the Kingsville boxwoods are 45-50 year old specimens collected from the garden of the late Bill Merritt in Maryland.

Figure 4