NABF Newsletter #2

This issue's editorial staff

Southeast US Region Editorial Team

The Southeast US Region encompasses eleven states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. We have one of the most diverse spans of climates in the US ranging from the tropical Florida Keys to the mountains of West Virginia, the swamps and bayous of Louisiana to the Atlantic coast of the Carolinas.

The Southeast Region Editorial Team is composed of the following volunteers:

Editor – Lee Vanderpool
Assistant Editor – Joe Day
Louisiana – Kenny and Sandy Robert
Mississippi – Patrick LaNasa
Alabama – Art Kersten
Florida – Henri Vermeulen
Georgia – Mike Redgrave
South Carolina – John Quinn
North Carolina – Harold and Tina Johnson
Tennessee – Bjorn Bjorholm
Kentucky – Dave Bogan
Virginia – Julian Adams
West Virginia – Vacant

Lee Vanderpool – Editor, Southeast US Region

Active in bonsai since 1985, I am presently a member of three clubs in northwest Florida.

I have been an office holder in the Ft Walton Beach Bonsai Society continuously for twelve years and am immediate past President of that organization. I published the club newsletter for sixteen years and have been editor of the Florida Bonsai magazine for over 13 years. I supported BCI for several years by volunteering as advertising manager for Bonsai magazine and supported BCI 2002 in Orlando by obtaining and maintaining the plant material for workshops and running the workshop schedule. I am a member of the National Bonsai Foundation.

My tree collection contains nursery grown and collected material both temperate and tropical in all stages of development. I prefer to ground develop plant material whenever possible but must grow tropical trees in pots since they go into storage in a greenhouse during the short north Florida winters.

Joe B. Day - Southeast Regional Assistant Editor

From Mobile, Alabama, Joe began his bonsai interest in 1979 and became a founding member of that city's bonsai society, The Azalea City Bonsai Society, in 1981. He has served as an officer every year since.

Joe has been the author and publisher of the ACBS newsletter for the past 17 years. Joe created and taught three courses in bonsai at the University of South Alabama continuing education programs, and has been featured on radio, television and newspaper articles in the Mobile area.

Bonsai articles by and about Joe have been featured in the ABS and BCI journals. Joe has lectured and taught workshops at most of the bonsai clubs in the Deep South. Joe has a large collection of bonsai. He grows bonsai stock and collects native material. Joe also carves natural stone slabs for forest groups and single trees.

Patrick LaNasa (Mississippi)

I was born and raised in New Orleans but spent over 30 years on the west coast. I was an active member of the following clubs: Bonsai Society of Santa Barbara (CA), KoFuKai Bonsai Society (Huntington Beach, CA.), and Portland Bonsai Society (OR). I was inactive in all bonsai pursuits between 1995 and 2001. I am rebuilding my tree inventory, reference material and improving a basic bonsai course structure. Starting our new bonsai club in Mississippi and enlarging its membership is one of my top priorities at this time.

Bjorn Bjorholm (Tennessee)

I am sixteen years old. I live in Knoxville TN and attend Halls High School. My first encounter with bonsai was over three years ago. Since then, my collection has grown to more than 150 trees, all of which are collected or created from nursery stock. I am also one of the primary founders of the Knoxville Bonsai Society and currently the society President.

Dave Bogan (Kentucky)

I was introduced to Bonsai 15 years ago by a friend from Hawaii. He showed me one small tree and I was hooked. Within three months, a formal club was founded. The Greater Evansville (IN) Bonsai Society (serving SW Indiana and Kentucky). As with most clubs, we started small but grew quickly. Over the years, I have held every office (some several times) except treasurer. I volunteered to write our club newsletter six years ago and have enjoyed writing it ever since.

Through our club I have met and worked with many masters; John Naka, Ben Oki, Roy Nagatoshi, Dan Robinson and Mary Madison just to name a few. I'm definitely a study type person so I have amassed a library on bonsai of over 200 books and well over 400 magazines but, I learned early on that Bonsai "is and must be" a hands on learning experience. My personal collection has grown over the years and presently consists of well over 250 trees in all stages of design.

As mentioned, I soon learned there is no way to learn this "art" without experiencing it. I also learned there is no such thing as an instant Bonsai. I don't even consider a tree nice until it has been in my collection for well over five years. Even after 15 years, I don't own the perfect of finished tree - at least in my opinion.

I am continually amazed at what I learn new every year. I think you go through stages. In the beginning, you buy, cut, pot and think it's perfect. Later you buy less, cut more, wire and ask more questions, At some point, you learn style and perception of what a tree can become. Now you are willing to wait, cut less but more accurately, wire properly and dream of days to come.

I finally learned, Bonsai is not a hobby, it is a Way of Life.

John Quinn (South Carolina)

After killing a mail order bonsai many years ago, I found my way five years ago to a Warren Hill demonstration and show presented by the Bonsai Club of South Carolina. Since that time, I have been very active in bonsai, having been in hands-on workshops with Randy Clark, Ernie Kuo, Colin Lewis, Walter Pall, Chase Rosade, Suthin Sukosolvisit, Bill Valavanis and others. I was very fortunate to attend the Kokufu exhibition in Tokyo in 2001 and to have visited numerous bonsai nurseries while in Japan. In return for a wealth of knowledge and experience available in our club, I have supported club activities by serving in multiple roles including newsletter editor, webmaster and currently president of the Bonsai Club of South Carolina.

My favorite bonsai include flowering, fruiting and deciduous trees.

I am a physician, specializing in anesthesiology, for the last 20+ yrs.

Julian Adams (Virginia)

I saw my first bonsai at Longwood Gardens in 1970 and was given my first bonsai that same year, Christmas,1970. That first bonsai is still living and in the same pot.

At first, I studied the few books on bonsai available locally then attended a 1973 Virginia Bonsai Society workshop in Norfolk VA. Styled my first bonsai, a Scots pine literati, under the direction of Bill Valavanis at that workshop.

I subsequently attended PBA symposia, International Bonsai Symposia and other educational gatherings to study bonsai techniques, read virtually all bonsai texts and magazines published and available in the US. I soon began to grow and propagate bonsai stock due to lack of availability in Central Virginia.

In 1985, the Central Virginia Bonsai Society was founded to encourage the art of bonsai in the Lynchburg area. Membership has grown from six to 65 in 17 years.

I opened a small bonsai business to sell excess bonsai stock and to make pots, tools, and other bonsai supplies available in Central Virginia. This activity has developed into a licensed nursery specializing in the propagation of hardy varieties particularly suited for bonsai use and the development of advanced bonsai stock from these varieties. A sub specialty of this nursery is the propagation of hardy accent plant material. I currently grow over one thousand plants for bonsai or accent use. My collection and nursery stock consists primarily of temperate zone (outdoor) plants. Among these are a number of varieties of pine, maple, crabapple, elm, zelkova, hornbeam, beech, and chamaecyparis. I maintain a personal bonsai collection of more than fifty finished bonsai.

I have written and published the CVBS Newsletter since its beginning in 1985. Our newsletter is now mailed to seven states.

I organized and presented 17 annual symposia for the CVBS featuring artists such as Bill Valavanis, Hiroyoshi Yamaji, Walter Pall, Jim Doyle, Peter Adams, Marian Gyllenswan, Jack Billet, Doris Froning, Harold Sasaki and Jack Wickle and assisted these artists in associated workshops. I appeared as a vendor at various bonsai gatherings such as PBA Spring Show, PBA fall Symposium, Mid Atlantic Bonsai Symposium, ABS annual convention (Columbus, Harrisburg), BCI International Convention (Memphis, Washington D.C.), Phoenix Bonsai Symposium (Kimura/Atlanta), and the International Bonsai Fall Symposium (Rochester).

I teach a beginning bonsai course at the Lynchburg Recreation Department each spring and have done so for the past several years.

As a workshop participant, I studied under the guidance of Valavanis, Oshima, Sasaki, Billet, Peter Adams, Keith Scott, Kathy Shaner, Kimura, and others.

As a symposium participant, I studied the bonsai teachings of Yoshimura, Kimura, Andrews, Gyllenswan, Froning, Naka, Rosade, Borchers, Pottberg, Koreshoff, Young, and many others as well as those listed under workshops.

I have twice been featured speaker at the International Bonsai Fall Symposium in Rochester. I was a featured artist at Ottawa Bonsai Society annual symposium in June 2001 and a featured artist at Ft. Wayne IN, Bonsai Society lecture/demo/workshop in June 2002.

I have authored articles on a variety of bonsai topics published in International Bonsai, BCI's BONSAI MAGAZINE, and BONSAI: Journal of the American Bonsai Society.
My trees were selected for the JAL Top 100 contest in 1999 (Scots pine) and 2000 (yatsabusa elm). I have traveled to study bonsai: Japan and Korea (1997), Japan (Taikanten 2000), Japan (Kokufuten 2002)

My goal is to advance my understanding of the art, horticulture and philosophy inherent in bonsai and to disseminate this information to others through writing, teaching, and other related bonsai activities.

Henri F. Vermeulen (Florida)

I got interested in bonsai after seeing the collection at the
Chicago Botanic Gardens in the mid '70's. Using the bonsai
chapter in Time-Life's Container book I started working with a
mum then became serious after joining the Bonsai Society -
Kalamazoo in 1981. Moved to Florida in 1999 after growing
bonsai in Michigan for about 18 years. I am currently a member
of both the North Florida Bonsai Club, Jacksonville, FL, and
Kawa Bonsai Society, Daytona Beach, FL. I have been president
of BSK, treasurer of the MidAmerica Bonsai Society, past
president of the American Bonsai Society, Co-chairperson of the
1998 ABS Symposium in Kalamazoo, MI. Currently a board member
of the American Bonsai Society and advertising coordinator for
"Bonsai - Journal of the American Bonsai Society".

Art Kersten - (Alabama)

Art Kersten became interested in bonsai when he was a visitor at a 1990 Dan Barton workshop held by the Azalea City Bonsai Society in Mobile. Art has served as the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer of ACBS during the past ten years. He has been involved with every activity held by ACBS during the same ten years. Art works with all species and styles of bonsai but especially enjoys working with native species.

Harold Johnson (North Carolina)

I graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University then entered the insurance industry. I have spent 24 years in the insurance business, becoming Associate Director of Training for my company and served as an officer in the local and as state committee chairman for a national insurance organization. I am past president of two Rotary International clubs and acted as chairman for the United Way Committee in Durham NC.

To obtain maximum exposure to bonsai, I am a member of Triangle Bonsai Society, Bonsai Society of the Carolinas, Atlanta Bonsai Society and Washington DC Bonsai Club. I still hold board and officer positions in the Triangle Bonsai Society and am currently a director of the American Bonsai Society.

My wife, Tina, shares my interest in bonsai.