| NABF
Newsletter #4
October 2003
Welcome to the North Central Region
Welcome to the North Central Region edition of the NABF Newsletter.
The region covers a very large geographical area, starting
with Ohio on the East and going all the way to the Dakotas
on the west, from Missouri to Canada. The Mid-America
Bonsai Alliance made up of bonsai societies from nine
US states and Canada, has been a major influence in this area
for a number of years.
There are a number of very active bonsai societies and clubs
in the region. The Toronto
Bonsai Society was the host for the BCI 1997 International
convention. The Four
Seasons Bonsai Club of Detroit Michigan brought Masahiko
Kimura to the MABA/ABS Convention in 2000. The Milwaukee
Bonsai Society was the host for the very successful ABS
2002 Symposium last year. The Bonsai
Society of Cincinnati hosted the 2003 MABA Convention
this summer. Next year the Bonsai Society of Greater St. Louis
will host the 2004 ABS/ BCI convention. The Midwest
Bonsai Society has been the host for the annual Mid America
Bonsai Exhibit every August for almost thirty years. International
conventions have been also been hosted in Minneapolis and
Chicago.
There are a surprising number of public bonsai collections
in the region. Columbus, Ohio has the Franklin Park Conservatory
that has a wonderful collection that was assembled by Ameriflora
’92. Cincinnati also has an excellent collection. There
are two existing public collections in Michigan. One is at
the University of Michigan owned Matthaei Botanical Garden
in Ann Arbor. The other collection is just outside Tipton,
Michigan at Hidden Lake Gardens, which are owned by the Michigan
State University. Another collection is being started at the
Frederick Meijer Sculpture Garden in Grand Rapids Michigan.
In fact, this garden currently has a display on Japanese culture
built around an exhibit of Japanese pottery. The exhibit includes
bonsai and suiseki. What is very exciting about this particular
exhibit is that they have “borrowed” bonsai from
the Phipps Conservatory in Pennsylvania, the Franklin Park
Collection in Ohio and the Weyerhaeuser Collection in Federal
Way Washington!
Minneapolis has had a small collection at Como Park for several
years but is in the process of taking it to a world class
status. There is also a good collection in Des Moines Iowa
that has been around for quite a long time. And of course
there is the collection at the Chicago Botanic Garden. It
includes 180 trees! Susumu Nakamura of Japan recently donated
a number of the best bonsai from his personal collection to
the Garden. Articles, including photos, about some of these
collections are included in other parts of this newsletter.
A large part of the bonsai scene in the North Central region
is the collecting of native material. And of course the use
of collected material for local bonsai. Bonsai enthusiasts
in the Minneapolis area have collected a number of varieties
of material, especially Larch, for years. Of course we all
know about Reiner Goebel and John Biel and their collected
White Cedars from Canada. There are common pasture junipers
from Wisconsin and Ponderosa Pines collected by Andy Smith.
There are many others who collect material and use it in their
bonsai. It is a very active part of the North Central region
bonsai scene.
An invitational bonsai exhibit was staged at the 2002 Milwaukee/ABS
Symposium in Milwaukee. A few of the bonsai that were on display
at that exhibit are shown in our Gallery of North Central
Bonsai. The photographs are by Reiner Goebel.
In short, bonsai is alive and well in the North Central region
of the country. We hope that this edition of the NABF newsletter
will introduce you to some of the exciting things that are
happening in this area.
Jack Douthitt
North Central Regional Editor
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