Club History

PictureSDBC "Founding Fathers"
  • 1965 September 19 - SDBC’s Articles of Incorporation sent to the State of California.
PictureOriginal club logo, drawing by Kinya Washio of Kakichi Nakano's 200 year old lemonade berry bonsai
  • ​1965 October 22 - SDBC became a non-profit club. It had 12 members. Meetings were set for the 2nd Sunday of each month.
  • 1965 December 27 - SDBC becomes affiliated with the San Diego Floral Association.
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  • 1967 May 6-7 - Second annual bonsai exhibition was held in the Conference Building at Balboa Park.  The Conference Building later became the San Diego Automotive Museum in 1988.
  • 1974 January - The first monthly newsletter was sent to the 94 members of SDBC.
  • 1974 September - For the first time, SDBC holds a fall show.
  • 1975 November - SDBC becomes a member of Bonsai Clubs International.
  • 1975 December - By the end of the year, SDBC had 80 members.
  • 1976 - Harry Hirao did a demonstration on a collected California juniper with 51 members in attendence.  Harry has done many demonstrations for SDBC over the years.
  • 1976 April 26-27 - Show moves from the Conference Building to Casa del Prado Room 101.
  • 1978 April 29-30 - 2,873 visitors attended the spring show and 29 members displayed trees which was the highest participation to date.
  • 1979 January - Jim Barrett, first president of the new Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF), demonstrated at the January meeting. Jim has done many demonstrations for SDBC over the years and is well known for his bonsai pots.
  • 1979 April 28-29 - Over 3,200 visitors attended the spring show, the most to date.
  • 1980 April 26-27 - For the first time, SDBC members sold trees during the show. SDBC took 20% of the sales.
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  • 1981 November 13-15 - The Golden State Bonsai Federation annual convention was held at the Hilton Hotel on Mission Bay.  Former SDBC president, Dr. Herbert Markowitz, is the chairman of the GSBF convention committee.
  • 1981 June - The monthly meeting was held at the site of the future Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.  SDBC was asked to participate in their first festival on Sunday, June 14th by providing a small exhibit of trees and a demonstration.  A crowd of 5,000 people attended the festival.
  • 1982 November - The monthly meeting was shared between room 101 and the Japanese Friendship Garden Festival.  Members manned our booth which had an exhibit of bonsai and sold potted plants.
  • 1984 March - SDBC donates $1000 towards the building of a future bonsai pavilion at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (later renamed the San Diego Zoo Safari Park).  GSBF and the San Pu Kai Club both donate $1000 towards the building of the bonsai pavilion.
  • 1985 March - SDBC opens a post office box for mail delivery by the US Post Office.
  • 1986 December - As the year came to an end, it was noted that many of the club members worked at the Wild Animal Park on the third Saturday of the month that year.
  • 1987 April - A week before the spring show, the SDBC airs a program it created on public television titled “The Art of Bonsai”.
  • 1987 May 9 - The May meeting was held at the Wild Animal Park for the opening of the new bonsai pavilion, the largest permanent public exhibit of bonsai trees in the western United States.  John Naka was the guest speaker at this event which had more than 200 people in attendance.
  • 1988 April - A logo contest is held an Bob Dalager’s design wins, becoming the new logo for SDBC still used today.
  • 1988 June - A shohin study group was formed within SDBC by Charlotte Rister.
  • 1989 July 25 - The Japanese Friendship Garden held its groundbreaking ceremony and this was attended by some of our members.
  • 1989 September - 150 trees were on display at the fall show.
  • 1990 April - The spring show had a record 5,203 visitors and the club sold over $5,000 (gross) in the two day plant sale.
  • 1990 August - An unprecedented 86 members attended the August meeting.
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  • 1990 August 29 - The grand opening of the Japanese Friendship Garden was attended by club officers.  The club voted to display trees in this new building.
  • 1991 March - For the first time, the club’s membership numbers over 300.
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  • 1991 November - 91 members attended the monthly meeting where Everett Jones gave a lecture on the winter care of Japanese black pine and Bill Rister gave a saikei demo.
  • 1992 April - April was a very big month for the club, as over 200 members attended the meeting to see and hear John Naka critique some of the members selected trees.  A special potluck was prepared in John’s honor and this meeting lasted for over five hours.
  • 1993 January - The year started with a new monthly display table for members to bring in their latest pet project for everyone to see and enjoy.
  • 1993 April 24-25 - David Rochester oversaw the 147 trees displayed by 24 members at the spring show.  Cindy Read was in charge of the plant sales and a total of $5,500 was sold.
  • 1993 May - For the first time, the club held the May meeting at the Wild Animal Park followed by a silent auction.
  • 1994 January - SDBC set up a sales table with the purpose of providing bonsai-related items to members at cost.
  • 2000 November - The club newsletter is renamed "The Bonsai Wire".
  • 2003 January - First photograph printed in the The Bonsai Wire.
  • 2004 October - First color edition of The Bonsai Wire.
  • 2011 January - Web version of The Bonsai Wire became available.
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