San Diego Bonsai Club
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Christian Reha 
 
I have dedicated myself to the study of bonsai for 15 years since I was first drawn to it at the age of 15.
 
I first joined the SDBC in 2005 where I participated in monthly meetings and met Cindy Reed.
 
Cindy Reed took me on as her apprentice which provided me with frequent opportunities to learn over the course of 3+ years.
 
Under my time with Cindy Reed I worked on maintaining her collection as well as her off-site and tragically short-lived nursery, which was known as Kuma Bonsai at the time. At Kuma, I developed a lot of my knowledge in bonsai techniques and nursery operations. I helped students and participated in classes on various bonsai topics.  I could work on developing material as well as improving my propagation techniques.
 
Working as her right-hand man, she established a level of trust in me which allowed me to learn and participate in the curation of Phil Tacktill's collection in Del Mar. Some of this time involved curating and maintaining bonsai belonging to various clients around San Diego. 
During Cindy Reed's time as president of SDBC, my exposure to knowledge increased drastically. This facilitated my ability to learn one-on-one from professionals like Jim Gremel, Jim Barret, Harry Hirao, and Kathy Shaner, just to name a few.
 
My educational background is in Mechanical Engineering and I am a Control Systems Engineer at Siemens in Miramar. Currently, I design the air ventilation control systems which are implemented in hospitals and laboratories. During my time as a mechanical engineering student I spent the majority of my spare time at the SDSU greenhouse where I served as a volunteer, giving educational tours to guests, watering plants, helping research students with their experimental set ups, and looking for things to make into bonsai. I was also given access to the greenhouse for emergency care or watering needs.
 
As a student I developed a passion for teaching as a tutor of math and physics. I have naturally adapted what I have learned to teaching bonsai as it is one of my goals to get more young people into bonsai such as I did.
 
In more recent times I was awarded the Power-of-One scholarship which was quite honestly a life changing opportunity for me. I am so grateful for what I have gained by being able to attend the 2018 Golden State Bonsai Federation Convention. I had the chance to meet and learn from Bjorn Bjornholm who I am indebted to for keeping me inspired during many years where I saw nobody else in my age group going for it so seriously. Furthermore, nobody else was bringing back such detailed footage from a nursery in japan. During this event I had numerous opportunities to reflect and talk about bonsai with Bjorn and the impact it has had on bonsai. I hope someday to visit his nursery in Tennessee. At GSBF 2018 I sat through and observed as many of the courses that I could. Coastal Redwoods, Black Pine, Olives, Show Critique and the Bjorn workshop just to name a few.
 
Furthermore, in the last year I have participated in every single Ficus study group that I can. I get to learn from very experienced members like John Jackson.
 
During the club shows I have also assisted in the event coordinated with Jason Chan from Eastern Leaf to teach young kids how to style and take care of bonsai trees which they get to take home.
 
I subscribe to Ryan Neil's live stream series. While this never substitutes the quality of face to face learning, The information that Ryan shares verbally is of the highest quality available and much more
(cont’d)
 in my price range.  I have learned so much from him and I have gone back in the archive and watched almost every stream
 
Currently I am the president of the San Diego Carnivorous plant Society (SDCPS) which meets in the Casa de Prado Bi-Monthly. We have existed since 2016 and are society members of the SDBGF.
 
Our mission is to educate growers about the horticulture and spread knowledge for conservation of these amazing plants. We have an annual show and sale and It is collaboration of such a great group of friends and people. Much of what I have applied to forming this club I can directly attribute to what I learned from SDBC.

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Updated: July 4, 2022
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  • Home
  • Activities
    • Next Meeting
    • Calendar
    • Nisei Week Bus Trip
    • Bonsai Show Maps
  • Education
    • About SDBC Education
    • Beginner's Classes Overview
    • Beginner's Class Schedule
    • Workshops & Skills Classes
    • Study Groups >
      • Shohin Study Group
      • All About Bonsai Study Group
      • Ficus Study Group
    • Private Lessons
  • Resources
    • Newsletter
    • Club Library >
      • Books >
        • Show Books
      • DVDs
      • Periodicals
      • Beginner Recommendations
    • Vendors
    • Photos >
      • 2020 Winter Silhouettes
      • 2018 Fall Show
      • 2018 SD County Fair
      • Spring 2018 Show
      • 2018 Cal Shohin Seminar
      • GSBF Convention #40
      • 2017 Fall Show
      • 2017 Spring Show
      • 2016 Fall Show
      • 2016 Nisei Week Trip
      • 2016 Spring Show
      • 2016 Bonsai-A-Thon
      • 2016 Winter Silhouettes
      • 2015 Fall Show Photos
      • 2015 Nisei Week Trip
      • Bonsai Stolen from San Gabriel Nursery
      • 2015 Spring Show
      • 2015 Bonsai-A-Thon
      • 2014 Fall Show
      • 2014 Nisei Week Trip
      • 2014 July Bus Trip
      • 2014 Spring Show
      • 2014 Bonsai-A-Thon
      • 2014 Winter Silhouettes
      • 2013 Fall Show
      • 2013 Spring Show
    • Articles >
      • Lime Sulfur
      • Bougainvillea Bonsai
      • Soil: It's What Goes in the Pot
      • 'Lyn's Bonsai Soil Mix
      • Back-Budding
      • REBS 2014 Show
      • 2014 Boxwood Dig
      • Club History
      • Club Logo
      • First Show May 1966
    • Video >
      • 2019-2021 Videos
      • 2015-2018 Videos
      • Video
      • More Video
  • Membership
    • Membership Form
    • Membership Benefits
    • Volunteer
  • Safari Park Bonsai Pavilion
    • Overview and History
    • Bonsai Pavilion Trees
    • Stolen Bonsai
  • Time Traveler
    • Remembering... >
      • Remembering Big Dave Rochester
      • Remembering Marty Mann
      • Remembering Ko Tsushima
      • Remembering Harry Hirao
      • Remembering Bob Meyer
  • About
    • Overview of Club
    • By-Laws
    • Past Presidents
  • Contact