San Diego Bonsai Club
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Workshops & Skills Classes


Olive Workshop – Cesar Ordoñez 
We have an unexpected opportunity to have Cesar Ordoñez host an olive workshop.  The workshop will be held on Saturday July 11th at 9 AM at Fred Miyahara’s home.  The cost of the workshop is $200.  Cesar will bring a collection of interesting small olives, recovered from old orchards to choose from.  Bring a hat, water, a snack, and your tools/wire.  Cesar will provide advice and detailed instructions as necessary for you to style your tree. 
Chojubai Workshop – Fred Miyahara-   Signup at July meeting
​This workshop will go on sale at the July 12th Club meeting.  The workshop will be held on September 13th in room 101 at 8:30 AM.  The cost is $150.00.  There are six trees available.  These  trees are very well developed. Fred will bring an example tree to the July meeting.  You will be repotting these trees in the workshop.  A grow pot and soil will be supplied.  Please bring your tools.


Ficus macrocarpa ‘Melon Seed’ – Instructor John Jackson  Signup completed at the June meeting
This workshop will go on sale at the June 21st Club meeting.  The workshop will be held on July 12th in room 101 at 8:30 AM.  The cost is $175.00.  These beautiful trees were grown by fellow club member Eric Jacobson and are about two feet tall with better than 2-inch trunks. There are six trees available.  During the workshop the front of the tree will be selected, the tree will be cut back, and branches wired.  


Bonsai Display Workshop (Fred Miyahara, Cathy and Mark Edgar) Signup completed at the June meeting
The San Diego Bonsai Club is focused on supporting club members to display their Bonsai in the Fall and Spring bonsai shows. Club shows are a great place to learn and practice displaying bonsai. In addition, preparing your bonsai for display inevitably improves your bonsai. To display a bonsai requires a long lead time to allow the bonsai to recover from various operations such as pruning, deadwood management, repotting, etc. This makes the bonsai appear more mature rather than “just trimmed”. The actual bonsai display has many nuances that take practice to learn.
Fred Miyahara, Cathy Edgar and I have conducted two informal display workshops and based on the solid interest in displaying bonsai, we decided to conduct a six-session display workshop at the club meeting over the course of a year. We would like to invite ten club members to bring a bonsai or two to club meetings to prepare it for showing in the April 2027 Spring show. The bonsai should be around a year or so from show ready and have some maturity in a bonsai shape (front and main branches defined, some maturity in foliage pads…). In the first class we can assess the bonsai and their likelihood of being show ready in a year. We will apply bonsai principles (design, pruning, wiring, soil, watering, pest management, fertilizing, etc.) as needed for each bonsai.
The workshop will start August 2026, with sessions in October 2026, December 2026, February 2027, March 2027 and April 2027.  The workshop will be held in room 101 at 8:30 AM. Hopefully, the bonsai will be shown in the April 2027 Spring show. The workshop cost will be $20 total with registration starting at the June 2026 club meeting.


Workshops are sold two months in advance at the SDBC meetings.  Any open seats in the workshop  after the club meeting will then be sold here on the club website.  Your name is added to the list after payment is received.
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Any other questions, comments or suggestions, please email Bob Hale at [email protected]
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You must be a San Diego Bonsai Club member to enroll in any class.
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Not yet a member? It is easy to join. Just fill out the membership form and pay your annual dues.
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  • Home
  • Activities
    • Next Meeting
    • 2026 Calendar
  • 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
    • The Larry Ragle Scholarship
  • Resources
    • Newsletter
    • Seasonal Task Schedule
    • Club Forms
    • Club Library
    • Vendors
    • Photos >
      • Tanuki Creation By John Jackson
      • 2023 California Shohin Conference
      • 2020 Winter Silhouettes
      • 2018 Fall Show
      • 2018 SD County Fair
      • Spring 2018 Show
      • 2018 Cal Shohin Seminar
      • 2017 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
    • Articles >
      • Charlie's Corner
      • Lime Sulfur
      • Bougainvillea Bonsai
      • Soil: It's What Goes in the Pot
      • 'Lyn's Bonsai Soil Mix
      • Back-Budding
      • Fertilizer
      • Wiring
      • REBS 2014 Show
      • 2014 Boxwood Dig
      • Club History
      • Club Logo
      • Time Traveler
      • First Show May 1966
    • Remembering... >
      • Remembering Big Dave Rochester
      • Remembering Marty Mann
      • Remembering Ko Tsushima
      • Remembering Harry Hirao
      • Remembering Bob Meyer
    • 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
  • About
    • Overview of Club
    • By-Laws
    • Past Presidents
  • Contact