You Know It's Spring When The S.F. Flower & Garden Show Hits Town

Bonsai exhibit, seminars

The Bonsai Society of San Francisco will have an exhibit at the show and will present two seminars, "Bonsai Styles: How to Make a Tree Look Older" at 4: 30 p.m. Friday and "Bonsai: Pruning Demonstration" at 12:15 p.m. Saturday, both in the Monrovia Garden Shed. The presenters will be John Boyce, John Edwards, Tim Kong and Steve Jeng.

Edwards, vice president of the bonsai club, has been with the club for 11 years. A professional photographer, he became fascinated by bonsai as a teenager when he saw the collection at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York.

Bonsai literally means tree in a tray. It originated in China centuries ago when people found old, dwarfed trees high in the mountains. Traders then took some of the trees to Japan, where the art was refined, Edwards said.

Some of the principles involved in bonsai include wabi/sabi, a Japanese concept of aesthetics defined by irregularity, asymmetry and the appearance of age, "something that has been affected by time," he said. It involves "reverence for things that are old... something that's not quite balanced."

Bonsai can be developed from seed or nursery plants. The dwarf effect is achieved through pruning and cultivating container plants, "the most pampered plants on the planet," Edwards said.

Some popular varieties for bonsai include poplars, black pines, junipers and maples.

The Golden State Bonsai Federation North has a collection at Lake Merritt in Oakland with bonsai that are more than 1,000 years old and an oak tree that was given to President Abraham Lincoln's ambassador to Japan, Edwards said.