REPORT ON THE 2005-2006

ALASKA BONSAI ACTIVITIES

                In 2004 Beth Carroll & John Sheipe visited Fuku-Bonsai and became excited about training bonsai and establishing a Hawaii-Alaska bonsai connection.  They returned the following year as reported in the Introduction to the Fuku-Bonsai Hawaii-Alaska Bonsai Club Home Page in which it was announced that their Jahnsai Bonsai of Homer, Alaska would represent Fuku-Bonsai in Alaska.  We set a number of goals and many of them have been achieved in the past year.  Beth and John visited Fuku-Bonsai on April 26, 2006 and provided a large number of photos and details of the past year with the following photo and captions summarizing their activities.

	An overview of the outdoor portion of their collection that includes junipers and collected trees.  Note the small trees on the front left side of the photo.
	A closer view of the small potted collected bonsai with the smallest in pots about 1"!  Like Hawaii,  Alaska has beautiful rocks, rounded pebbles, driftwood and mosses that are ideal for bonsai.  Not the attractive tray landscape in the back center of the photo.
	With a large variety of rocks, small trees, and mosses, there's potential for outstanding tray landscapes!
	By utilizing pre-trained Fuku-Bonsai True Indoor Bonsai stock, similar indoor tray landscapes are immediately attractive!
	Bonsai should also be fun!  Glass floats that break free of Japanese fishing nets are often found on Alaskan beaches. Instead of the more traditional root over rock styling, John is experimenting and creating a "Root-over-glass float" styling!
	The interior of their bonsai studio in Homer. Homer is a small fishing village with a modest resident population. But during the summer tourist season,  they may get 100,000 or more visitors who come to fish.
	John desire to share what he knows is appreciated by their fellow residents.  He has begun to conduct bonsai classes using both outdoor and indoor plant materials.
	At the end of one of the Homer workshop classes.
	In preparation for a bonsai workshop in Anchorage,  a shipment was ordered in January!  Previously, shipping to Alaska in January was impossible!  But with new insulated packing techniques, the use of shipping heat packs and, fast FedEx service the shipment arrived in perfect condition (including Micro-Lobsters) with the heat pack still warm!
	Enroute to Anchorage, Beth and John ham it up and give tropical Hawaiian bonsai a taste of Alaska in winter!
	The workshop in Anchorage introduced additional people to the hobby of indoor bonsai!
	The workshop was covered by the local television station which ran a nice segment on the evening news. Note cameraman on back left of photo.
	Again the workshops went well with more Alaskan indoor bonsai hobbyists!

                Beth and John have had an exciting first year in learning by doing, setting up their shop, and beginning to give workshops!  John doesn't claim to be an expert and he's not.  But his enthusiasm and desire to share is very contagious and they are off to a great start! 

                They are bringing to Alaska what took Hawaii many years to learn.  Creating outdoor bonsai is especially challenging in Alaska and they must learn the techniques to bring traditional bonsai plants through the difficult winter season.  In comparison, Fuku-Bonsai's True Indoor Bonsai are relatively easy to grow as houseplants indoors throughout the year.  Fuku-Bonsai's youngest plants still all have character and everyone moves into intermediate bonsai from the start!

                The challenge for the Alaskan hobbyists is to create the best possible growing conditions for optimum growth. Some will be growing the trees outdoors whenever night temperatures exceed 50º F at night.  Others will be setting up stronger supplemental lights. Surprisingly, the cost of electricity is very low in Alaska compared to Hawaii so additional supplemental indoor lighting is a relatively small expense.

***  Continue to April 2006 Workshop at Fuku-Bonsai

***  Go back to Hawaii-Alaska Introduction

***  Go back to Hawaii-Alaska Driftwood Planting!

For more information, contact:

Beth Carroll · John Sheipe · JAHNSAI BONSAI

3601 Main Street (PO Box 15131), Homer, Alaska 99603

jahnsai.bonsai@gmail.com   Phone: (907) 235-0182 or (907)235-9445

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