Please find attached and below our August 2025 Newsletter.

REDDITCH BONSAI
www.midlandbonsai.org www.redditchbonsai.co.uk
Edition of August 2025.
EDITOR’S REMARKS.
Teanah has very kindly prepared an extensive report upon this meeting and as it runs
to five whole pages we will send this to you as a separate item.
We set later in the edition some comments from members who recently attended the
Winterbourne Rare Plant event to support the stall which we put on there. Although
it was apparently a hot day (it was hot in Ireland too!) everyone attending seems to
have survived the day and all had a fairly positive view of the fair. We don’t know
exactly how many visitors there were although the organiser expected 700 to 1000!
We should point out that the photograph at the end of the newsletter shows the stand
at the fair , taken I suspect fairly early in the day. Robert Walton brought along trees
later I believe to add to the overall effect. Insofar as the photograph is concerned
please note that the MBS pop up stand was positioned to the left of the display but
has been excluded from the photograph sake of for convenience!
Winterbourne.
The queue at the entrance as I arrived suggested a busy day for us. The
Winterbourne team were well organised and welcoming. As were our team
(David Attwood, Peter Clarke, Wes Penfield, Julio Barros), having prepared
an interesting stand for the crowd’s perusal. It was a lovely sunny day and
thankfully we had been provided with the shade of a gazebo. As the crowd
worked their way down the terrace on to the lower lawn, we began our sales
pitch to encourage some new members…Some visitors would find the
commute a little difficult: Stockholm and Rotterdam just two of the places
mentioned. We did, however, have more success with those from the local
area; fliers were handed out, advice given and pleasantries exchanged. We
shall see what August holds for our membership.
Teanah.
Winterbourne.
David Attwood collected me from home at 7.45. We arrived at
Winterbourne at 8am
We managed to park by the greenhouses in the competitors’ car park
which resulted in a long trek to the bottom lawn, Peter arrived with the
cloths. Julio, Peter, David and I got the stand ready and we started the day.
Teanah and Julian arrived later. The gardens were very busy and we had
several companies selling plants near us and we all spoke to many people,
quite a few seemed interested, whether they will pay us a visit is in the lap
of the gods. Robert and his wife came and helped in the afternoon, and
Sven popped in to say hello. By 4pm it was very quiet so we called it a day.
Wes.
POSSIBLE CANAL BOAT TRIP.
Malcolm Beach has been investigating the possibility of having a canal boat trip. He
has identified 2 companies which offer trips locally although they are both “drive it
yourself” affairs. He seems to prefer the Anglo Welsh outfit which operates from
Wootton Wawen at £99.00 for up to 10 people on weekdays. (Bring your own
refreshments!)
On one of our outings with the Austin Ten club we actually came across another
crowd who ran an afternoon tea cruise for 2/3 hours at £30.00 per head from a
mooring at Dunhampstead near Droitwich, serving what looked like a good spread
of afternoon tea fare. If anyone is interested please let us know asap.
COMING UP AT THE MBS.
The August meeting on Thursday 7th features MALCOLM HUGHES who will be
talking to us about Rock Planting and Landscapes. There will be a workshop
element so bring a rock or two along. Someone observed to me the other day during
the latest heatwave that it was a good job we were the THIRD rock from the SUN. I
had to agree.
COMING UP AT REDDITCH BONSAI.
As there has been an issue with booking Malcolm Hughes – or to put it in a more
straightforward way – it looks as if we failed to confirm his booking, the subject of
the August meeting on Thursday 21st August will be MEMBERS’
PRESENTATIONS, which the eagle eyed among you will spot as being the
intended September subject. In September we propose that there should be a
MEMBERS IN HOUSE SHOW (details to follow) and we can discuss whether to
hold the WINTER IMAGE show in November at a later date.
Please also note that although Angela and I will almost certainly be back in Ireland
by 21st August, the way has been cleared to enable her to attend meetings in future as
her LADIES CIRCLE has now changed their meeting day to a MONDAY.
GARDENING TIP OF THE MONTH.
We have been in Ireland recently where the growth in the early part of the year has
been phenomenal. Our hedges over there have gone wild – so the tip is to keep a
careful eye on your greenery otherwise you will have a heck of a job to get it into
order later. We know that we have mentioned this before but if you have Lady’s
Mantle/Alchemilla Mollis growing in the garden/allotment be sure to remove the
seed heads when the “flowering” has finished, otherwise it will seed like mad!
BONSAI TIP OF THE MONTH.
Keep up with watering. All my trees managed to survive under the watering system
while we were away. Keep an eye out for leaf pests and spray if necessary. I always
say I will rotate the bonsai from time to time but this is something which tends to get
put to one side – the message is DON’T!
The stand at the Rare Plant Fair.
Richard Gilkes, Editor. 31st July 2025.