SEQUIM — Some of their subjects may be diminutive, but aficionados’ interest in the ancient art of bonsai is anything but small.
The Dungeness Bonsai Society hosts its 42nd-annual show — a one-day-only affair — from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the clubhouse at Pioneer Memorial Park, 387 E. Washington St.
The show is free and open to the public, through donations are accepted.
The Dungeness Bonsai Society will have trees on exhibit that range in age from 5 to more than 100 years old. Members will be on hand to answer questions. A special demonstration by past president Jerry Tomeo is set for 1 p.m.
Last year, more than 25 people attended the demonstration. A tree will then be raffled off at the end of the day. Raffle ticket purchasers do not need to be present to win.
The club will also have, for the first time, a table set up displaying bonsai for purchase.
Applications for membership also will be available.
Bonsai, which means “tree in a pot,” is an ancient art that started in China in 200 B.C. Several hundred years later, the Japanese refined the art, creating five “classic” styles.
The formal upright has a straight, symmetrical trunk with branches that grow so all the leaves are exposed to sunlight.
The informal upright, probably the most popular, has a crooked, or asymmetrical, trunk.
The formal cascade style represents a tree growing over a mountainside that has been exposed to extreme weather conditions and snow loads that push the trunk and branches in a downward angle so that they hangs below the rim of the pot.
The slant style has a trunk that leans over but does not project below the rim of the pot.
The fifth style is called literati or bunjin; the tree is shaped to imitate a Chinese style of painting, often with a long, sinuous trunk with little foliage.
Samples of all these forms of bonsai will be on display at the spring show.
The bonsai enthusiast uses specialized tools and custom-mixed soils to work on and to grow his or her bonsai trees. Containers are chosen to complement, but not to overpower, the tree itself.
Both tree and container should be in harmony, as to size, shape, material, texture and color, bonsai club members say.
For more information, call Ron Quigley at 360-681-7589.
