Contact Information for 2008/2009

Buttonwood Workshop and Demonstration
with Mary Madison

Shelmerdine Garden Center
July 28 and 29, 2007

It was a hot sweltery Saturday in July, and being under a plastic bubble would only make it worse…but that didn’t stop approximately 20 club members from taking part in the Buttonwood Workshop and Demonstration with the very interesting “Buttonwood Lady” Mary Madison, a distinguished bonsai artist.  

Mary personally selected the Buttonwoods for the workshop, and one relic of a specimen over 200 years old, for the demonstration. These trees were shipped to Winnipeg, with help thanks to Joe, and ended at Paul’s house, and eventually were the subjects for the two-day fling with Mary.

The demonstration started early Saturday morning, with a small introduction by Mary Madison, where the trees came from, and an explanation of the “Buttonwood” Style, where the focus is exhibiting the beauty of the old wood, and minimalizing the greenery.

A native and resident of Florida, even Mary was finding the “bubble” a little hot!

With a little help of an assistant, she hunts the wild wetlands of Florida, where more than plants inhabit (close encounters with spiders, scorpions, snakes and alligators!). She not only extracts, but also has to haul these collected trees out by hand, (or shoulder, or what ever other part isn’t tired yet), out of those swamps. AAAEEEEEEEEEEE, welcome to the swamp life of hunting buttonwood, and we’ve got to give thanks to Mary.
 
Mary demonstrated the “Buttonwood” Style on the “Relic”—the ancient knarly, mostly-deadwood, buttonwood tree that was over 200 years old! It was definitely a two-man specimen (imagine carrying that out!), with a massive taper, ribboned with a small lifeline of live bark, ending with a few branches and leaves.

When finished (which included carving deadwood, pruning and wiring live branches, applying lime sulfur to the deadwood, and finally potting), the age of the tree seemed apparent—a massive, storm-ravaged, bleached, deadwood trunk supporting a wisp of life, framed by a brown, round drum pot.

This gorgeous bonsai will fall in the hands of a lucky bonsai club member to win the raffle. The raffle will take place on the Annual Bonsai December Holiday Dinner. Raffle tickets are available at regular meetings.

After the demonstration, 13 members took part in the workshop, using the excellent buttonwood trees Mary had provided. The participants chose their trees and then the real fun began. It was like a treasure hunt as everyone started uncovering the base of their trees. Mary likes to over-pot her specimens so for many, the beautiful root structures hiding beneath the surface of the soil were a wonderful surprise.

The workshop continued on Sunday where participants could also bring their own trees to work on, and get advice from Mary. We not only got advice in styling, but also in carving. Work continued throughout the day until late afternoon when we said our goodbyes to Mary and thanked her for her great work and tutelage!

Some of the bonsai from this workshop appeared at the show. For those of you that missed out on this first-class workshop, get in on the next one, you’ll enjoy it!