Learn The Ancient Tradition Of Bonsai

Experience Bonsai Teaching Like Never Before at the Exhibition of Bonsai at Sherway Gardens! End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 21, 2010 - Misseto Bonsai Club's Annual Show at Sherway Gardens - August 28 & 29

Etobicoke, Ontario - April 14, 2010 - The Misseto Bonsai Club displays a wide assortment of Bonsai at the annual Exhibition of Bonsai at Sherway Gardens (Hwy 427 & the QEW) on Saturday, August 28 from 9:30am to 6pm and Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 6pm in Sherway Square. For more information call 416-621-1070 or visit www.sherwaygardens.ca or www.missetobonsai.org.

The unique art of Bonsai depicts both the beauty and strength of a tree. Throughout the weekend, Misseto Bonsai Club members from Etobicoke and Mississauga, as well as expert Bonsai artists, will be at Sherway Gardens with a large variety of indoor and outdoor Bonsai to answer questions, offer tips and suggestions and give demonstrations on how to create perfect Bonsai trees.

Creating the Perfect Bonsai

Bonsai blends art and horticulture to create healthy living trees, which are constantly shaped and pruned through careful cultivation to show the beauty of natural tree forms in miniature. Bonsai can be coniferous with small needles or deciduous with small leaves and can be started from natural material, layering, nursery stock, cuttings, or from seedlings or grafts. Bonsai growers begin by selecting suitable Bonsai material from a wild landscape, a nursery, or starting from scratch and buying seeds or using pre-existing branches or trimmings.

Bonsai is not a naturally dwarfed tree. Its growth is not restricted by confining the roots in a pot, but by constant clipping and trimming. The size and shape of each tree is determined by its grower. Bonsai come in four selected sizes: miniature, small, medium and average.

Since Bonsai are viewed from the front, the first step is to decide which side is the front by placing the tree at eye level and examining it from all angles. Select the most pleasing view based upon the total effect of the roots, trunk, and large branches. This often involves carefully removing the tree from its container and removing some of the soil to expose the upper root structure.

To create a well-proportioned tree, the artist shapes and adjusts the tree's proportions by wiring the trunk and branches of the tree, ensuring that the wires do not scar the bark of the tree. The size of the tree, its leaves or needles, its fruits or flowers, and even the container in which it grows reflect the tree's proportion.

Bonsai Styles

Bonsai styles are derived from growth patterns observed in the natural environment and can also be classified by the number of trunks, the shape of the roots and the shape and number of the branches.

The main styles of Bonsai are based on the general shape of the tree in the pot:
• Formal Upright (chokkan): This tree has a single straight trunk that tapers upward.
• Informal Upright (moyogi): The trunk may be curved and may grow at a slight slant. The apex of the tree remains directly over the base.
• Slanting (shakan): The trunk has a slant to the left or right with the branches growing on both sides of the tree.
• Cascade (kengai): Semi-cascade (han-kengai): The cascading tree has an arched trunk with the foliage "spilling" in a graceful line below the bottom of the pot. The semi-cascade trunk grows upward and then downward in a less severe arch and the foliage of the semi-cascade need not reach below the pot.
• Coiled (bankan): The trunk is extremely crooked (in some cases entwined around itself).
• Literati (bunjingi): A slender trunk with sparse branches usually grouped at the top.
• Twisted (nejikan): The whole trunk is twisted.
• Root over Rock (ishitsuki): The root grows over a rock.

Tips for Caring for Bonsai

• Watering is crucial to Bonsai care. Plants can die from dehydration or from being kept in a low humidity environment.
• Caring for Bonsai require specialized tools including: a concave cutter, branch bending jacks, a variety of different size sheers, and wire pliers.
• Bonsai should be repotted and root-pruned on a regular basis (specific schedule depends on type of Bonsai), this prevents the roots from becoming constrained while allowing them to have maximum growth potential.
• Bonsai require plenty of light and fresh air.
• Drastic changes in temperature impede the Bonsai's survival. Be aware of porches that heat up during the day and become freezing cold at night.
• Good soil is essential to keep the tree healthy. Soil moisture should be watched daily and the soil should never become bone dry.
• To keep the shape, wire the Bonsai by wrapping the trunk and each branch in circles of Bonsai wire to help train the tree to grow in the desired direction.
• It is best to wire the tree in the spring or fall when it has less foliage and is not as stiff.

About Sherway Gardens:
Sherway Gardens is a Cadillac Fairview property, one of North America's largest investors, owners and managers of commercial real estate. For over 50 years, Cadillac Fairview has been leading the way in commercial real estate with innovative design, development and management. With a portfolio valued at more than $17 billion, Cadillac Fairview and its affiliates own and manage 84 properties across North America. Cadillac Fairview is wholly-owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which invests to secure the retirement income of 284,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario.

Sherway Gardens is a leading fashion shopping destination. Officially opened in 1971, the centre covers 972,540 square feet of leasable space, has 205 shops and services, and is be home to many influential retailers such as Apple, Michael Kors, Bench, Coach, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie and Hollister. Current anchors include Sears, The Bay, Holt Renfrew and Sporting Life. Sherway Gardens is a winner of numerous awards for excellence in Marketing and Operations, including several Maple Leaf Awards from the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC). It attracts 12 million visitors annually. For more information please visit www.sherwaygardens.ca.

For further information contact:

Peter Ashworth/Ashley Lloyd; Ashworth Associates Inc.; 416-603-6005;
peter ( @ ) ashworthassociates dot com / ashley ( @ ) ashworthassociates dot com

Elena Price; Senior Marketing Director; Sherway Gardens; 416-621-1071 ext. 7020;
pricee ( @ ) cadillacfairview dot com

Bob Pfister; Misseto Bonsai Club; (416) 622-5785;
micros ( @ ) pathcom dot com

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