With the first meeting of the year Club Preident Les ran through some business, and the upcoming topics for the next meetings. The Tony Bebb Workshop was also announced, and membership subs are also due on the 1st of April.

The meeting then moved into the ‘Show and Tell’ table where members talked about their summer disasters and triumphs over the Xmas break.

After that the main event was all about Accent plants. Ann & Melody gave a talk on the subject starting with a Powerpoint presentation, and then a discussion using real accents together with large Bonsai.
Some notes below:

If this is a plant, the correct term should be shitakusa, which is translated from the Japanese into: shita = below or under, and kusa = grass. Alternatively bronzes, figurines or objects could be displayed. Finally underplantings can be used also as accent plants.

A few general rules regarding accent plants:

If a bonsai is displayed in an unglazed container, the accent plant should have a glazed container. Bonsai with flowers should not be displayed with an accent in flower but with grasses and moss. The maximum height of an accent may reach the top edge of the table on which the bonsai is placed as the main object. Thus they should be lower than the stand for the bonsai but it is acceptable for the odd blade of grass to stand above the stand. Evergreen bonsai should be complemented with an accent having small blossoms or fruits.