Unless otherwise noted, The Columbus Bonsai Society meets the third Sunday of every month at 2:00 PM ET. at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The public is welcome to these meetings.

Board meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM ET in the Franklin Park Conservatory library. Board meetings are open to members.

- By Ken Schultz

Usually I follow the common name with a scientific – or vice versa. But this is it, both. It’s Cot-o-nee-as-ter, not Cotton Easter, which I’ve frequently heard over the years. There are a wide selection of Cotoneaster varieties. Unfortunately, pre-bonsai varieties tend not be hardy to this zone, and when planted in a pot some of the locally available landscape materials object to root pruning. This must be why I’ve avoided Cotoneaster as the tree of the month subject for so long.

Cotoneater are usually trained as nifty little “apple trees”; their white flowers and red fruit are size proportionate, and their natural branching is arched toward the ground make them an ideal scale model. Unfortunately, they also get fire blight just like apples. However, when fire-blight strikes a shohin or mame’ bonsai is likely to die before the fire blight can be removed.

Sap Sucking Scale!

Do you see “honeydew” on your plant’s leaves? (Honeydew is partially digested sap; it looks like little sticky droplets) Are leaves turning yellow, and your plant seems to have stopped growing? If you peer closely at the tops or the undersides of the leaves, do you see small roundish brown bumps on them, randomly scattered, but mostly along the petiole. If you look closely on the twigs and stems near the tips of the branches some of what you thought were bumps of bark, may also be SCALE!! Outdoors ants may also be present as they find the honeydew tasty. Scale insects pierce the leaves and stems and suck the sap from plants causing them to lose vigor color and in severe cases lead to extensive leaf yellowing, premature leaf drop, branch dieback and death of the plant.