October has arrived, and with it cooler weather.  The shade cloth has been taken down and the trees are doing their final bit of growing for the year.  With the cold and wet rainy growing season we had this year it's very important that Soji, Fall cleanup work is done before putting the trees away for Winter.  Now is the time to plan the many chores of Fall.  This includes cleaning and thinning pines and junipers, refreshing the top layer of soil, trimming back refined maples, and pulling weeds, etc. 

This weekend is the Carolina Bonsai Expo at the North Carolina Arboretum.  Unfortunately other duties prevent me from attending this year, but I'm looking forward to hearing good reports.

If you're not planning on attending the Carolina Bonsai Expo this weekend, how about a meeting of the Greater Louisville Bonsai Society?  This will be a "Tree Maintenance" workshop.  I've agreed to give a brief talk on preparing Japanese Black Pine for Winter.  Some of the topics I plan to cover are the Fall cleanup work and storage requirements, with a follow up Bonsai Study Group meeting October 24th.