Columbus Bonsai Society sets May meeting for show prep and tree work
Members spent the May 17 session at Franklin Park Conservatory working trees and show details, a hands-on tuneup before the club's June 13-14 annual exhibit.
At Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus Bonsai Society turned its May club meeting into a working session built around show prep and tree work, with members bringing their own trees to refine from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 17. The format made the goal plain: this was not a sit-back lecture, but a practical check-in aimed at getting trees closer to exhibition condition before the club’s summer show cycle.
That approach fits the way Columbus Bonsai Society has operated for decades. The club says it has been meeting since 1972 and has hosted an annual show since 1974, with a long-running relationship to Franklin Park Conservatory that includes procuring a bonsai collection for the gardens and helping care for other bonsai displays. The society also says it typically meets on the third Sunday of the month, which puts the May gathering right in the middle of its regular monthly rhythm.
For members, the value of a bring-your-own-tree meeting is in the last-mile decisions. Styling cuts, wire adjustments, pot-and-tree balance, and display readiness all tend to get sharper when several growers are working side by side in the same room. The conservatory setting adds another layer, because the club’s trees are being prepared in the same kind of public horticultural environment where they will eventually be seen.
That public-facing work leads directly into the 2026 Columbus Bonsai Society Annual Show, listed for June 13-14 at the Franklin County Fairgrounds Ganyard Building. The club says the show is a collaboration with the Central Ohio Shibui Ohara Study Group and the ikebana community, and a public event listing says it will feature 50-plus bonsai trees. The show is set to include displays, live demonstrations, special guest artists, vendors, workshops, and partner participation from Columbus’s ikebana circle.
Franklin Park Conservatory is also hosting a two-week Bonsai Demystified workshop tied to Columbus Bonsai Society, with the class fee including a one-year CBS membership and all supplies provided. Taken together, the May meeting, the workshop, and the June show trace the same path: trees get worked, refined, and judged in public from the same club pipeline that has been building since 1972.
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