In many ways, bonsai trees are like children. They take years of nurturing and special care to grow into maturity forming a strong bond between the tree and its caretaker along the way. For Seward Park resident Louise Czerniski selling one of her Bonsai trees is almost impossible.
"You come to love them so much," she said. "You feel like you're selling your kids when you sell one."
But selling one is exactly what she intends to do when the Puget Sound Bonsai Association (PSBA) holds its second annual benefit auction this Saturday, April 28, at the Jefferson Park Club House (4101 Beacon Ave. S.) from 1 to 4 p.m. The festivities get started at noon with an hour-long tree preview featuring music and refreshments.
The auction, open to the public, features trees from clubs from all over the Pacific Northwest including Olympia, Sequim and Portland, and will have bonsai trees for sale in both a live and silent auctions.
"Trees can go for as little as $10 or as much as several hundred dollars," said, Matt Fogata, vice president of PSBA who will be one of the auctioneers on Saturday. "It's a great event to help raise money for the organization and to introduce Bonsai to the public."
Funds from the auction will go toward the PSBA, a non-profit organization open to the public celebrating the art and culture of bonsai. The PSBA started in 1973 and currently has more than 300 members across Washington.
Czerniski, who will turn 94-years-old in June, is one of the original members of the PSBA and will be participating in this Saturday's auction. "I've lived a long time so a lot of the people who started out are not with us anymore," she said.
One of those people was Connie Rapael, Czerniski's best friend and first bonsai teacher. Rapael, who became interested in bonsai in the early 1940s, was a local bonsai teacher for many years holding classes in her home, the Jefferson Park Field House and the University of Washington.
"I thought somehow or another you had to be Japanese," Czerniski said. "So when I discovered the bonsai class being offered at the U (University of Washington), I was ecstatic. It was only $35 and you can't get anything for $35 anymore."
Czerniski signed up for the class and has been active in the community ever since. She joined the PSBA at its inception in 1973, has traveled all around the country attending bonsai shows, auctions and conventions and participates in many small study groups throughout the month. Her favorite group is the Connie Rapael Bonsai Study Group named after her best friend.
"Connie had decided she had taught her students everything she knew and would not continue to take their money," Czerniski said with a smile. "So we started to meet at the Jefferson Park Field House instead and she was always there. She passed away 20 years ago and I still miss her."
Czerniski was raised outside of Chicago and moved to Seattle in 1968 from Southern California with her late husband and was thrilled at the idea of living in the Pacific Northwest because of the vast vegetation and the way it grows. It wasn't until the early 1970s she discovered bonsai, but the little trees had always appealed to her. She even dreamed that someday she would grow them herself.
Now, she's been growing bonsai for more than 30 years and is just as active in the community and her study groups, but she doesn't travel to as many shows and doesn't grow the larger trees because they're difficult to move. Czerniski says she is looking forward to this Saturday's auction, and is not too worried about being sad when her bonsai sells.
"I'm not putting in a very good tree," she said with a chuckle. "It's a tree I've had since 1991. It's OK, but not very interesting. I chose it because I could part with it without weeping. Hopefully, people will spend a lot of money."
The Puget Sound Bonsai Association meets every fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Urban Horticulture located at 3501 N.E. 41st Street in the University District. More information about the Puget Sound Bonsai Association and other upcoming events can be found at http://www.psba.us.
Beacon Hill writer and photographer Peter Kearns may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
