Mission

The Bonsai Society of Greater New York, Inc. is dedicated to preserving and promoting the art of bonsai.

To achieve our goal we host monthly meetings for our members and the public.  Our meetings feature guest artists to lecture on and demonstrate bonsai techniques, workshops where our members can practice the techniques they have learned from our guest artists, as well as fun meetings where we eat and drink (August BBQ & Swap Meet, Holiday Party and Auction).  We produce a monthly electronic newsletter.

Bonsai has been described as the ultimate art form.  In order to be successful with bonsai the practitioner needs to be familiar with various design concepts, manually dexterous and horticulturally knowledgeable.  Bonsai is a living art form, not only does the ‘artist’ need to understand design principles but they need to be able to keep their art work alive.  Unlike a painter or sculpture which produces a mostly static art form, bonsai is time art (more like music) that grows, changes and evolves over time.   Bonsai is not a static art, styles and forms that were popular in the 1800s are now considered passé.

As the oldest bonsai society on the east coast of the United States we have a long history of producing the first regular English language publication on the topic of bonsai.   Our archive of the Bonsai Bulletin is available in CD/DVD ROM format and can be ordered from this website.

We can trace our lineage back to the Yoshimura family.

The Bonsai Society of Greater New York, a not-for-profit organization of men and women devoted to teaching the techniques and the art of bonsai and to further its development as an art form for the enjoyment of those who create bonsai and those who view them.