Visit the Pennsylvania Bonsai Society at the Philadelphia Flower Show

The Pennsylvania Bonsai Society, which meets at the , has been in the area for 48 years, and has been involved in the Philadelphia Flower Show since the 1960s.

Randall Naftal, who has been the chairman of the Society’s exhibit at the Flower Show for the past 16 years and has been doing bonsai since 1986, said the exhibit is designed as a formal display for bonsai, and is the way someone in Japan or China would have arranged for guests to see.

The formal display includes stands or scrolls for each tree as well as an accent plant.

Naftal said the Bonsai Society has over 100 members and of those, some volunteers will be at the Flower Show to answer questions that visitors have, as well as talk to people about bonsai.

Naftal said the purpose of the society is education of bonsai. Meetings are held the third Friday of each month at the Greater Plymouth Community Center and are open to everyone. He added that membership is $20 for the year and includes all the demonstrations and workshops.

Demonstrators at the society’s meetings come from all over the world, just as the bonsai trees and culture comes from all over the world, and they have had speakers come from Italy to Japan to speak.

He added that the society does other events throughout the year other than the Philadelphia Flower Show as well.

On Saturday, March 10 at 3 p.m., Naftal will be holding a demonstration and discussion on bonsai at the flower show in room 201B.

The Philadelphia Flower Show opens this Sunday, March 4 and runs through Sunday, March 11 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.