Our History | bonsai

Club History

The Charlotte Ichiban Bonsai Kai (#1 Bonsai School) was founded on April 18th, 1989 by Jerry Oseland (President Emeritus)

Charter Members: Jerry Oseland, Ruth Arnold, Eric Abrahamson, Robert Clifton, James Blunk, Kathryn & Jim Dunning, Bette Gibson, Mary & A.D Fenstermkaer, Lois Harasek, Ken Hurl, Doris Kelly, Betty Kerr, Pat Oseland, Charles Schaufelberger, and Ken Wiggin.

Special Recognition: Rick Johnstone (Past President and Current Vice President) as our longest active member. Rick has been the Ichiban Bonsai club since October 1989.

The club thrived for many years and met at Carl Powell’s nursery in Punta Gorda Florida. There the club met weekly in a tin shed. At the time, this was an idea location as the nursery was able to maintain many club plants and have new raw materials to work with. The location provide by Carl Powell provided an overhead watering system. This allowed some seasonal member to leave their plants during the summer months when they were away.

Hurricane Charley in 2004 devastated the club. Carl Powell’s nursery was really hit hard and the club area destroyed. Most member lost some or all of their trees. After assisting with the rebuild of the tin shed, it was realized that many members had moved on.

A few years ago Ellie Scofield, president of the club at the time came to an agreement with the Charlotte County Cultural Center to allow us to have our meeting there. This really afforded an opportunity to have workshops and meetings in an air conditioned environment. The arrangement by Ellie Scofield turned the club around and we have slowly been gaining members ever since.

The club moved to The Harold Avenue Recreation Center in May of 2014 as a Charlotte County sponsored recreation activity.