创立缘起
1973 年 6 月 5 日，纽约州 Rye Brook 居民 Jerome Meyer 向 Westchester 与 Fairfield 两个郡的四十七位盆景爱好者发出一封邀请信，提出组建一个以「研习盆景、分享盆景」为宗旨的本地社团。同年 6 月 16 日第一次筹备会在 Meyer 家中召开，除 Jerome 与妻子 Charlotte 外另有七人到会，九人一致同意成立团体并当场把入会费定为 5 美元，Jerome 出任首任会长，「Yama Ki Bonsai Society」由此诞生。「Yama Ki」之名于同年 8 月选定，取日文中「山」（Yama）与「树」（Ki）之意，传达「山林树木盆景化」的造景理念。
早期活动与社区展览
建会头一年，社团以会员互助模式运作，讨论与交流取代了外聘讲师的讲座，唯一的对外支出仅来自两次有偿工作坊。1973 年 9 月，距社团成立仅三个月，Yama Ki 便参加了 White Plains 的 Burke 康复医院花卉园艺展与 Westchester 男士花园俱乐部展，前者展出了 31 盆会员盆景。1974 年 4 月与 6 月又先后在 Westchester 县花卉展与 Ward Pound Ridge 保留地展出两次，「Learning From Each Other — Sharing With the Community」这句口号正式印上社团宣传品并贯穿至今。
十周年与 Yoshimura 盛会
1983 年 10 月 15 日，社团迎来十周年庆典，特别邀请美国盆景巨匠 Yuji Yoshimura 于 Tarrytown 的 Westchester 万豪酒店举办全日古典盆景盛会，涵盖多干盆景创作、「认养一棵树」演示、馆藏树讲座与三株组合地景四个环节。Yoshimura 长期与 Yama Ki 保持着讲学与示范的合作关系，多位会员均为其弟子。同日晚间，社团在同址举行正式十周年晚宴，近百位会员与来宾共襄盛举，标志 Yama Ki 已「成熟而立」。
会员成长与纽约植物园年展
社团成立一年时（1974 年 6 月）会员已达 52 人，至 1986 年底九位创始会员中仍有八位留在 Yama Ki；1987 年会员总数升至 127 人，讲座范围从纽约州本地扩展至宾州、华盛顿特区、佛州、加州乃至德国 Horst Krekler、英国 Harry Tomlinson 等海外名家。1986 年起，Yama Ki 每年在纽约植物园举办公开展览，成为大纽约地区最具号召力的盆景公共活动之一；同年，社团发起成立 Mid-Atlantic Bonsai 联合会，把纽约、新泽西、宾州三州的社团联合起来轮流主办年会，至今已涵盖 13 家赞助俱乐部。
理念传承与社区贡献
「互学互鉴、奉献社区」既印在每一份社团印刷品上，也体现在持续数十年的公共展览、媒体报道与社区园艺推广之中。Yama Ki 至今仍是 Westchester 与 Fairfield 区域最具历史与影响力的盆景爱好者自治组织，常年通过讲座、工作坊、慈善植物展销与青少年园艺教育回馈本地园艺社群。
Founding Origins
On June 5, 1973, Jerome Meyer of Rye Brook, New York mailed an invitation to forty-seven bonsai enthusiasts living in and around Westchester and Fairfield counties. Eleven days later, on June 16, Meyer and his wife Charlotte hosted the inaugural gathering at their home, joined by seven neighbors. The nine founders unanimously agreed to charter a local bonsai society, set initial dues at five dollars and elected Meyer as the first president. The name Yama Ki Bonsai Society was selected that August, blending the Japanese words for mountain (Yama) and tree (Ki) to capture the art of transposing woodland trees into living sculpture.
Early Activities and Community Shows
The first year was essentially self-directed, with members leading discussions rather than paid lecturers; only two paid workshops generated outside revenue. By September 1973 the Society had already appeared at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital Flower and Garden Show in White Plains, displaying thirty-one member trees, and at the Westchester Men’s Garden Club Show at the Allstate headquarters, where eighteen more were exhibited. In April and June 1974 the Society mounted further displays at the Westchester County Flower and Garden Show and at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, formally adopting the slogan “Learning From Each Other — Sharing With the Community” that has guided the club ever since.
Tenth Anniversary and the Yoshimura Symposium
On October 15, 1983, Yama Ki marked its tenth anniversary by hosting Yuji Yoshimura at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown for a full day of classical bonsai programming — a multi-trunk styling demonstration, an innovative “Adopt-a-Tree” session, a guided tour of exhibited trees and a three-part group planting that assembled into a single six-foot landscape. Members had long studied with Yoshimura, and many still do; that evening a sit-down dinner at the same venue celebrated the Society’s arrival at maturity.
Membership Growth and the NYBG Tradition
By the close of the first year membership stood at 52; eight of the nine founders remained active in 1986, and by 1987 the roster had grown to 127. Guest speakers were drawn from an ever-widening circle — Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Florida, California and abroad, including Germany’s Horst Krekler and England’s Harry Tomlinson. Since 1986 the Society has staged an annual public exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, one of the largest bonsai displays in the metropolitan region. The same period saw the founding of the Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Group, which today unites thirteen sponsoring clubs across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in a rotating spring convention.
Mission and Community Contribution
“Learning From Each Other — Sharing With the Community” is more than a slogan: it lives in decades of public exhibitions, press coverage and outreach to local schools and horticultural groups. Today Yama Ki remains the most enduring and influential amateur bonsai society in the Westchester–Fairfield corridor, continuing to advance both the art of bonsai and the broader gardening community through lectures, workshops and charitable events.
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