Maryland Bonsai Association

Category: Clubs Also called: MBA; marylandbonsai.com (Ellicott City, Maryland)

What it is

The Maryland Bonsai Association is a regional member-run bonsai club. Its Home / About page says the club’s “roots date back to the 1970’s when a group of enthusiasts began to meet to share their common interest in Bonsai,” and that members join from Maryland, DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware. It is a club, not a nursery or a school. No single founding year is printed.

Official URL

Home and About Us: https://www.marylandbonsai.com/

Calendar: https://www.marylandbonsai.com/calendar
November 2026 Meeting (regular 4th Sunday): https://www.marylandbonsai.com/calendar/november-2026-meeting
By-Laws: https://www.marylandbonsai.com/by-laws-for-maryland-bonsai
Contact Us: https://www.marylandbonsai.com/contact-us

(First-party site checked 2026-11-13. Every cited URL returned HTTP 200 to curl -sL -m 25 with a Chrome User-Agent and browser Accept headers, spaced about 1–2 seconds apart. A guessed /contact path and a guessed Western Maryland event slug both returned 404 and are not cited; the November 14 Western Maryland meeting is cited from the Calendar hub only. No contact form was submitted and no dues were paid.)

Location

Ellicott City, MD — Howard County Library–Miller Branch, 9421 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042.

Home says meetings are “generally held on the 4th Sunday of every month from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm,” “in different locations convenient to our members, with most meetings being in the suburban Baltimore area.” Location frontmatter uses only Ellicott City, MD, the city of the next dated regular meeting, so shortCity() stays Ellicott City. Do not put Boonsboro in the location line.

A separate November 2026 Western Maryland Meeting is listed on the Calendar hub (not on a stable event URL on this check): Saturday, November 14, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Sunny Meadows Garden Center, 7437 Sharpsburg Pike, Boonsboro, MD 21713, led by Vice President Bobby Wheeler. The calendar text says the morning session (10:00 a.m. until noon) is beginner-friendly, then a short snack break, then the general membership portion “until approximately 3:00 p.m.” It “is not replacing our regular monthly meeting.” Members may attend the regular 4th Sunday meeting, the second Saturday Western Maryland meeting, or both.

This is a club. It is not a nursery listing and not a Learning card.

Dues, meetings, and officers

Dues, as printed on Home: “$25 per year for a household”; “We take cash, check, paypal and zelle.” “We encourage potential members to attend a meeting to join.”
By-laws (Article IV): annual dues “are payable at the January meeting”; failure to pay by April’s meeting “would constitute grounds for inactive membership.” “Dues paid by new members that join after August 31st will cover the remaining months of the current year and the entirety of the following year.” The dollar amount itself is established by the Board and is printed on Home, not in the by-laws section cited here.
Next dated regular meeting (event page, HTTP 200): Sunday, November 22, 2026, 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Howard County Library – Miller Branch, 9421 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042. Programming: “Presentation on Overwintering Bonsai.” (Home’s general window is noon–5:00 p.m.; this event page prints 1:00–4:30 p.m. Cite both.)
Current Club Officers labeled 2024-2025 (title is stale relative to the 2026 calendar): President Mike Ecker; Vice President Bobbylee Wheeler (the Calendar also prints Bobby Wheeler); Secretary Gail Walker; Treasurer Edith Goldman; Member-at-Large Geoffrey Trivers; Past President Wayne Warren. Non-elected posts: Education Coordinator Barry Figard; Webmaster Tom Majarov. Contact is by the site’s contact form only; no public email or phone is printed on the pages checked.

Notes

First Maryland club checked against local files, GitHub main and live thebonsaiplaza.com on 2026-11-13; not listed. This was the named Friday club alternate.
Rotating venues: Ellicott City is the intended shortCity for the next regular meeting; Western Maryland / Boonsboro meetings are cited in the body only.
“Roots date back to the 1970’s” is not a single founding year.
Officers heading still says 2024-2025.
Image: first-party Maryland Bonsai Association mark from the club’s Wix CDN (db7735_cd59b90706dd4fce8ed2ace18346f1a3~mv2.png), saved as maryland-bonsai-association-logo.png / /images/maryland-bonsai-association.png, PNG 316 × 159 (short side ≥ 100), black mark on a white ground (image_bg: "#ffffff"). The Wix Open Graph image is a photograph and is not used as the logo.
Not affiliated with The Bonsai Plaza. No contact, form, dues or purchase action was taken.

FAQ

Q: How much are Maryland Bonsai Association dues?
A: $25 per year per household, payable in cash, check, PayPal or Zelle, as printed on the Home page. By-laws say annual dues are payable at the January meeting, and dues paid by new members who join after August 31 cover the rest of the current year and all of the following year.

Q: When and where does the club meet?
A: Meetings are generally on the 4th Sunday, noon–5:00 p.m., mostly in suburban Baltimore, with rotating venues. The next dated regular meeting on this check is Sunday, November 22, 2026, 1:00–4:30 p.m., at Howard County Library–Miller Branch, 9421 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042. A separate Western Maryland meeting is listed for Saturday, November 14, 2026, in Boonsboro; it does not replace the regular 4th Sunday meeting.

Q: How do I contact the club?
A: Use the Contact Us form on https://www.marylandbonsai.com/contact-us. No public email or phone number is printed on the pages checked.