The first weekend in June saw about 50 enthusiasts get together for Bonsai by the Harbour, an annual event held by the Bonsai Federation of Australia in Gladesville, Sydney, at the SHORE Rowing Facility. It’s a very relaxed event with excellent demonstrators and workshops going on over the weekend. There were also vendors on site selling their wares, with some excellent pots and tree stock available for purchase. I of course dabbled in a few little things, picking up some beautiful shohin pots and also some small chojubai (Japanese quince), and a very nice banana fig, which, of course, I needed!
I booked in for the two days and headed down on Saturday along with eight other Central Coast Club members to enjoy the first day. Tony Bebb from Queensland, was the first demonstrator, working on a medium sized Chinese juniper.
Tony then got stuck into a medium sized Melaleuca and was joined on stage by Grant Bowie, from Canberra, showing off his bending skills on some Jack Pines which were in a group setting.
Grant was able to get some considerable bends into the trees, at one stage pulling the trees down using his full weight to get the bend! He demonstrated the use of raffia in two different methods to aid in protecting the trunk in those drastic bends. (See left).
After lunch, Brenda Parker from the Illawarra Bonsai Society, showed Brenda Parker talks Saikei us some very interesting Saikei plantings using broken pots and some exquisite rocks that she had found.
Neil Padbury from Shibui Nursery in Yackandandah, Victoria finished an action packed first day with a very interesting talk on root over rock trident maples and how he uses aluminium foil to get the roots clinging to the rocks. Fascinating and very informative.
Tony Bebb held a workshop in the afternoon, while the demonstrations continued, and people drifted between the two rooms, getting some excellent information.
Sunday saw a bonsai legend, Ray Nesci, take to the demonstration stage with Clinton at this side, sharing his knowledge and some cracking stories and jokes about some of his prized trees. The trees just kept coming as more and more trees came up onto the table for discussion, ending up with some beautiful mame sized tress. It was so good to see Ray back after his health scares and see him in fine form having a great time. I know everyone enjoyed it.
Sean Hood then came on and discussed a collected olive (that he had spent the morning carving), covering digging and after care of the species. A few people then jumped up and assisted Sean in wiring the tree into a cracking sumo style, which has excellent potential for the future. I look forward to seeing this one develop over the next few years.
After lunch, Neil Padbury was back, discussing growing techniques for trident maples, using an aluminium plate to get a good nebari over a number of seasons. There were several examples, covering 5 years of growing in the ground to create magnificent nebari.
A very interesting demonstration and well worth having a go at.
Finally, Tony Bebb and Chris Allnutt jumped up for a critique of a number of trees, discussing possible futures for each. It was good to see the differences in opinion between them, with Chris and Tony often at odds in regard to future direction. A good learning experience for those still at the event.
This was my fourth Bonsai by the Harbour, and I highly recommend the event as one to put into the calendar. A lot of good demonstrations, with many little tips and tricks picked up over the weekend to help you with your own trees. Well worth it and a lot of fun as well, catching up with all my bonsai friends.