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Notes From ‘sharing Our Learnings” On Eucalyptus

The Victorian Native Bonsai Club hosted the 10th Symposium of Australian Native Plants as Bonsai in Melbourne at the end of August. The two day native infusion was well planned, superbly delivered and the delegates got a lot of facts […]

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Native Forest Plantings

Marcela Ferreira does not like traditional forest plantings which are usually very formulaic. She finds them ‘anally retentive’ and boring. They don’t evoke anything in her mind. Marcela stressed that the bonsai artist needs to find their own voice in […]

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What Is Zeolite and Why Add It to Your Bonsai Mix

I was introduced to Zeolite and Enfield Produce in Sydney by a bonsai mentor Rob Clausen and have been using 2-4mm Zeolite at about a 10% additive for about 30 years. As a relatively inexpensive mineral additive it attracts and […]

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Crafting Raft Bonsai: Top Techniques and Plant Choices

In bonsai, a raft is one trunk along the ground supporting a number of ‘branches’ that have become trunks in their own right. Rafts come in straight and sinuous and are usually developed when a stock plant has branches on […]

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Dead Wood Work

Water Gum (Tristaniopsis laurina) is a great choice for bonsai, particularly in the Sydney area where it is commonly used as a street tree and thrives with little or no attention. Shiny, attractive foliage with bronze tips in spring, easily […]

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Repotting Deciduous Trees: Brenda Parker

Remove any weeds, moss, fallen leaves and debris from the soil surface. Study the structure of the branches and then cut out any crossing branches and shorten the long branches to instigate more branching (ramification) in spring. Remove the tree […]

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Growing Shohin Bonsai

Towards the end of 2022, BSA was fortunate to have Evan Marsh give a demonstration on growing Shohin bonsai. Evan is well known for his prize winning Shohin and has studied with Koji Hiramatsu who is an expert Shohin grower […]

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Workshop Notes by Michele T

Nine members attended our workshop last month and had an interesting time doing Root over Rock figs. Some trees created at last year’s Root over Rock workshop had their roots exposed to check on progress. Of these, a few needed […]

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A Hole in One: Lee Wright

I have a fetish about putting all my trees into bonsai pots, even the trees in early training that don’t begin to deserve a dedicated pot. My benches are just outside my dining room and kitchen windows so you can […]

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POTS THAT WILL NEVER SEE A TREE by Lee Wright

Don’t we all have pots like this or am I just weird? One of the downsides (?) of being a bonsai enthusiast is the tendency to collect pots for which you have no tree, not now, often never. This translates […]

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