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 bonsai. With natives, suckering is desirable. More of an effort is needed to create an […]
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 retains fertilisers and releases them when the plant needs it, preventing soil nutrient leaching. Zeolite
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 one side only. Plants that are good for rafts are privets, figs, crabapples and junipers,
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 reducible leaf size, clusters of small yellow flowers and beautiful bark which flakes off in
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 from the pot and survey the root system. Using a small bonsai rake, scrape from
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 and board member and instructor for the All-Japan Shohin- Bonsai Association. Shohin are small bonsai.
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 adjustments in their position on the rock, roots trimmed or more sphagnum moss added. They
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 see the trees all the time, and they simply look nicer in nice pots. But
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 to a pot collection greater than the number of trees you have. Still, you won’t
The most commonly asked question that I get asked everywhere I go is how to grow azaleas. Here is a repeat (a revised edition) of the things that I do, with success, on how to grow and get these beautiful shrubs to flower and keep alive. I keep hearing, ‘I had an azalea but it
