Michael has been practising bonsai since 1995 after working a few days at a bonsai nursery. He was then lucky enough to study with Lee Wilson for several years. For the past fifteen, he has been working alongside his brother Sean, in congenial sibling rivalry, developing outstanding trees. Yamadori is a particular interest. Michael believes […]
Last month’s deciduous workshop was successful with many members bringing trees of varying styles and sizes to work on, either styling or repotting as necessary. Maples seemed the dominant species with some terrific, big maple forests. Everybody seemed to enjoy the time to work on their trees and get input from other members.
As always, Sean gave a terrific demonstration full of interesting and useful information on pines. He brought several examples, both field-grown and developed from young stock, and discussed the merits of both for the bonsai grower suggesting that growing a pine from a seeding might actually give a quicker result than correcting the often straight
In a change of pace, this month’s meeting is a deciduous workshop rather than a demonstration. Timely work brings results, so bring a few trees and join us to get on top of things before repotting begins. As always there will be plenty of people to help if you need it.
Ashley brought a large, old black pine to work on last month. Thirty years in the ground and three in the pot, the tree had some flaws but also had good movement, lovely bark and a beautiful nebari. It was a good time to work this tree as it was still flexible and slowing down
Sean is an extremely talented bonsai artist who has been practising bonsai for over twenty years. From a modest beginning in a small nursery on the Central Coast and a period of study with Lee Wilson, Sean became a popular demonstrator whose work has been represented in the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection in Canberra.
Once again, Clinton Nesci gave a most interesting demonstration using Australian natives to create literati trees. Species like the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum ‘Mesmer Eyes’), Tick bush (Kunzea ambigua) and Heath myrtle (Baeckea virgata) lend themselves well to the literati style as they are elongating species with lovely rough, deeply fissured or flaky bark, small
Well known bonsai nurseryman, Ashley Brown has been surrounded by plants all his life. He started his horticultural career in 1985 working for one of Australia’s largest propagation nurseries and has owned nurseries since 1993; as a result, there are not many species with which Ashley is unfamiliar. In 2005, he moved to Jililby and
Last month, Tony chose cedar from the display table to work on. He likes the tall, graceful style of literati trees and this was an elegant tree in need of a new eye and some refinement. Tony’s plan was to reduce the foliage all over the tree but particularly the apex, wire primary branches to
Last month, Andrew discussed Tanuki or ‘Phoenix Graft’ bonsai- a technique in which a living tree is joined to an interesting piece of dead wood. In Japanese folklore, a tanuki or racoon dog is a mischievous yokai (Japanese ghost or spirit) that plays tricks on the humans around it but is harmless to them. Cape
