The School of Bonsai (https://www.schoolofbonsai.com.au) recently hosted a visit to Sydney by Japanese bonsai master, Koji Hiramatsu. Despite torrential rain, members and guest flocked to see Koji in action and they weren’t disappointed. Koji, ably assisted by Evan Marsh and Sean Hood, gave a most interesting and informative demonstration working on an old material rarely […]
With some down time over the Christmas holidays, I finally got around to re-styling THIS TREE. It had been growing mostly untouched for a couple of years and had well and truly outgrown its former style. As it had been left to grow a lot of the growth had become leggy and a lack of
Growing a Japanese maple is relatively easy, with the tree hardy to a lot of punishment. It loathes too much water but will be one of the first to show you if you happen to miss a watering. This will keep you on your toes a little over the warmer periods in the season. I
Brenda Parker was guest demonstrator at the Nepean Bonsai Society’s October meeting where she gave a timely talk on the care and maintenance of azaleas, one of her (and many others) favourite species for bonsai. In Japan special azalea bonsai festivals are organized around the time the trees flower. Azaleas are excellent for bonsai. Their
New Zealand mirror bush (Coprosma repens) is an excellent choice for bonsai for several reasons: Growing requirements: Styling tips: Maintenance: Mirror bush is particularly popular in New Zealand and Australia for bonsai and increasingly appreciated worldwide for its ease of care and attractive appearance.
Defoliation techniques for Ficus bonsai help refine the tree, improve its structure, and encourage balanced growth. An added benefit is that defoliation allows you to better see branch and trunk lines, enabling improved design assessment of what requires wiring, adjusting, or removal. Wiring is also easier to perform on a defoliated tree. To defoliate a
So, after some time nurturing and styling your bonsai, the time has come when you think it has reached a stage where you would like to put it on display for others to appreciate what you have achieved. At this stage, presentation is very important to make your bonsai look its best regardless of whether
Repotting is not just the time to remove excess roots and refresh the soil. That’s a huge part of it but repotting also gives the bonsai artist an opportunity to dig around the nebari and see if the tree has developed more interesting roots that can be revealed by lowering the soil level. I have
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
Everyone who participated enjoyed Tony’s workshops in early June. Tony is so knowledgable and engaging, it is always a pleasure to work with him. Trees ranged from small to large, developing to refined and all were improved by the end of the day. New skills and techniques were learned. Thank you to Paulette for being
