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.
I always love this time of year, because a lot of my trees have been repotted and/or restyled. I feel great satisfaction visualising the next step in development for each tree as I work on it. Some have been transferred from a training pot to a bonsai pot and some have been reshaped by wire
Bought at the Illawarra show last May, the basic plan for this old trident maple (1991) was to deal with the congestion at the apex, remove the highest root on the right-hand side and change the angle when repotting. The original sandy soil mix, which was drying out too quickly, was to be replaced, so
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
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.
It’s been pleasant to have a dry, although cold, start to winter, and I’ve been able to commence repotting my deciduous bonsai, as I’m sure many of you have too. Some of the species you should be working on include crabapples, maples, elms, wisteria, liquidambars, flowering prunus of all types, deciduous conifers and ashes. Bear
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.
Our autumn in Sydney had some fairly cold days, forecasting the fact that winter was coming, and is, in fact, now here. With the sun moving lower in the sky during the colder months, you may need to move your trees around to get more direct sun. Keep frost tender trees under protection if frosts
