Club Meetings

This month, the club meeting featured a workshop night, with a critique and discussion of trees on display, and some of the trees brought by members for the workshop.

The trees on display included a variety of species and stages of development.

Several of the trees brought for the workshop were reviewed and styled as part of the broad group discussions.

The April meeting of the club featured a presentation by club member Annalea Smith on the selection and development of young starting stock for bonsai. With Annalea’s well-established background of turning young nursery plants, both seedling-grown and from cuttings, into interesting and very promising bonsai over the course of a few seasons of growth and development, the presentation provided much of interest and inspiration for the members present.

Annalea emphasised the need to commence developing the movement and the future frame of these young trees from the very earliest stages, looking for movement and taper at the start, and enhancing these with wiring and pruning from the start. In addition, root pruning and repotting from the earliest stages gives her trees the best opportunities for fast early growth and and development for the future.

One of Annalea’s key messages was the need to keep visualising the future shape and style of the young seedlings as you wire and develop the trees.

Amongst the species featured by Annalea in her presentation were Eucalyptus leucoxylon, Acacia howittii, Melaleuca incana and Eucalyptus sideroxylon.

Members’ display trees on the night included the following:

The March meeting of the club was a workshop night for members to work on trees in an active group atmosphere, with input and advice available from other members to assist with styling and repotting.  There was also a review of a number of the trees on display, with very active discussion of development and styling of those trees.

Among the trees on display, reviewed and discussed were the following:

 

The first Club meeting of the year featured a display and discussion about “The Australian Style”, with discussion led by Quentin, and with quite a few contributions from the club members present.

Is there an “Australian Style”? This is a question which has been the subject of continuing discussion and debate amongst many native bonsai growers, with a variety of attitudes and opinions expressed, both in this club, and in wider circles.

From our discussions and review of a range of trees on the night, we can understand that many Australian native species have some specific growth characteristics which influence the styles of bonsai which can be developed with them. However, it also seemed apparent from our discussions that the features which make many Australian species develop into great bonsai are best expressed when the principles of good bonsai development are understood and utilised to work with the growth characteristics of each species.

In most cases, the features which distinguish a tree as a great bonsai will be best developed with the use of the appropriate bonsai growing principles during establishment and training.

That doesn’t mean that any Australian native species should just look like any other bonsai, though. The artistry of good native bonsai development will ensure that a tree will be able to demonstrate that it has a sound bonsai heritage, and also, where appropriate, demonstrate the landscape origins and growing characteristics relevant to the species.

However, in aiming to develop any tree as a bonsai, Quentin emphasised that we must first assess the particular specimen in front of us, and seek to achieve the best bonsai within the specimen. From that, we then consider all of the other aspects of the particular species, such as horticulture, natural forms in the wild, and so forth, and then style the tree accordingly.

Quentin used a number of tree specimens to illustrate his key points and to facilitate discussion and debate including paperbarks, banksias, honey-myrtles, eucalypts and casuarinas.

 

Other trees on display at the meeting included the following:

 

The final meeting for 2015 was a discussion and critique of a number of the interesting trees on display on the night. The discussion was valuable for all participants in considering the possibilities and options available for a range of different species presented on the night.

Members’ trees on display included the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the November Club meeting, we were pleased to have a presentation and discussion by Hugh Grant, of the Bonsai Society of The Central Coast (NSW). Hugh came to us under the AABC Visiting Tutor Program, and provided a very thoughtful and stimulating demonstration on a collected specimen of Sannantha virgata (Twiggy Heath Myrtle), which he brought with him. Hugh also provided a range of thoughts on his approach to styling Australian native species generally, and generated quite a bit of discussion amongst members on the topic.

Members’ trees on display at the meeting included the following:

The Annual General Meeting of VNBC was held on 13th October, with the reports for the past year highlighting the progress and achievements of the club in that time. Committee elections saw the re-election of Quentin Valentine as Club President, as well as Marcela Ferriera as Secretary, while new members were added to the committee as well.

After the completion of the AGM formalities, and a presaentation and discussion of some of the trees on display, Quentin reviewed progress on the Melaleuca lanceolata (Moonah) group which he and others established as a demonstration at the Symposium in March. After some discussion, extra trees were added to the group to complete the setting, filling spaces left in the original grouping.

Review of Moonah group, 7 months after establishment
And with new trees added

Other specimens of Moonah were discussed, both showing good budding back on older wood after considerable cutting back earlier in the year.

This was another busy workshop night, with many members again braving the cold and bringing in their trees for advice on styling and growing techniques. An interesting range of trees of different species and tree styles were brought to the meeting for discussion and styling work. Some of the trees presented and discussed included Melaleuca decussata, Grevillea robusta, Acacia baileyana (flowering), Kunzea ericoides, and Eucalyptus nicholli.

It was a busy workshop night, with many members braving the cold and bringing in their trees for advice on styling and growing techniques. Below is a selection of some of the trees discussed.

Josh- Grevillea robusta
Collected from a construction site, lifted with few roots. Responded well despite neglect through Summer. Buds back on old wood, the roots tolerated pruning in Summer without setback. General discussion suggests leaf size will reduce with styling cutting back and trimming. They naturally lose a lot of foliage through Summer so should tolerate defoliation well.

Tony– Eucalyptus camaldulensis River Redgum
Tony has noticed that Redgums in nature have sharp bends and curves created where branches that have died and new buds that have shot on old branches. He wires with sharp bends to replicate the natural features. He has found Redgum to be tough, admitting neglect from not watering has seen the tree lose all leaves, later to bud all over signalling recovery.

The May club meeting featured a great presentation by club member, Jason Caruso, on the possibilities of a wide range of eucalypt species.? Jason spoke on the the evolution of the genus, the variations across the genus and the different groupings of eucalypts andtheir particular characteristics, and highlighted a number of species which could be special possibilities for bonsai. He also covered propagation of the various species, and some of the key features and challenges in developing different species as bonsai.

Species featured included Euc. gillii, Euc. synandra, Euc. erythronema, Euc. sepulcralis, Euc. tetraptera, Euc. formanii, Euc. kruseana, Euc. pluricaulis, Euc. orbifolia x websteriana, Euc. vernicosa, and also gave a special longing mention to Corymbia apparrernya (Ghost Gum)and Euc. brachyandra (from cliff faces in northern Australia).

Plants on display at the meeting included the following: