Welcome to the Victorian Native Bonsai Club
Our club specialises in Australian Native Plants and Trees as Bonsai. We’d love for you to be part of our club. Feel free to browse our content rich website and for more information on how to join so you can be part of our community and gain access to other specialised videos, events and our species database, please click here.
Monthly Club meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month commencing at 7:30pm at the Harry Atkinson Centre, Coburg Lake Reserve, Coburg.
Workshops are held from 10:00am at the same venue on several Saturdays in the year, as shown in the club calendar.
LATEST NEWS
- December Club Meeting – Tuesday 12th December
The Club’s final meeting for 2023, to wrap up the year and to prepare us for 2024.
What is it that helps show a tree at its best in an exhibition? We will have plenty of discussion, demonstration and advice in relation to works being carried out on trees in preparation for the Club’s exhibition to be held in March, to assist members who have bonsai that they may wish to put on display. Members are encouraged to bring one or two trees that they may be considering for display at the exhibition, to see what may be needed to be done over the next couple of months to exhibit them at their best.
And of course, there will be plenty of time on the night to socialize, celebrate, talk about bonsai, and to review what we have all done over the year.
Where? – Harry Atkinson Centre, Coburg Lake Reserve, Park St, Coburg, commencing at 7:30pm.
- VNBC 2024 Exhibition of Australian Native Plants as Bonsai
Note the dates for the 2024 VNBC Exhibition – Friday night 15th March and Saturday 16th March, in the Preston Town Hall, Gower Street, Preston.
As always, we expect to have a most interesting and diverse display of what our club members are achieving in growing a wide variety of Australian native species as Bonsai. There are a few innovations in display methods being considered, and there will definitely be something of interest for everyone who comes along.
Set the dates aside now, and we will be looking forward to seeing you there. More information to follow as we get closer to the dates.
- November Club Meeting – “Eucalypts: The Weird and the Wonderful”, with Dean Nicolle
The November Club meeting was a most fascinating night of Eucalypts.
The presenter on the night, Dr Dean Nicolle, took us on a photographic journey around much of Australia, looking at some of the diverse and fascinating range of eucalypts to be found across the country. From some of the Corymbia species in the north, through to Snow Gums of the south, there was just so much to explore of the occurrence of various species throughout Australia, and their characteristics and growth habits.
Dean is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and expert people on Eucalypts in Australia, and is the recipient of a number of major awards and honors for his services to conservation of Australian Eucalypts, including an OAM in 2018. As a researcher, a publisher of some of the most definitive books on Eucalypt identification, and managing the Currency Creek Arboretum in South Australia, where he has planted more than 800 species of eucalypts, Dean has travelled throughout Australia identifying and collecting eucalypts for his books and for the arboretum.
Dean gave the club members plenty to think about in relation to various species we might consider for growing as bonsai, and provided plenty of background information on growth habits. The evening certainly reinforced the understanding that, with all the diversity across the eucalypts, we can never treat them all as being just the same in their needs and responses to growing as bonsai.
- October Club Meeting – AGM and propagation demonstrations
The October club meeting started with the Annual General Meeting, held to report on the year past, to elect the club committee for 2023/24, and to look ahead to the coming year’s activities, with plenty of active discussion and suggestions for the committee and club to consider in preparing the year’s program. With a good number of members present on the night, including several of our regional and interstate members on Zoom, the AGM was well attended, with a good range of valuable comments and ideas presented for consideration.
The AGM was followed by a presentation and discussion session on various propagation techniques, including repotting of two Leptospermums by Marcela, alongside a demonstration by Quentin of air layering the lower trunk of quite a large Ficus, and the use of thread grafting and approach grafting of branches for developing improved plants as bonsai. All of these demonstrations generated a lively amount of interest, questions and discussion amongst the members.
Over the next couple of months, the club committee will be working on the program for the coming year, as well as preparation for the Club’s 2024 Exhibition on 15/16 March.
Photos of some of the demonstration action on the night…..
Quentin and Marcela at work on their trees Removing bark for aerial layering Leptospermum laevigatum repotted Ficus with collar attached to allow air layer to develop - Club Meeting September 2023 – celebrating the first 10 years of the club, and talking about stones, stumps, bark and pots
What can’t we use as containers for bonsai? Bonsai = Tree in a Pot, but our definition of a “pot” can be quite varied, if the examples from our September Club meeting were anything to go by!
The topic for the night was advertised as alternative containers for growing bonsai, and there were quite a number of interesting alternatives brought along for discussion and demonstration on the night. There were hollow logs, bark pieces, hand-crafted trays, mallee roots with excavated holes, any number of interesting rocks with planting hollows, as well as artificial rocks and mountains crafted out of various materials.
Thanks to all who brought tree settings and materials for discussion on the night, and who helped celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Victorian Native Bonsai Club.
Some of the examples on the night ……..
Hollowed-out rocks Mallee roots and rocks ready for use Tilt allows changed setting of tree direction Tree placed in rocky hollow Tree + rock + stand + companion plants - VNBC Exhibition 2023 – 24th / 25th March
What a fascinating range of trees and styles once again on show at the club’s 2023 Exhibition of Australian native species as Bonsai.
This year, club members presented 61 trees on display, providing the steady stream of visitors with quite a diversity of species, styles and ages to contemplate and admire. A number of comments from first-time visitors were along the lines of “Wow, I never could have imagined Australian native trees and shrubs looking as beautiful as these as bonsai”.
Voting was held over the two days for visitors to nominate their favourite tree for the Public’s Choice Award, and this year, the winning tree for this prize was a magnificent Coastal Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum, with a Mountain Burgan, Kunzea peduncularis, in second place.
Public Choice Winner Coastal Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum 2nd Place, Public Choice Award
Mountain Burgan, Kunzea peduncularisThis year again, we had representatives of Eucalypt Australia judging for the Best Eucalypt in Show as part of our celebration of National Eucalypt Day on 23rd March. From their very detailed inspections of the range of Eucalypts presented in the exhibition, the trophy was awarded for a Smithton Peppermint, Eucalyptus nitida, just edging out a River Red Gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, into second place.
“Best Eucalypt in Show 2023”, Eucalyptus nitida, Smithton Peppermint 2nd place, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, River Red Gum As always, the sales area was very popular amongst visitors, with quite a few people taking away plants and pots (with plenty of advice) to establish their first bonsai tree.
Sales area at one of the quieter times Congratulations and thanks are due to all members who participated through putting bonsai on display, setting up and dismantling the exhibition, and actively working in the running of the two days, in helping make this show a success.
A full set of images of all of the bonsai on display at the exhibition has been added to our photo gallery.
- Interested in becoming a member of VNBC?
Membership of the Victorian Native Bonsai Club is a great avenue for anyone who wants to develop their understanding and skills in growing bonsai using Australian native plant species.
Access to support, new ideas, knowledge of others, regular Club newsletters, a database of information, and much more, all come as benefits of club membership.
The Victorian Native Bonsai Club is keen to hear from you if you are interested in membership.
Just click on the “Joining” tab in the menu list, and follow the prompts.