From the Club’s July meeting – a discussion and demonstrations on Australian native conifer species as bonsai.
With more than 40 species of native conifers found across Australia, ranging from the northern tropics through the drier inland hills and plains, and to the cooler southern alpine areas of Tasmania, we have a most interesting range of species, each with different characteristics and growth habits. This meeting was an opportunity to have a look at what some of our members are doing with Australian conifers, what are the possibilities and the challenges, and which other species could be used as bonsai.
On display for discussion at the meeting, there was quite an interesting range of species. The trees presented and discussed included Athrotaxis cupressoides (Pencil pine), Lagarostrobos franklinii (Huon pine), Podocarpus lawrencei (Mountain plum pine), Phyllocladus asplenifolius (Celery top pine), Diselma archeri, (Cheshunt Pine), Microcachrys tetragona (Strawberry pine), Pectinopitys ladei (Mt Spurgeon black pine), and Callitris rhomboidea (Port Jackson pine). At our June club meeting, we also saw the very special Araucaria cunninghamii (Hoop pine), and of course, we have seen at previous meetings examples of Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) as well as other species of Callitris demonstrated.
