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.