AUSTRALIAN AUSTRALIAN WINTER BONSAI · 2020-01-20 · Bonsai in a Suitcase Rob Kempinski Robs dialogue - I set up this display today at our local bonsai club's meeting. - Something

Australian Bonsai – The magazine that unifies people through Bonsai Page 1

AUSTRALIAN BONSAI

JUNE 2015 – ISSUE 7 AUSTRALIAN WINTER

EDITOR – IAN GLEW

Hi again

In writing this a number of cyclones have affected the area I live in Queensland and we have had huge amounts of rain and unseasonably hot weather. Now we have entered the autumn season and about to head into winter – what has happened to 2015.

It is convention time and South Australia is hosting this year’s AABC Ltd convention. Andrew Ward and the South Australian Bonsai Society will I am sure provide a first class event with Mr. Koji Hiramatsu from Japan being the headline demonstrator and his first visit to Australia. It will be the 28th convention of its type and a theme of - ‘Bonsai - A Growing Art’

Unfortunately due to family commitments Sheila and I will be unable to attend and I might add it’s one of the few I have missed in the last 15 years – I wish the SA team good luck.

If you have not been to one of these conventions 2015 is a great starting point – fabulous events.

Hope you enjoy the June edition.

Ian Glew

Australian Bonsai Editor

WELCOME TO THE JUNE 2015 (WINTER) EDITION OF AUSTRALIAN BONSAI.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Ian was bitten by the Bonsai bug some twenty plus years ago and has been an avid Bonsai enthusiast ever since.

Serving on many committees at local club, National and International level with a goal in mind to help share and nurture the Art of Bonsai.

He has published many newsletters at all levels and is a published author of Bonsai related articles.

A professional public speaker and trainer in professional life has proved an ideal grounding to build a successful international Bonsai demonstrating career, he is a registered demonstrator at both National and international levels.

Passionate and dedicated to sharing and hopefully ensuring the art of Bonsai continues to be passed on through generations.


Contents Bonsai Styles in Nature – Ian Glew ..................................................................................................... 3

Bonsai in a Suitcase – Rob Kempinski ................................................................................................. 3

Myrtle Beech – Ambrose Canning ...................................................................................................... 4

Foolin with Figs - Finale –Ian Glew ..................................................................................................... 8

Bonsai Events around the World. ...................................................................................................... 9

Subscribe To Australian Bonsai .......................................................................................................... 9


I have spoken about Rob Kempinski in a number of articles and also reviewed his book and his Bonsai Art Cycle theory with which I totally agree.

He is always pushing things to different perspectives and after Robert Stevens convention in Indonesia, Rob is developing unusual ways to display Bonsai. He put this article on Facebook recently and agreed for me to share it with you.

Certainly a different and interesting way to display trees, Bonsai Society of Australia are renowned for themed displays, puts added burden on the set up but is interesting and captures an audience.

Bonsai in a Suitcase – Rob Kempinski

Robs dialogue -

I set up this display today at our local bonsai club's meeting. - Something different- Bonsai in a suitcase.

The tree inside is a Willow Leaf Fig in a Tom Benda pot. The outside tree is a Florida Elm in a Jim Barret pot. The accent jita is a USA Passport with various countries currency.

Under the elm are various travel books. Display is like interior decorating so have a good time with it. Have fun down under!

One of the first things about Bonsai I was taught in my journey through the Bonsai years was about the various styles, anyone who has taken classes I am sure would remember this. I am sure a little of the confusion I had would also be remembered in many reading his article.

Styles I am sure have come from someone in the history of Bonsai seeing a tree possibly hanging over a cliff and put a name to it – Cascade or Semi.

In my opinion is how our style classifications came about and then rules were established around the various styles. There is no limit to development of a style a new style – the flat top came out of South Africa not long ago and is a definite hit.

We should always be on the lookout for that tree in nature which is an example of particular style. I have mentioned before we spent 3 years in Sydney and before we left New South Wales we discovered a magnificent lake and park area right in the middle of a city 25 km out of Sydney called Parramatta – Parramatta Lakes was the name of the area we discovered.

A beautiful and to some degree an undiscovered oasis, in the centre of a very busy and vibrant city.

We discovered a walking track that circumnavigated the lake and on venturing off on the 2 hours walk discovered this amazing and natural Raft styled – Aussie Eucalyptus (Gum ) tree.

Bonsai Styles in Nature – Ian Glew


Myrtle Beech – Ambrose Canning

Myrtle Beech, or given its botanical name Nothofagus cunninghamii, or simply Myrtle, is one of the southern beech and a tree native to Tasmania and Victoria. It is an evergreen hardwood that grows mainly in cool temperate rainforest and mixed forest. Tasmania contains 95% of Australia’s cool temperate rainforest, and it is very different from the rainforest found in warmer areas of Australia. Myrtles typically grow to 30 to 40m tall, can live up to 500 years, and can have large trunks with scaly, dark brown bark. There form in the rainforest is usually a relatively tall straight single trunk with most branches and foliage confined to the upper half or upper third; although at high altitudes in montane rainforest it occurs as a smaller multi-trunked shrub. Both these forms are seen in Mt Field National Park near Hobart. Myrtle even grows in locations on Mt Wellington, overlooking Hobart.

On recent Tasmanian club digs in the Southern Forests we have collected Myrtles and they are proving to be a very suitable species for bonsai. There will be some in the 2016 convention exhibition and potentially we may get them into one of the demonstrations as well. The small leaves of the Myrtle Beech are ideally suited to bonsai, leaves are 1cm long or less on Tasmanian trees.

Myrtles are not related to the Myrtle family of plants. Myrtles were originally incorrectly classified as members of the Fagaceae family which includes other well-known northern hemisphere trees such as Oak (Quercus) and Beech (Fagus). In 1871 they were reclassified in a family of their own, Nothofagaceae, and genus Nothofagus which is an amalgamation of words. Greek notho meaning false, and Latin fagus for a beech tree, so meaning “false beech”.

These so-called southern beech from the Nothofagaceae family occur in Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, New Guinea and South America. Fossils of their leaves have been found in Antarctica and all these locations are linked to the ancient Gondwana continent. Australia has just 3 species, and Tasmania has 2 species of Nothofagus.

IN THE WILD


The Tasmanian species cunninghamii is named after Allan Cunningham (1791-1839) an English botanist and explorer who collected plants in Tasmania. Other related species are N. gunnii which is Tasmania’s endemic deciduous beech (Australia’s only native winter deciduous tree), and N. moorei on mainland Australia in cooler mountain areas of New South Wales and southern Queensland.

Good stands of deciduous beech (N. gunnii) grow in in Mt Field National Park near Hobart and also near Cradle Mountain in the Cradle Mt - Lake St Clair National Park stretching from central to northern parts of the island. Deciduous beech foliage turns a golden yellow before falling in autumn, from mid-April to mid-May depending on altitude.

Myrtle or N. cunninghamii is a fairly robust species, in nature preferring around 900 mm of rain spread evenly throughout the year. It can grow in full shade through to full sun, if it receives enough water. I have seen Myrtles growing happily in Hobart near sea level. Cultivated specimens are known to survive temperatures of 45 °C down to −7 °C. The leaves are simple and alternate, typically growing about 1 cm long. The mature leaf colour is dark green, with new growth brilliant red, pink or orange in spring.

My original three trees planted into a bonsai group were collected very early in my bonsai interest while on a work trip to Tasmania’s West Coast. On a day off I drove from near Zeehan along the former NE Dundas Railway formation towards the Montezuma Falls. It was 1985 and I remember it was very wet, I was stopped by a flooded creek I could not drive through. The three Myrtles came from the centre of the vehicle track, they were all small although the oldest was tall enough to have had its top broken off by the underside of a vehicle.

I planted them as a group in 1989. Later one tree died and was replaced by a seedling collected in 1993 from side of the road near the Tyndall Ranges, West Coast. The three trees are now about 35, 32 and 24 years old. They have been in training as group of three for 25 years.

CLOSE UP OF THE TINY LEAVES – IDEAL FOR BONSAI


The Myrtles shoot vigorously in spring and the shoots continue to grow through summer. I fertilise my Myrtles with full strength normal liquid fertilisers. Sometimes organic, sometimes inorganic types, and not specific Australian native types. The new growth in spring is a conspicuous bronze or red colour which progressively changes to fresh green then dark green as it matures during the summer.

Myrtles respond well to hard pruning and will shoot back from old wood. In the past I used to regularly finger pinch the new shoots during spring and summer to maintain the tree shape, but I now realise that this holds back development. By letting the foliage shoot unchecked each spring and summer the amount of foliage increases, so giving more choice when it comes time to prune, and the trunks thicken. As the trunks thicken they begin to produce rough cracked bark. It also means the trees are very healthy as the mass of foliage has given them plenty of energy via plenty of photosynthesis. The only drawback is that during summer the trees look very wild and hairy with masses of long new shoots up to 20cm long.

In late summer or autumn I use scissors to trim back the foliage to get back the tree shape and profile I want. Like many trees there is a drive to be apically dominant, to produce lots of foliage at the top. This makes then visually top heavy and weakens lower branches unless kept in check. When they reach a stage of refinement I continually finger or scissor prune new growth through spring and summer to maintain shape and encourage ramification.

I repot and root prune in spring, in August or September (in Tasmania). Myrtle can be wired, young or thin branches are very flexible, while older branches become very stiff and difficult to move. I have used screw jacks on trunks. In fact I have used virtually all bonsai techniques on Myrtles and they respond well. They are tough survivors and on collected trees I have seen all remaining foliage die off and the tree look dead only to have it shoot back vigorously from the trunk the following spring.

IN NEED OF A HAIR CUT STYLED AND LOOKING GOOD


For those of you in warmer climates I have copied an idea to help survival by keeping the pots roots and soil cool. I don’t use this on my Myrtles in Tasmania but I have trialled it on another tenderer Tasmanian alpine tree with success. The method is to get some carpet off-cut, slit it into the centre and open up a hole for the bonsai trunk or trunks. Put the carpet piece over the pot and resting on the soil with the bonsai poking through it, and ideally overhanging the edges of the pot to shade them. Each morning when I water I thoroughly wet the carpet as well as watering the pot and soil underneath it. A bonus side-effect is that it shades and discourages weeds in the pot.

This technique could extend the range of Myrtle bonsai into the more northern, hotter and dryer parts of Australia. I am looking forward to the development of more Myrtle bonsai in various styles. I have undeveloped trees in training pots ranging from tiny through to medium and large with single and multiple trunks. The only missing ingredient is the time to do them all justice and train them to their full potential.

Thank you very much Ambrose Canning from Tasmania for this fabulous article on Beech Myrtle

MAY 2010 JANUARY 2015 CLOSE UP IOF THE TRUNCK


To finally put the figs article to bed so to speak, I thought I would return to two of the trees features in past editions.

Both are willow leaf figs, the first was re-potted and totally defoliated last edition.

To the right is the same fig with a robust burst of growth after the total defoliation.

Whilst defoliated it is an ideal time to check for any refinements of the primary and secondary branching, with all the foliage gone, a check on the best positions is great without it being cluttered with foliage.

What is needed now for this tree is to cull out any shoots that are not required.

I also decided to give my other willow leaf fig a repot, this tree is on the larger size and I do not look forward to the task of getting it out of the pot, lugging it around and flipping it over to root prune.

If you don’t do this to willow leaf figs regularly they inevitably become root bound and you must look for another pot.

With this tree this pot was the largest that the nursery had so I am up for big $’s if I don’t keep this one under control.

I then defoliated the tree totally and found lots of tiny figs growing, amazing really and the photo opposite shows a close up of the figs and the foliage.

Small leaves make this tree ideal for Bonsai.

As I said before this tree was last pruned by Rob (Willow Leaf) Kempinski on his visit to Australia and we roughed out the branch positions, once all the root pruning was done and back into the pot, defoliation and a final look at the branches.

What I have chosen to do is move this branch at the front down so that the more dominate leader behind will develop into the crown.

This small adjustment to the design now will pay dividends in the next stage of this trees development.

Foolin with Figs - Finale –Ian Glew


The magazine will be published four times a year matching the commencement of the seasons in Australia, summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Articles, what’s on, artist’s profiles, Convention and local show wraps – anything that is interesting and is newsworthy will form the basis of what may become Australian Bonsai.

This is certainly humble beginnings and a far cry from many magazines that are on the market and I hope that I will be announcing a revised model, possibly similar to the AABC Ltd edition, in the not too distant future but unless we start this goal will never be reached

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Subscribe To Australian Bonsai

9th May Bonsai Market Day Individuals and Businesses selling Bonsai etc

9 May, Cnr Lyon and Grigor Sts, Moffat Beach 4551 15 – 18 May 2015

South Australian Bonsai Society and AABC LTD annual Bonsai Convention. Bonsai - A Growing Art. www.aabcltd.org or [email protected]

June 20 – 21

Mauro Stemberger, international demonstrator from Italy, co-hosted with the Bonsai Society of Qld, Sat morning workshop (Hamlyn-Harris Pavilion), Sat afternoon demonstration and Sun morning and afternoon workshops (Memorial Hall), Mt Gravatt Showgrounds. Prices range from $30 for observer status to participant in 4-person workshop with Mauro at $70. Registration forms are available from Robyn.

July 10 – 12

Queensland Garden Expo, 8am – 5pm Fri and Sat, 8am – 4pm Sun, Nambour Showgrounds, Sunshine Coast www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

11 October, 2015 Redlands Bonsai Society Annual Show Donald Simpson Centre 172 Bloomfield Street, Cleveland

10 – 11 October 2015 Bonsai Europa 10-11 October, Castle Armory Burytown Center, Manchester UK Visit bonsaieuropa.com for details. 23 – 25 October 2015 NZ National Bonsai Convention 23 - 25 October, Woolston Community Club Hargood Street, Woolston, Christchurch

Visit bonsaiconvention.net.nz for details.

Bonsai Events around the World.


AUSTRALIAN BONSAI

Australian Bonsai – The magazine that unifies people through Bonsai.

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Ian Glew – ISMG PO Box 1167 Noosaville BC, Queensland,

Australia 4566

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AUSTRALIAN AUSTRALIAN WINTER BONSAI · 2020-01-20 · Bonsai in a Suitcase Rob Kempinski Robs dialogue - I set up this display today at our local bonsai club's meeting. - Something