Time to Work on your Deciduous Bonsai

 Time again to work on your deciduous bonsai. Now that all leaves have fallen, it is a great opportunity to closely examine the ramification of your trees.

At this time of the year all deciduous bonsai at The Australian Bonsai Gallery undergo structural refinement through a rigorous thinning, bud selection and wiring. 

It is best to wire now as the branches on most species are still flexible enough to be wired and shaped.

Thinning out the unwanted branching, and bud selecting to two buds, eliminates unwanted Spring growth and improves overall branch ramification.

Chinese Elm from a 1980 root cutting.

The Last of the Gallery Bonsai For Sale and Discounted

This is about the last 'Old Stock' bonsai for sale from the gallery collection.  We have discounted them for a quick sale as we will, hopefully, be moving and down-sizing from our 6.5 acre property.

890 mtrs of Copper Wire for Softening

The Australian Bonsai Gallery has just taken delivery of 890 mtrs of copper wire. 

We have always, over 45 years, softened our own wire annually.  It has become a tradition to sit around a blazing fire, with a glass of red wine, in Winter to go through the annealing process.

We generally use 1.22mm, 1.63mm, 2.0mm, 3.2mm and 4.1mm copper on our bonsai and encourage all of our Workshop students to use copper on their bonsai.  It is very easy to use if softened properly.

New Bonsai House at Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens

 Today we had a chance to visit the Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-Tha in Brisbane to check out the Japanese Gardens and the progress on the new Bonsai House build.

The Japanese Gardens are very well done and look spectacular even on a rainy, overcast day.

The new Bonsai House seems to be well under way.  I have been informed that it is expected to be completed by August this year.!!

I have added some images of the Japanese Gardens as well as some of the construction site.  Additionally, I have added a clip of the proposed layout of the Bonsai House.

Time for a Japanese Bonsai Tour

Now that Japan is opening up to tourists from Australia it is time to start planning your trip.

Bonsai Network Japan offers a comprehensive range of bonsai tour packages to serve your needs.  They offer their services to bonsai enthusiasts coming from all over the world. Their experienced bonsai specialists will be happy to meet all of your requests. We will pick you up at any place you are staying in Tokyo or the surrounding area by our chartered car.

I would recommend a trip to Omiya Village - Bonsaicho, Kita Ward, Saitama, 331-0805, Japan. There you can visit Masahiko Kimura, Tomio Yamada, and Kato san, as well as visiting the Omiya Bonsai Museum.

Closer to Tokyo, you will visit Kobayashi san at the Shunka-en Bonsai Museum - 1-chōme-29-16 Niihori, Edogawa City, Tōkyō-to 132-0001, Japan

We visited all of these with a guide and interpreter - Yoshihiro Nakamizu. Yoshi-san was very good to us.! 

Yoshi can be contacted on:

Mobile: 090 5311 1808
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
web: http://www.j-bonsai.com

See some images of our last tour in 2016 HERE

AkaMatsu After Autumn Work

As Promised, an update on the Autumn work on this old AkaMatsu.  In addition to what was mentioned in the previous article, a very important task to perform while needle-plucking, bud selection and wiring is to balance the foliage on your bonsai pine.  This will ensure even budding in Spring.!!

      BEFORE --------------------- AFTER

AkaMatsu Before Autumn Work

As the second flush has hardened off it is time for the most important work on 'Two Flush' pines.  If this work is neglected then your bonsai is 'terminal'...... not necessarily dead, but it will be doomed to become leggy or will require un-necessary Spring pruning resulting in masses of buds from the one point on extended branches.

We are currently holding Autumn Workshops with a focus on this work.

Scroll down for a short clip with some detail of the required work.

Bonsai Soil Mixes - The Eternal Debate

I thought it was about time I waded into the 'deep end' of the Bonsai Soil Mix debate.  

We are constantly asked about our bonsai soil mix so I thought I would share my mix ingredients with you. 

The health and vigor of the bonsai at The Australian Bonsai Gallery attest to the success of our bonsai soil mixes. 

 There are no tricky, hard to get ingredients here; most are readily available.

The following image is a sample tray we have set up for our Bonsai Workshop students.  

Australian Bonsai Gallery Workshop Weekend

We have just completed an intensive, two day, one-on-one workshop at the gallery.

Apart from some re-styling of a large Swamp cypress and a very nice Chinese elm, a great deal of time was spent on the refinement of a number of Japanese Black Pines.  

We love our 'one-on-one' workshop format as it allows us to better advance a student quickly.  Information overload is always a possibility so we spend the evenings going over the critical points of the days work.

This works very well and allows students to take key notes, for their records.

Many more workshops this month so if you would like to lock in a workshop date(s) please contact us HERE. ..... or contact us on 0417 655 247.

 Autumn Pine Work - Japanese Black Pine - KuroMatsu 'mikawa'

Another great day in the Bonsai Gallery working on one of the best quality bonsai I have ever worked on.

We aquired this bonsai from the collection of Ian Hearn 2 years ago. This 'Mikawa' variaty of the Japanese Black Pine had been propagated (from Japanese seed), developed and refined by Ian since the early 1970's.

I have noticed, over the past two years, that this variety is very different from the seedling Black Pines I have been developing over the past 4 decades.  They have darker green needles, very dense foliage with lots of adventitious budding; but the standout feature of this variety is it's rough bark that builds up into thick layers.

Looking forward to many years of work with this one.!!