April saw our annual trip north of the Bombays to visit three very different and fascinating collections and a stop off at Bonsai NZ to lighten the wallets a bit. A great trip. At the normal meeting Peter passed on the techniques shown to us by Nobu in December last year on how to prune [...]
Sandra gave a talk on her passion - Shohin. Her talk included a pinning down of the definition of shohin (as used by NZBA for the National Show) and how to display shohin correctly.
Marshall got the year off to a fantastic start with her superb talk on the tools used in Bonsai, the types, proper uses, care and maintenance. Her talk has been written up in the club newsletter.
Nobu came for our usual weekend workshop. This time we concentrated on roots and the pruning of junipers. A very good weekend. The regular meeting saw a photo competition with members bringing in photos in three categories as well as the usual decorated trees. Congratulations to the winners
Following on from our AGM, Noel gave a practical demonstration on how to repair broken bonsai pots with Kneed-it and fibreglass.
A very busy month for the club. It started with our usual exhibition at Hamilton Gardens. This was one of the best attended exhibitions for several years with over 400 visitors during the two days. The display was fantastic and the four demonstrations went down very well. A couple of days later we held [...]
For September we had the pleasure of listening to our guest speaker David Kidron who is passionate about Satsuki Azaleas. David is on a mission to encourage the growing of these wonderful bonsai in New Zealand and bought along young plants for sale to try and spread the word. His car was a bit lighter [...]
Sandra was the main speaker for the afternoon, giving us a talk and demonstration on repotting as taught by Nobu. This was followed by a general repottiing workshop.
The weekend with Tony Bebb was great. Around a dozen members and guests had their trees examined each day and Tony offered plenty of alternative designs for each tree. Some of the trees underwent a fairly radical change but everyone was extremely happy with the results. We will most definitely be inviting Tony back. [...]
Peter gave a talk on judging bonsai trees, including a practical session where members could try out three different judging systems on a range of trees bought in by members. Remarkably all three systems produced similar results.
