Posts categorised: General Interest

At last we are able to hold our club meetings back at the Coleview centre. The tables have been well spaced out so we can keep our distance from each other, if needed. There weren’t too many of us at the first meeting, due to many reasons but at least it attracted two new possible… Read more »

Several years ago, the club decided to award a merit shield to a club member, together with a voucher to attend one of John Trott’s workshops near Shepton Mallet, so not too far away. This was decided by the current committee and consideration was given to the improvement of members trees, what that member had… Read more »

The Coleview Community Centre is now open again, so meetings will hopefully start again at 7.30pm on Tuesday the 8th June 2021 in the Towcester Suite [Big Hall]. For the time being it will be workshops until we can compile a new programme to take us up to the AGM next March. Any members with… Read more »

This year there have been a few observations from bonsai enthusiasts of an orange fungus appearing on their Juniper bonsai trees. It is likely that this is a species of Gymnosporangium which is host shifting rust that causes systemic infections. It is widespread and common and visible from March to August occurring on different species… Read more »

The English Yew can live for over a 1,000 years and it is thought that many living Yews pre-date Christ by many thousands of years. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is claimed to be up to 9,000 years old. Here is an example of the development of a Yew tree as a bonsai starting back… Read more »

Following on from the planting up of some acorns in October 2020, they are already starting to develop, even though you cannot see anything above the soil in the pot, a lot has been happening below ground in and out of the pots. So just because most of your bonsai trees will have gone dormant… Read more »

Checking your bonsai at night can sometimes reveal unexpected results.

10 basic elements to bonsai Watering often enough that they do not dry out Feeding with fertiliser when the tree is actively growing Repotting every few years to refresh the soil and prune the roots Positioning of your trees indoors if tropical and outdoors if temperate Protecting your trees from sun, rain, frost, wind and… Read more »

The UK Bonsai Association is hosting their 2nd Virtual UK Bonsai Show for 2021 and you can find out more on their website. There are currently no bonsai shows to go to due to the pandemic so to ensure we all get our bonsai fix they are compiling your bonsai tree photos and this time… Read more »

Bonsai basically is when you keep a tree in a pot and my preference is for keeping tropical species of trees as bonsai. One species that is a good beginner tree is that of the Ginseng fig, a tropical species of tree widely used in bonsai which are kept indoors in the UK due to… Read more »