Ballarat Bonsai Society INC March 2017

Newsletter

President:

Secretary:

Treasurer:

Newsletter:

Email: ballaratbonsai@gmail.com

Postal Address: P.O. Box 614w,

Ballarat 3350

Murray Alpen

Heide Boehle

John Bunn

Murray Alpen

Date: March 2nd 2017

Time: 7.30pm

Place: Robert Clark Centre

Botanical Gardens Ballarat

Demonstrator:

Tom Cockram

Tom will be doing a demon-

stration and talk on Mame

trees, small bonsai.

People wishing to buy Club

Name tags, T-shirts or wind

cheaters, please contact

Alex Mckee

Reminder

Phone: 5345 1074

Next Meeting

Bonsai display during Ballarat

Begonia

Festival: 11-13 March

Club Activities

Joe having a discussion about the fig

that a group of members had just

defoliated. He could then see the struc-

ture of the tree before making deci-

sions on what to do, with the empha-

sises on the direction the tree is grow-

ing. ie branches bent down or just fol-

lowing the existing growth pattern.

After pruning some branches were

wired. Not every branch needed to

be wired. The branches were wired

in the direction that the tree was

growing with thought given to the

overall shape of the canopy of the

tree.

Some decisions being made as to

what branches could be pruned.

Joe was looking for branches

that had been previously pruned

and had swelling at intersections,

they were then pruned. Branch-

es that were going in the wrong

direction were wired or if they

were dying, they were removed.

This months meeting

You probably know that bonsai are the miniaturized versions of the big, aged trees found in nature. But do you know that bonsai have their miniature versions as well? These bonsai trees are commonly known as shohin bonsai and mame bonsai. “Shohin” is a Japanese word. It means “tiny thing” and in the bonsai

world, shohin bonsai refers to trees that are within a certain size, 6”

– 8” to be specific. As for “mame”, it is a Japanese word that literally

means “bean”. In terms of bonsai, it is the mini bonsai between 3” –

6“. And because mame bonsai and shohin bonsai are so small, they

can easily fit onto our palm.

T h e L u r e o f M i n i B o n s a i

While shohin bonsai and mame bonsai is very challenging and

demand lots of time and attention, these little bonsai trees sure-

ly have their advantages that fascinate so many bonsai artists.

Mini bonsai gives apartment dwellers the opportunity to grow

bonsai and keep quite a large number of bonsai trees on their

balcony or window sills.

With limited space, apartment dwellers can also enjoy the thrill

of bonsai on a small scale. And without the use of a turn table,

we can just pick up our shohin bonsai, twist and turn the trees

easily to view the structure, roots, and trunk of the trees. We can

easily bring our shohin bonsai to the living room, sit in a couch

and study our shohin bonsai before pruning and trimming them.

Here are some very general points to keep in mind when se-lecting pots for mame bonsai:

Wide and shallow pots keep the attention more on the planting itself.

Tall pots with narrow openings are suitable for semi cas-cade-style plantings.

As a rule of thumb, the pot should be about 50-75% of the width of the canopy. Remember that the volume of flow-ering specimens expands considerably when the flowers are fully developed. Therefore, the pot should be selected to fit the tree when exhibited with flowers.

Choose a pot with a depth that is approximately equal to the width of the base of the trunk.