Today, my daughter bought my wife and myself lunch at the Atrium. Burstwood. At the lobby was what is claimed as the world largest gold coin at 80cm across and 12 cm thick and weighing a ton of 99.99% pure gold. The coin has a denomination of $1,000,000 which can certainly buy lots of beautiful bonsai. Enjoy n cheers, CJ.
In May this year, BSWA hosted the highly successful AABC Convention at the Fremantle Esplanade Hotel. From a projected potential lost, we turned in a 5 figures profit on the back of everyone who supported the convention. The dynamic auction was magnificient in raising some good money. Here are some of my trees exhibited at the Convention. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. The halogen lightings gave the picture a yellowish tint which has to be adjusted. Some better than others. Enjoy n cheers, CJ.
Leptospermum Polygalifolium, nursery stock 2000. Merit Award by Loh Min Hsuan n Megumi.
Bottlebrush, trained since 2000.
Camelia Japonica, saved from demolition site in 2001.
Kunzea Ambigua, trained from $1 nursery stock 2001. Merit Award by Loh Min Hsuan n Megumi.
Irish Strawberry, trained from $4 nursery stock. Merit Award by Loh Min Hsuan n Megumi. Now in the home of a good friend in Sydney.
Wild Olive, trained 2001.
Swamp Paperbark, saved from development site in 2001. Awarded BCI best bonsai for the show. I offered this tree to the organiser for auction. It is now in Queensland.
I have trees from 5 cm to over a metre. The small ones are easier to handle. The big ones are a challenge especially during photography session. Here are some of my Shohin. Enjoy n cheers, CJ.
Pyracantha, 22 cm, trained from $1 nursery stock since 2001.
JBP, 23 cm, trained since 2004.
Lilypilly, 19cm, trained from $2 nursery stock since 2001.
Tiger bark ficus, 20cm, trained from $4 nursery stock since 1998.
Wild Olive, 15 cm, dug 2001.
I visited Kimura’s Bonsai Garden many years ago. Here are some photos taken during that visit. His garden may not be the biggest but the quality of the bonsai are the best. Almost all the trees are very well maintained. That is no small achievement considering that it takes 2 person 2 days to maintain each of those big trees. Enjoy n Cheers, CJ.
This Leptospermun Scoparium has been blooming since late May. The bloom is peaking. So I photo it. This is the first time I photo this tea tree which I have been training over the last 12 years. It was kind of neglected until about 3 years ago when I decided to pay more attention to it. When u have a big collection it is impossible to give all your trees the attention and dedication they deserve. At most I can focus on is 200, the majority of which are shohin and mame. The rest will have to get less attention. Enjoy and Cheers, CJ.
A few years ago, I visited KK’s Bonsai Museum. Here are some of the many pictures I took of this magnificent garden. Enjoy and Cheers, CJ.
Another view of garden
Juniper
Rows of Azalea
Azalea
White Pine
Juniper
Black Pine
This Leptospermum Scoparium has been blooming since late May. The photo was taken in late July. It is still blooming. This is another good characteristic of the NZ Tea Tree. Not only are the flowers beautiful and abundant, they last for months. Enjoy and cheers, CJ.
This is my smallest NZ Tea Tree Bonsai. It was air-layered in 2007. Keeping it alive is a challenge. I will try my best to keep it alive for as long as possible. Enjoy and Cheers, CJ.
September 2011 in a self made pot.
March 2011
September 2010.
Here are some colours in my backyard. Taken Yesterday. CJ
G’day, welcome to my blog. This blog is about my personal bonsai journey. I got hooked onto Bonsai when I chanced upon a bonsai exhibition in 1978 in Singapore. The idea of growing a tree in a bonsai pot fascinated me. I learned my bonsai from books and magazines. My first bonsai book was Practical Bonsai by Kenji Murata. To me the best bonsai book is Bonsai Technique 1 & 2 by John Naka. My first bonsai was a Wrightia Religiosa, commonly known as Water Jasmin. It is a favourite bonsai material in SEA and Indochina. When I moved my family from Singapore to Perth, Western Australia in 1998 I brought along 44 of my Wrightia bonsai. This is the only specie from my collection which is acceptable to AQIS. In fact my bonsai arrived in Perth a day before me. They were airfreighted in and went straight into quarantine. At the end of the 4 months, 40 of them survived. This is one of them.
This bonsai was seeded a year before my eldest daugher was born. Unfortunately I lost it two years ago due to the dry cold weather in Perth as well as my lack of attention due to my growing interest as well as size of my collection of Australian Native bonsai. Now I have only about 20 of them left.
Now my favourite bonsai material is Leptospermum Scoparium or commonly known as the NZ Tea Tree. It is my specialty. Many have tried and few succeeded in making bonsai out of this material. I have seen only two completed NZ Tea Tree Bonsai outside my garden. One in Japan and the other owned by an acquintance in Perth. It is a very difficult specie to bonsai. Every year I still lose a few of them. My % of loses is about 5%. I was told by an ex-nursery owner that they normally lose up to 50% of their stocks. I am still learning. The BCI specie guide listed the NZ Tea Tree as the “ultimate forbidden bonsai” for good reasons. The tiny flowers are extremely beautiful, plentiful and lasting. The dense compact foliage of tiny leave ideal for bonsai. However making them into bonsai and keeping them alive is extremely demanding and difficult. My avatar is one of my NZ Tea Tree Bonsai as shown below.
I also like the bottlebrush. They are hardy, the barks are impressive and they flower without fail in Spring. Take good care of them and they reward u with a second season of flowers immediately after the first. I have successfully dug over 10 of them. No failure. Here is one of my bottlebrush.
I also have other types of Australian Native bonsai and in time will post more of them. I hope thru my little effort to encourage more Aussies to take up bonsai with Australian Natives. What I have done is not even scratching the surface. They are over 20,000 types of Australian Natives. Some of them are as good bonsai materials as the traditional favourites. Many still need to be discovered as excellent bonsai materials.
I am so glad I took up this journey. Bonsai has taught me alot. It teaches me to be patient and to respect and care for nature. Bonsai has also brought me inner peace and joy. I hope u enjoy reading my blog. Thank you. CJ