On 14 and 15 March 2015 an exhibition of Australian plants as bonsai was held at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. The weather was fantastic, the location is spectacular and the food was great. What better way to set off the day was a look at Australian plants developed into bonsai.

My favorite of the day was this gum:-

Eucalyptus mannifera

This tree, commonly called Brittle Gum was purchased as nursery stock in 2000 and has been worked on ever since.

Leptospermum nitidum ‘Cooper Sheen’

I also enjoyed this bonsai very much. It is about 16 years old and has been trained as a bonsai since 2009.

Grevillea juniperina ‘Pink Lady’

Another of my favorites was this Grevillea. This bonsai was purchased as a nursery tree just because of the shape of the trunk and has been in development since 2004.

Baeckea – Sannantha pluriflora

Although there may be some discussion about the name, there is no doubt that this is a great bonsai in the making. It has some fantastic features like the “muscled trunk” and the branch placement. With a little more development this will be a star. This tree was collected and then purchased by the current owner about 12 years ago and has been in development ever since.