Northern Districts Bonsai Club Inc.

Northern Districts Bonsai Club Inc.

At our club we have a vast knowlegde on all types of plants and gardening experience.  Feel free to visit us at any time at one of our meetings or workshops.  You will even see us on display at garden expo's like Garden's Alive at Garden Grove.

Many of our member successfully grow Australian Natives and succulants as bonsai.

We also have guest speakers to our monthly meetings, why not come for a visit?

Our local club has two get togethers per month

1. Meetings (7-9pm)

Tea Tree Gully-On the fourth Tuesday in the month

At St John’s Lutheran church. 182 Hancock Road, Ridgehaven.

Workshops are very informative and a great way to learn or observe.

2. Workshops (11-4pm)

On the Saturday before the fourth Tuesday in the month.

Held at the Bonsai Tree Gardens,

144 Seaview Road, Yatala Vale

Our meetings are fun and very informative and include;

• Guest speakers
• Success and failure stories
• Expert instruction and advice
• Learn about trimming and wiring
• Organising visits to private Bonsai displays and ‘Bonsai Digs’ in forests and local national parks.
• Members also show and display their trees

So come along enjoy a chat and a cuppa.

Membership Costs

Single $25, Student up to 18 yrs $15, Student up to 15yrs $10 per year

Or $2 per casual visits and $5 per casual visit to workshops.

If you would like to know more please phone:

President Bill Viant 82899710

Email: wagjan@picknowl.com.au

Vice President Stephen Lloyd 82830309

Secretary David Sweet 0429452014

Email: beyond.words@iinet.net.au

Of Interest

HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS BONSAI CLUB

By Maria Jackson - February 2005

I have frequently been asked how The Northern Districts Bonsai Club got started. So, for our tenth year anniversary I thought I’d write a short history:

I have always loved gardening - in fact, I have always been passionate about growing things. In Ireland, where there was only a pocket-handkerchief patch of soil in front of our little terrace house, I even grew a pea veggie patch from my mum’s 1lb packet of processed peas for the Sunday soup. Got a neat little crop, too!

When I arrived in Australia the potential for growing almost anything was magic. So for the past 30 years I have been growing almost everything!

Of course “bonsai trees” charm everyone. They absolutely fascinated me. But, like the unenlightened I thought it took at least 100 years to grow a seedling into a bonsai. I never thought of starting with a 10 ft tree.

For Christmas 1994 my sister bought me a little bonsai. (Her famous saying now is, “I bought my sister a bonsai for Christmas and created a monster”).

Of course I didn’t know how to look after it. I enquired at the Elizabeth TAFE in February 1995, and low and behold learned they had a one-day “Bonsai for Beginners” class, to be held at Salisbury TAFE. I immediately enrolled.

The class teacher was Robert Hatcher (who has judged a couple of our shows). Besides myself there were six other like-minded pupils, (June Carney, Kristine Clarke, Marion Hutchinson, Grace Bing, Bob Bartlet and Betty Field). At the end of the day we decided that we wanted to learn more about the art of bonsai, but there wasn’t anywhere in the northern districts teaching bonsai. The nearest one was at Goodwood - too far for us to travel. So, we decided to form a little group, obtain books, buy some little trees and bonsai pots, and start meetings at my house on a Saturday afternoon, where we could talk about bonsai, exchange ideas and play around with the little trees.

We told Robert our plan and asked his advice. He told us about Kathy Bryans’ bonsai wonderland - “The Bonsai Tree Gardens”. We visited Kathy. She gave us lots of advice, took an interest in our plans, displayed information sheets on her notice board and contacted other bonsai enthusiasts:

Robert also got in touch with some of his bonsai associates, (Peter Alderson and June Cooper, former members of bonsai clubs in the south, who had moved to the northern districts area. They telephoned me, interested in forming a club locally. I even got a few workmates enthused, Judy Gowland and Wendy Morris. Judy was caretaker of the Siena church hall in Salisbury, which she arranged we could rent. We held our first meeting there in June 1995.

And so was born The Northern Districts Bonsai Club.

Our first Newsletter was issued in October 1995.

Our Inaugural General Meeting was held on Tuesday, 13 March 1996.

First members included Tom Jackson, Dorothy Beverley, Lea Parker, Graham Hillman, Norm Gay, Sandra Hooper, Mary & Kristine Cirocco, Judy Gowland, Paul Geiger and me, Maria Jackson. Many more have come and gone over the past 10 years.

And our lucky little club continues to grow.

Gold Listing

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