Callistemon sieberi – flowering

Posted on 21-Nov-2014 by Neil Padbury

This year’s flowers have just started to open on this tree during the week so I thought I should share it with you.

Callistemon sieberi ‘waterswept’

The branches look a bit untidy at the moment. Callistemon flower on the tips of the shoots that grew last year. For many years I kept it well trimmed but, of course, was cutting off all the potential flowers every time I pinched the shoots. With advice from Derek, a master with Aussie plants as bonsai, I learned to allow the shoots to grow and mature so it can produce flowers. After flowering it is pruned quite hard then new shoots are again allowed to grow and mature for the following year’s flowers.

You will note that the flowers on this species are rather less impressive than many we see in gardens but I think the pale pink blush is nice on this bonsai. Flowers are also smaller than many which fits in well for a bonsai sized tree.

Starting a new generation of bonsai

Posted on 14-Nov-2014 by Neil Padbury

Spring is propagation time at Shibui Bonsai. I try to start plenty of new trees every year to allow for plenty of choice for you the customer. It can take quite a few years to achieve a good bonsai but we need to always have new trees coming through to keep up supply. Continue reading →

Open day

Posted on 31-Oct-2014 by Neil Padbury

While Shibui Bonsai is not normally open to the public we do try to be available at least once a year.

This year visitors are invited to come along and view our bonsai collection, browse through the trees available for sale or just check out how we go about preparing trees for bonsai.

Sunday November 9th

9am – 2 pm

If you haven’t been here before email neil@shibuibonsai.com.au for our address and/or directions on how to find us.

Closed for a few weeks

Posted on 22-Aug-2014 by Neil Padbury

If you’ve browsed our catalogues you will note that stocks of Shibui Bonsai Field grown prebonsai are quite low. Late winter and early spring is also our busiest time so I have decided to close our sales for a few weeks. We also won’t have time for nursery visits during the next few weeks either.

By mid October the new trees should be well enough established to be transported and I should be able to find time to attend to new orders.

Hoping this is not too much of an inconvenience to our loyal customers. Thank you for your patience,

Neil

New Root Over Rock Tridents

Posted on 3-Aug-2014 by Neil Padbury

Today I dug the trident Root Over Rock plantings out of the growing beds. Growth this year was far below expectations because of the extremely hot, dry summer we have just had but mot of these have turned out quite well. These have had just 1 year in the ground.You can read my method for starting root over rock plants elsewhere in the blog.Digging and unwrapping these is a lot like unwrapping presents – you never know what you are going to get. Here are a few photos…. Continue reading →

winter pruning

Posted on 25-May-2014 by Neil Padbury

Autumn arrives at Shibui Bonsai a little earlier than many parts of Australia. Many of my maples have dropped their leaves so I can see the tangled mess of shoots that have grown over summer. In order to make them look good and to make room for new shoots to grow next spring they all need a good hard winter prune. Continue reading →

Catalogue update

Posted on 20-May-2014 by Neil Padbury

I have finally found some time to update the current catalogues – see catalogue page for links.

At shibui bonsai we grow all the trees we sell so, unlike many stores, we cannot replace stock which has been sold until some new ones from the growing beds are ready. You will see that quite a few of the 2013 trees have been sold but I’m sure you can still find some treasures amongst the ones that we still have available.

Note that due to the hotter than normal weather last summer our trees in the growing beds did not grow anywhere near as well as usual. That means there will be fewer new trees available from Shibui Bonsai next season.

Visitors today

Posted on 18-May-2014 by Neil Padbury

A few of the Goulburn Valley Bonsai Club members travelled over to visit Shibui Bonsai nursery today. All of them went home with new trees to turn into masterpiece bonsai.

I was too busy talking and showing them around and forgot to take some photos……. but thanks for making the trip guys.

Wagga Wagga bonsai group are our nearest neighbors to the north and have also booked a visit on June 29. Looking forward to them dropping in too.

Reduction pruning for Black Pines

Posted on 12-Jan-2014 by Neil Padbury

Some time ago I promised to talk about how to find a bonsai in the mess of a field grown pine. A reader from South Australia has recently reminded me of this so here are a couple of pics for you Mark.

The first shows the tree before pruning. Nice nebari and a reasonably mature trunk but branches everywhere.

before

The second pic shows the same tree after reduction pruning. Although it is a long way from finished it now has enhanced trunk movement and taper and should develop into a nice smaller black pine. Time will tell whether the jin remains and most of the thinner, low branches will be removed eventually, in the meantime they feed the tree.

after pruning

re-potting Callistemon ‘waterswept’

Posted on 29-Dec-2013 by Neil Padbury

December is summer in Australia so here at Shibui Bonsai it is time to re-pot some of my native bonsai and potensai.

I started the day with my Callistemon ‘ waterswept’ bonsai. This one was slip potted into the current pot a few years ago but has not had a proper re-pot for quite a few years. It has finished flowering so it was time to stop procrastinating and get on with it.

before

Here is the tree before. The design is based on trees that grow in the bed of the nearby Ovens river with roots clambering over the rocks in midstream and all the growth battered downstream by frequent floods.

spent flowers

This one only produced a few flowers at the top of the tree this year. All the flowers have finished so it is a good time to re-pot.

rootball

after re-potting

After root pruning it was re-potted back into the same pot.

Potting mix is my standard mix with standard osmocote added.

I forgot to take a picture of the rootball after root pruning but the pile of old mix and roots I cut off will give you an idea how much the root ball has been reduced.

after pruning

After potting the tree back into its pot it has been given a final trim to remove the old flowers and any excess branches.

To get flowers next summer I must now leave the new shoots to grow and mature because Callistemon flower only on the shoots that grew the previous season.

Finally the tree is given a good soak in water then put back on its stand which is in full sun most of the day.

Shibui Bonsai

Growers of Pre Bonsai and Bonsai Starters

Category Archives: Uncategorized