Bonsai Island in Newhaven, Victoria | Arts and entertainment

Bonsai Island

Locality: Newhaven, Victoria

Phone: +61 428 351 113

Address: 32 Phillip Island Road 3925 Newhaven, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.bonsaiisland.net/

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• Nursery & garden centre

24.01.2022 Spring is here.... new buds on English Elm, various Maples erupting into leaf including Deshojo (red), Mikawa Yatsabusa (vivid green), a white Azalea about to flower all over & Acacia howittii doing a fair impersonation of Cousin Itt.

24.01.2022 Japanese Quince still flowering.... the second batch of flowers this season.

24.01.2022 ‘The Ditch’, the Tasman Sea, is all that separates AUS & NZ. Until the pandemic, Aussies & Kiwis shuttled back & forth, staying a while or on quick trips. Bonsai Island is pleased to announce that everything in our online shop can now be ordered by customers in New Zealand. We’re in the Bubble, encouraged by NZ Prime Minister Ardern’s positive attitude. Browse www.bonsaiisland.net. Bonsai is a bridge between us. Stay safe everyone!

24.01.2022 The nursery is re-opening to visitors at 10am Sat 31 Oct 2020 on a COVID-safe basis.... please wear a mask & sign our register. Maintain appropriate distancing from others in the garden and in-store, thank you.

23.01.2022 Here’s one of the reasons Bonsai Island remains closed except by appointment.... we’re refurbishing the garden, taking the lockdown opportunity to get mega work done!

22.01.2022 Root over rock Trident Maple, Peaches’n’Cream Japanese Maple, Shishigashira Maple with crinkly leaves, flower buds erupting on Velvet Cloak Cotinus Coggygria (Smoke Bush) about to create the classic hazy effect around the canopy, root over rock English Elm & some flower buds developing on November flowering Satsuki (pronounced Sat-ski) Azalea. All good here in the pouring rain. Viva La Niña! Better than drought, any day!

22.01.2022 More Spring splendour.... Chinese Elm, Trident Maple & an Atropurpuream (darker red) Maple.

20.01.2022 Two more stands built this weekend. Thank you, Jim, for all your hard work in oppressive heat & humidity. To say nothing of the mosquito fleet!

19.01.2022 Keeping recent re-pots out of the weather while it gets wet & cold again.

19.01.2022 Maples & Camellias growing on, one persistent outlier is still flowering! Plus some of our more advanced & specimen bonsai, all enjoying a soaking wet day. Spring in southern Victoria.... changeable conditions in the extreme!

19.01.2022 Kurume Azalea (update: Dean Shaw believes it’s a Satsuki.... bonus!) showing its pink splendour in a quality glazed blue Japanese production pot. Base of trunk... is brushed regularly with an old toothbrush to encourage increase in girth. Pot is oversized to ‘carry’ the width of the canopy & compensate for low humidity here on the coast. Stand made by Jim McWilliam from recycled Australian hardwood flooring. See more

18.01.2022 Another ‘mini-Sumo’ Trident Maple, ground-grown, sourced from Moongate Bonsai near Bendigo, planted by me into another gorgeous 30cm Trevor Wheeler round pot from Newstead VIC. Planted a year ago (Sept 2019), showing this season’s growth..... for sale through Bonsai Island, PM for details

18.01.2022 There’s no point getting wet taking short videos, unless you publish several instalments. Here are some of our more advanced bonsai in development. What did we do before cable zip-ties for a quick adjustment?

15.01.2022 Follow-up on some maples leafng out after re-potting a month ago.....

14.01.2022 We’ve now worked through 3 weekends since re-opening! It’s been wonderful to see so many existing & new customers & visitors, locals & those from further afield. Building of the new stands continues, here’s an update on the state of the garden.....

11.01.2022 A slight change of planting angle can make a big difference to the silhouette. The deciduous trees in this post have been ‘in training’ in shallow pots for many years. That means they’re well-established bonsai, with healthy, fibrous root mats developed over many successive seasons of lifting, combing out & trimming. Repotting material like this is straightforward & enjoyable. It doesn’t take long & is vital to the future health of the tree. While dormant & bare, the branch ...structure is apparent, a perfect opportunity to tweak & refine the image without any major structural pruning. Same tree, whole new look. Very little cut off the canopy. A note of caution, appropriate after-care is needed. It’s still many weeks until Spring. I’ve given these newly repotted bonsai a thorough soaking, now they will be stored in a dry place & not watered again until they begin to leaf out. See more

11.01.2022 Sad to report that the World Bonsai Convention, scheduled for Perth WA in 2021, has been postponed for a year.

09.01.2022 Our Bonsai Island website is refreshed & back online, with a new web shop featuring amazing bonsai pots, books & tools. Browse the shop at www.bonsaiisland.net - enjoy! We offer a pickup option from the nursery, or delivery Australia-wide. NZ friends, you're our next shipping destination. Stay safe, everyone!

08.01.2022 More ‘wet day tour’ along a bench of advanced & specimen bonsai. All placed too close together, I know, but more benches are planned. The turntables for larger pots comprise 2x 300mm ceramic floor tiles with a bearing mechanism sandwiched between. Finger-tip control enables pots to be turned regularly to give the trees even sunlight. Everything is presently growing in full sun. Maples do best if allowed to leaf out in the sun each season. Protection from scorching summer heat & dry winds comes later.....

08.01.2022 More springtime in the growing-on area..... maples in the rain. A few Camellias as well. Testing whether the new Facebook Business suite will load a video at correct resolution. Perhaps......

08.01.2022 Another stand added today in the east garden! Thank you, Jim.

05.01.2022 When you can’t see a green leaf on your Azalea, you know it’s at ‘peak flowers’ & it’s time to take them all off, for the health of your bonsai. Fleeting beauty.

04.01.2022 I’m loving this Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum) in early Spring. Ground-grown trunk sourced a couple of years back from Moongate Bonsai (near Bendigo), planted into a 30cm diameter pot by Trevor Wheeler (Newstead VIC) in Spring 2019. A wonderful ‘Central Goldfields’ combination. Available for sale from Bonsai Island, please PM for details. Some work to do, carving & refining the top of trunk, but the structure has been established. Great potential. Life’s short....

03.01.2022 A late-flowering Camellia sasanqua providing Winter cheer. First pic, what I saw on the benches today that lifted my heart, & then 4 views turning the pot against a neutral backdrop. This plant has great potential for bonsai, with good trunk movement, radial distribution of branches, health & vigour & flowers that are compact & proportionate, The last pic is ‘the back’, devoid of branching. Still years away from a bonsai pot but developing beautifully in 300mm diameter polypropylene ‘training’ pot.

03.01.2022 Here’s a sample of wonderful new work from Val Garth (Val’s Pots, VIC) that we will add to the website very soon.

02.01.2022 Friday Azalea. Enjoy!

01.01.2022 Jim & I like building with blocks, especially if there’s no mortar involved. After 16 years (not a moment too soon!) we’ve replaced the ‘little bonsai for gift buyers’ display stand near the shop as you come in the gate. It looks great. I’m loading it up in time for festive season shoppers. Open Sat & Sun 10am-5pm with our covid-safe plan in place.... please wear a mask & sign the register in the driveway.

01.01.2022 We’re offering a very nice clump style Olive on Australian Bonsai Auctions, bids close at 6pm Melb time Tuesday 3.11.20 To celebrate re-opening the nursery with a covid-19 safe plan. We’re offering free delivery on this item in Melb metro area & adjoining regions. The price is modest, the value is pretty good, in our opinion. Check out the auction FB site.