From the Editor
The year that was, and the year that is to come: 2024 started with a bitter-sweet good-bye, grew into an expanding club, two big shows two weekends in a row and a beaming horizon that’s at bursting point to shine on in a bright future.
In February we said good-bye to the club’s founding father Antony Smith, and Mavourneen. By the time they come visit they just might not recognize the club.
The Spring season saw Addicts hosting a large bonsai show at the Woodworking Association of Pretoria’s Wood & Craft Expo held at the New Hope School, to great success. Only to be followed by another large bonsai exhibition the following weekend at the Japanese Embassy’s Japanese Festival at Central Square, Menlyn Maine, with our friends from the Pretoria Bonsai Kai. Both shows drew enthusiastic public attention to bonsai and the club’s activities, with several new members having joined as a result.
As the year progressed the likelihood grew of the club having its own garden. That garden was first opened to members in October. The club now has two meetings every third Saturday of the month. The first, in the morning, at Safari Garden centre as usual. And the second, at Bag-En, in the afternoon in Centurion. No garden just grows overnight and this one is still at the start of what will be a years long project. But the intent is that Bag-En will be a launch pad from which the club can do interesting and amazing things.
As a seedling of that intent, in this issue, we focus on our indigenous trees as bonsai: Bruce gives us feedback on his trip to Stellenbosch to attend the much vaunted ABC6, and Ky gives us insight into some often underused South African species for bonsai –a much wider topic that will form the basis of the club’s future and that brightly shining horizon.
Bruce’s ABC6 Diary
By Bruce Carter
I do hate flying. It’s not because of any deep-seated fear of falling out of the sky or anything like that. It’s just that I hate flying. But ABC6 was to take place in Stellenbosch, and in order to get there and home by the end of the weekend, I had to fly. I’d have to be brave, for the bonsai. Fortunately I had a few buddies to fly with, and enjoy the weekend with, so I was ready to embrace the challenge.
Org, Jaco, Liam and I arrived at Cape Town International Airport fairly late on Thurs night and after finding our way to our accommodation and finding supper, we were ready to party.
Friday 08 November was the opening address by Jonathan Cain, the president of the African Bonsai Association (ABA) followed by Tolla Smit the president of the South African Bonsai Association (SABA). The message from Jonathan was that we need to start travelling to overseas conventions and take part in them in order to get South Africa on the map as a serious bonsai loving country.
This was followed by a demonstration and talk by Elsa Boudouri from Italy and was joined by local bonsai artist Emile de Bruin from Ceres. Elsa is a very serious bonsai
professional who exhibited a very deep love for the art and a great respect for the age and development of the tree being worked on. There was no great show of ‘look what I have done with this tree’, but a very quiet determination to develop and style the tree as it is meant to be. Her ability to find the inner beauty of the tree and style it for long term health was a huge paradigm shift from past artists I have seen, and I was deeply impressed with her approach to creating the final product.
Lunch was accompanied by a walk through the trees on display, and what a wonderful selection of trees it was. Anyone interested to see footage from ABC6 can log onto the YouTube channel “Bonsaiwithromano’ and find a whole range of pictures and video clips (some of which are still in the process of being edited and uploaded).
The lunch break was followed by a demonstration and talk by Jennifer Price from the USA. And what a chatty person she was. It was wonderful to have her explain every step of
her thought process and involve the audience in the decision-making process, a great choice of speaker for the graveyard shift.
The afternoon ended with the SABA AGM followed by the awarding of lifetime achievement awards and a finger supper with wine.
Saturday 09 November was a day of local talent. The day kicked off with the Louis Nel memorial lecture on Buddleja by Freddie Bisschoff and he was joined on stage by Andre Swart who spoke of Spekboom, and launched his book on the specie.
Lunch was again enjoyed with a viewing of the trees on display, and this time Liam had roped us into selecting our personal top five, which we would be discussing over supper later that evening.
The afternoon session consisted of the three musketeers: Hannes Fritz, Vian Herbst and Scott Bredin on their favourite species. Both talks, the one by Hannes who spoke on olives, and the one by Scott, who gave an amazing presentation on Baobabs, have been made available by Romano.
Later, Carl de Beer, the custodian of the Ceronio-collection, joined us for supper at our accommodation and a lively discussion on our top trees ensued.
Sunday, 10 November was the final day and this consisted of a joint demonstration by Elsa and Jennifer on a very old Pine tree that belonged to Becky Lucas, who pioneered the art of bonsai in South Africa, and is now cared for by the Stellenbosch Arboretum. What really moved me was
the absolute respect and care that the duo took in restoring the tree to greatness. It was truly the highlight of the convention.
The next great event will be the mini convention which will be held in Pretoria in 2025 and will be hosted by the BRAT members. It will basically be in my back yard. I won’t have to fly. But I’ll still be brave, for the bonsai.
Underutilized trees in South African bonsai
At our last “after-party” meeting at Thian’s place, Bruce Carter had some exciting news to share with us from his trip to the ABC6 held in Stellenbosch earlier in November. Among other topics, he mentioned that there are a few trees that were highlighted at the convention as being underutilized as bonsai by the greater community. Although South Africa has literally thousands of species to choose from, the highlighted selection are the following
trees:
Buddelja saligna – The False Olive
Portulacaria afra – Spekboom
Premna mooiensis – The Skunk Bush
Adansonia digitata – The Baobab
Ever the plant enthusiast, I’ve taken it upon myself to arm you with the knowledge to care of these species.
False Olive – Buddelja saligna
About:
A widespread, fast growing tree with many horticultural applications, the False Olive is one of around 140 species found worldwide, and can be found about everywhere in Southern Africa, thanks to tolerating a wide range of habitats. In the green industry, False Olives are planted as hedges, screens, rapid shade trees and habitat rehabilitation. Easy to grow from cuttings and able to grow in poor soils, survive pollution & dust coverage, these trees are extensively used in the urban setting. They are drought resistant once established, and respond well to pruning.
Bonsai significance
Buddlejas are versatile trees: Their leaves reduce extremely well and they make for interesting deadwood subjects. These trees can be trained into many different
forms and because of how fast they grow, develop rapidly compared to other trees.
Care:
Buddeljas like full sun, good drainage and are fairly pest-resistant when healthy. They benefit from light dressings of compost or fertilizer applied throughout the year, with a
heavier feed being recommended in the Autumn (For their flowers) or Spring (To replenish them from flowering). Buddeljas can grow in rather shallow pots, and can be repotted every year to every second year -at least during their developmental stages. They are frost-hardy, but benefit from some protection in winter. Allow to dry out a little between watering.
Elephant Food/Spekboom – Portulacaria afra
About:
Found throughout the arid parts of Southern Africa, this species is extremely varied, with over 7 different forms being recognized (Common, large leaf, prostrata, “Eeny Meeny”, willow form, yellow tipped, & variegated, to name a few) throughout South Africa. They range from low-growing ground covers, to small trees of around 2-5 meters, although some are rumored to be a little taller. They tolerate a wide range of growing environments, which has helped popularise them in the common garden. They are often confused with Crassula ovata, which doesn’t make red stem-tips as they grow. Spekboom grow readily from cuttings.
Bonsai significance
Spekboom respond well to bonsai training and have become increasingly more popular as bonsai subjects. They respond well to pruning and can even be defoliated just after winter to encourage new growth spurts. Because of how hardy they are, you can safely go on vacation- a good reason for the busy South African to keep some in their bonsai collection. Some old-school bonsai artists of South Africa try to argue that Spekboom don’t count as
bonsai, but in my opinion they’re just as valid if not more so than a Baobab.
Care
Although tolerant of semi-shade conditions, Spekboom thrive under full sun conditions. Once they have a canopy of leaves, their stems aren’t as prone to getting scorched in hot weather. They prefer soil that drains well, and benefit from lots of organic matter. Spekboom aren’t
typically attacked by pests, but can host aphid infestations during spring, which spreads to other trees. You can repot these trees every year to every third year. Protect them from frost as they can take quite a knock from cold. Allow to completely dry between watering, if possible, and increase water frequency in Summer.
Skunkbush – Premna mooiensis
About:
A small tree or shrub with no description on their size, this species can be found on rocky outcrops throughout the warmer Eastern regions of Southern Africa. They are known to give off a foul odor when the leaves are broken. This species isn’t well studied as a result, and is not used in landscape settings. A pioneer plant for bonsai!
Bonsai significance
Relatively new to the bonsai scene, these trees have been found to rapidly develop into stunning specimens, especially when collected as yamadori. They are subjected to a wide variety of styles and respond well to pruning. The foul smell they give off helps prevent animals and people from damaging the tree, ideal if you have dogs or cats that like to help.
Care
These plants grow on rocky outcrops and therefore enjoy a good dose of sunlight, either in semi-shade or full sun form. They enjoy freely draining media. Thanks to the soft wood, Premna are prone to boring insects, but are otherwise quite pest resistant. Repotting can occur frequently, as these are fast growing plants. They seem to do well in both shallow and deep pots, and should be well protected from cold in the winter. Allow to dry out between watering.
Baobab – Adansonia digitata
About:
The baobab is a classic hit for South African bonsai. Growing in the warmest parts of Africa, these trees are not extensively used in landscapes due to their immense size, but are considered as one of the most useful plants in Africa.
Bonsai significance
Baobabs aren’t a beginner friendly bonsai, but nonetheless make for amazing large-specimen bonsai. Due to their difficulty to train, it is recommended to grow them as
large as possible, and to keep them in deep pots with plenty of drainage, giving these trees a very different presentation compared to most bonsais around the world. This is one of the truly unique African style bonsai.
Care
Baobabs aren’t easy to care for outside their home range. They enjoy full sun conditions, but can be prone to sunburn on the stems, and prefer freely draining soils – the dryer, the better. Prone to getting attacked by pests when unhealthy, it is important to inspect them biweekly for trouble. They grow best in freely draining media with good amounts of organic matter. Repotting can be done yearly or so, depending on your growing conditions. They are very sensitive to cold, and it’s actually recommended in Pretoria to pull your tree out when there are no leaves and allow them to stay bare-rooted in a warm spot in the garage. Allow to dry out between deep watering, and never allow even high humidity in Winter. These trees are likely to become more and more popular as time goes on.
Spekboom and Buddeljas are extremely easy to come by, but though Premna and Baobabs aren’t as readily available, they all make for some truly amazing specimens.
