Yarra Valley Bonsai Society Home Page

The Yarra Valley Bonsai Society, based in the 'far east' of Melbourne, caters for bonsai enthusiasts of all skill levels, from the simply curious and absolute beginner to the advanced practitioners.

Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at Chirnside Park Community Hib at 33 Kimberley Drive in Chirnside Park (Melway Ref 37 F3 or see map here). Monthly meetings usually begin with a Review/Overview session at 7.30pm, followed by a short business section and then a feature event: usually a demonstrator or speaker on a topic of interest. In addition to our monthly meetings, we hold informal workshops on the last Saturday of each month from 1-4:00 pm also at Chirnside Park Community Hub.

For membership enquiries contact info@yarravalleybonsai.org.au or download an application form and send it to the PO Box listed above. Better yet, bring it along to the next meeting or workshop. Membership has its benefits, such as substantial discounts at selected nurseries and other businesses of interest, but visitors are always welcome.

LATEST NEWS:After a final burst of warm weather at Easter, we can now say that Autumn is well and truly with us. The glorious sunny days have brought with them cooler temperatures and the nights have been quite cold – we’ve even had some rain. I’ve needed to use the central heating once or twice over the last couple of weeks too. Most deciduous trees are in “color change, leaf dropping mode” – a sure sign Winter’s not too far away. But for the moment we can continue to enjoy the colorful displays and shuffling through the fallen leaves on the ground.
Each month our members are encouraged to bring along one of their bonsai trees to our meetings to showcase their latest triumphs. For the May meeting’s display table, they have been asked to bring those featuring good Autumn Colors. We are generally treated to a magnificent display of red and yellow clothed miniature trees, and I’m sure we can look forward to more of the same this year. It should be a magnificent sight.
From now on it is important to keep work benches and display areas free of fallen leaves and debris. This will reduce the risk of diseases breeding and spreading amongst your plants, and keep the air circulating around your pots and soil. Also, it removes any potential hiding spots for insects, bugs and creatures that may harm your small trees.

At our last month’s meeting we held a ”Team Challenge Cup” night. Those members that were present were divided into five Teams. Each Team was given a young cedar tree and had to create a bonsai from it in under two hours. There was quite a competitive air in the room as each Team cut, snipped, wired and bent their tree in an effort to outdo the others. Tien from Bonsai Sensation Nursery was on hand to provide some guidance and direction where needed. At the end of the allocated time we had five very creditable bonsais. A representative from each Team gave a short talk on why they had styled the tree as they had.Then the best tree of the night was chosen from a ballot of those present. All members had a lot of fun with some of the newer ones having the opportunity to learn and practise some skills that they had learnt from their more experienced colleagues. A great night!

Following on from our April Meeting, the May Monthly Meeting will feature a demonstration by Tien himself. During the Team Challenge he noticed a number of the Teams chose variations on upright styles for their trees, so this time he will demonstrate another style, yet to be determined, using the same type of cedar used last month to show some other possibilities.

The next Saturday afternoon Workshop will be on May 25th at our usual Venue from 1:00 – 4:00pm.

Remember, if you are interested in finding out more about our Club, feel free to come along to one of our Monthly Meetings or a Saturday Workshop and check us out for yourself. Please contact us beforehand for further details on where to find us. You’ll be made most welcome.

And remember we look forward to catching up with you somewhere in the “world of bonsai” in 2019.