VNBC Annual Exhibition – 18-19 March 2022

The Victorian Native Bonsai Club has an annual exhibition. And the 2022 exhibition was today. So I went, and took some pictures. And I shopped a bit, because prices were quite good.

I note the tendency to specific trees as good bonsai fodder, which is a much more… professional? serious? sensible? …approach than my one-of-anything attitude. Also, serious development takes a vision for the tree – I’m trying to cultivate it.

The Trees

#1: Short leafed heath myrtle (*Baekea brevifolia*)

Detail of #1: This is the root of the main trunk in the top left of the layout.

The view of #1 from the right. The black base on the table is one piece; there are three rocks supporting plants.

#4: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#5: Silver Banksia (*Banksia marginata*)

#6: Coastal Tea Tree (*Leptospermum laevigatum)*

#7: Woolly tea tree (*Leptospermum lanigerum*)

#8: Lemon scented tea tree (*Leptospermum petersonii*)

#9: Willow leaved peppermint (*Eucalyptus nicholii*)

#10: Prickly Paperbark (*Melaleuca styphelioides*)

Detail of #10 showing the bark texture on the inner fork… presumably deliberate.

#11: Huon Pine (*Labarostrobus franklinii*)

#12: Blue Mountains Pine: (*Microstrobos fitzgeraldii*)
#13: Tea Tree Rocky Cape (*Leptospermum rupestre ‘Rocky Cape’*)

#14: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)
#15: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#16: Swamp paperbark (*Melaleuca ericifolia*)
That knot at the base looks like the trunk was coiled around something as it grew.

#18: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#19: Coastal Tea Tree (*Leptospermum laevigatum)*

#20: Slender burgan (*Kunzea phylicoides*)

#21: Port Jackson fig (*Ficus rubiginosa*)

#22: Miniature bonsai (*Ficus, Pandorea, corkscrew rush, Dwarf trigger plant*)

#23: Prickly Paperbark (*Melaleuca styphelioides*)

#24: Swamp Paperbark (*Melaleuca ericifolia*)

#25: Violet kunzea (*Kunzea parvifolia*)

#26: Mountain tea tree (*Leptospermum polygalifolium Montanum)*

#27: Rose she-oak (*Allocasuarina torulosa*)

#28: Short leaved baecklea (*Baeckea brevifolia*)

#29: Port Jackson fig (*Ficus rubiginosa*)

#30: Long Leaved wattle (*Acacia longifolia*)

#31: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#32: Willow leaved peppermint (*Eucalyptus nicholii*)

#33: Mountain Ash (*Eucalyptus nicholii*)

Detail of #33 – the trophy. Yup, it’s a piece of wood. This is very cute and very apropos.

#34: Golden Gem (*Melaleuca bracteata ‘Golden Gem’*)
This was an the entrance as the first to be seen. Its over a meter tall and 1.5 meters wide.

#35: Coastal tea tree (*Leptospermum laevigatum)*
The VNBC logo, in the wood.

#36: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

Detail of #36 – the trunks come from a cavity in the ‘rock’. And the documentation has those scare quotes around rock, so I don’t know what it means.

#37: Red box (*Eucalyptus polyanthemos*)

#38: Tea Tree “Cardwell pink” (*Leptospermum polygalifolium syn flavescens*)

#39: Black she-oak (*Allocasuarina littoralis*)

#40: Myrtle beech (*Nothofagus cunninghamii*)

#41: Port Jackson fig (*Ficus rubiginosa*)

#42: Yellow box (*Eucalyptus melliodora*)

#43: Sticky wattle “Green Wave” (*Acacia howittii*)

#44: Lemon scented tea tree (*Leptospermum petersonii*)

#48: Narrow leafed phebalium (*Phebalium stenophyllum*)

#49: Morton Bay Fig (*Ficus macrophylla*)

#50: Morton Bay Fig (*Ficus macrophylla*)

#51: Tasmanian Myrtle (*Nothofagus cunninghamii*)

#52: Woolly tea tree (*Leptospermum lanigerum*)

#53: River red gum (*Eucalyptus camaldulensis*)

#54: Short leaved baeckea (*Baeckea brevifolia*)

#55: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#56: Manuka (*Leptospermum scoparium*)
My vote for favourite, based mostly on being inspiring rather than intimidating. 🙂

#57: Coastal Tea Tree (*Leptospermum laevigatum)*

Detail of #59 – a big dollop of wound sealant. I’ve stopped using this because a) it’s hard to get, but also b) it ends up as a glob like this. Which are both poor reasons in the long run.

#60: Saw leafed banksia (*Banksia serrata*)

#61: Coast banksia (*Banksia integrifolia*)

#62: Saw leafed banksia (*Banksia serrata*)

#63: River red gum (*Eucalyptus camaldulensis*)

Detail of #63 – looking and the pruning patterns for my gums

#65: Brittle gum (*Eucalyptus camaldulensis*)

Detail of #68 – the accent nestled in wood

#69: Yellow tea tree (*Leptospermum polygalifolium*)

#70: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#71: Prickly tea tree (*Leptospermum continentale*)

#72: Snow in Summer (*Melaleuca linariifolia*)

Detail of #72 – I wanted a closer look at the center carvings

Detail of #72 – carving detail… you can still see the gouged channels

Detail of #72 – the other side, also with carving marks

#75: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

#76: Mountain burgan (*Kunzea penduncularis*)

There was a guide for each tree with a paragraph on tree history:

The business

Capitalism provides services where there is a need. There was a shop at the back of the exhibition:

There was a bunch of trees for sale… I got there a little late, so I’m guessing the really good stuff was picked out already. But there were some nice bits there.

Bonsai pot makers and sellers: