Warragul Bonsai Group
The Warragul Bonzai Group is a club which specialises in working with Bonsai’s. Some of its members also attend meetings of the Warragul & District Garden Club. However it is a great hobby for those without gardens. Check here for regular updates
Warragul Bonsai Group meets the third Thursday of each Month. New members are very welcome. Any enquiries contact Carol 0438 877393 or Warragulbonsaigroup@gmail.com
Gazette Club Notes January 2026
The strong summer growth of natives and their resultant needs is the main topic for discussion.
Eucalypts make magnificent specimens with needs a little different to the traditional bonsai. Mostly, when we are doing very little with our exotics except keeping up the water, it is a very busy time for natives in their growing season. Beginning of summer re pot and prune back when new growth is rapid. New growth can also be encouraged by burning or smoking when not re potting. Gums dislike wiring so styling is limited to clip and grow. With gums, trunks or branches should be finger thickness before pruning and new shoots promoted.
The Queensland Box Eucalypt makes a beautiful, wholly Australian bonsai. This is a special native species with lovely bark. It sits in winter and does nothing and will shoot freely in the summer growing season.
The native Tea Tree or Leptospernum works well as bonsai. Extremely vigorous you will get a bonsai quickly, with nursery stock lending itself to windswept style or a forest. Sit a Leptospernum in a saucer of water in summer. Banksias do well with this treatment too.
Figs make great bonsai. November to March is their growth time and over winter in a glass house. Frost is a major enemy of this tropical plant. In the summer growing time, re pot and defoliate. You can leave little of the leaf which will later drop off when the new leaf comes. Wire before the new buds start. Prune back to the smallest leaf.
The All Important Subject of Tools.
We can survive with the simplest of instruments we may already have in the garden shed. Sharp blade, pointy nosed pliers, pliers, tweezers and a folding pruning saw are a few. Then there are many specialist items we should have in our bonsai tool box.
Japanese are better manufactured over the Chinese counterpart. Stainless steel are better than steel, they won’t rust. These can become a little expensive but we can build our collection one by one, starting with branch cutters and scissors, then root pruners and wire cutters.
Different sized scissors for small and large trees or the job at hand. This is also important for branch cutters, tiny or quite large relative to the size of the branches being worked on. Profile choices are parrot beak or concave depending on the type of wound we want to leave on the tree. If the cut gets too difficult, don’t overwork your tools. If the cut becomes too challenging, go up a size, saves damage to the tool.
Branch splitters aren’t often used and could be left for the more experienced enthusiast. Similarly a Dremmel carving tool is used for more ambitious work.
Chopsticks, craft blades, toothbrush for algae or a soft wire brush are all handy. There is available a small specialist block to help keep the blade clean of sticky sap or use a light emery board. Always sterilise the tool between plants. Eucalyptus oil is a good cleaner after each session.
