The NIBS will be holding a bonsai school next Saturday from 9.30am to 5pm in Newtownards. This is to help raise funds for our Exhibition celebrating 30 years of bonsai in Northern Ireland. The school is open to non club members for the first time and for £20 is a full on day of bonsai learning. You’ll even get tea coffee and soup!

Below is a run down of the topics covered on the day.

Fundamentals of Bonsai Design – Many people find the thought of sitting down to style a tree daunting. However, when we break it down to the fundamentals of design, everyone can work their way through the material at hand.  This part of the school will look at how to find these key design features in a tree and also help you choose better material before you buy.

Heavy Trunk Bending demonstration – Phil will be demonstrating how to bend a heavy trunked Juniper using hollowing techniques, raffia bending bars etc. Many find this aspect of creating bonsai a mystery. This session will show all the secrets and techniques used to transform your trees. Below id the tree to be used in the demo. This will be bent in stages during the day.

Pruning Deciduous trees for Spring – A short session on how to prune your deciduous trees to create better ramification in your branch structure.

Air Layering Demonstration – Why do we air layer? A look at the reasons behind the use of this technique in bonsai creation and and step by step demo showing just how it is done.

Repotting Why? How? When? – Three questions that seem to cause confusion with many people making basic mistakes that affect the health of their trees for many years after the repot. We will look at the difference in repotting young and old bonsai and a close look at what mix is best for different species.

Repotting Demo – Following the repotting talk we will be repotting a very tall Cedar into a new pot. looking at some of the issues with this species and showing the difference in root structure between an established bonsai and one in in the early stages of training.

Tree Critique – Powerpoint – A look at the best of the trees from recent Exhibitions and what makes them great bonsai.

Pine Focus (Bonus Session) –Time permitting we hope to look at how to prune Pines for development and also for refinement. Two distinct ways to prune Pine bonsai that often get confused.

Interested in joining us on this action packed day? Please email us at info@nibonsai.co.uk  or ring on 07795263569