Bonsai Bruce

SERIES 33 | Episode 06

Jane visits a bonsai grower who has styled his whole garden around his plant collection - yet this all-consuming hobby started almost by accident.

Key features

Behind an unassuming suburban home in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs is a horticultural tribute to Japan.

“The garden is not big, but it’s designed to look like a tea garden,” says Bruce.

“Traditionally that involves a path that leads through everything to a room at end, going through trees and walkways in different directions so you have to look at different part of garden as you go through. I thought it would be nice to have my bonsais in that sort of setting.” 

Bruce has about 100 bonsais, is president of his garden club’s bonsai group, and has visited Japan several times to see the gardens and famous bonsai plants.

But it was a random gift that got him hooked. “I was given my first bonsai 25-30 years ago as a present from my son and thought ‘I can’t let it die’, so I hit the library to learn how to keep it alive; it just grew from there. It’s one of those hobbies that creeps up on you.” He still has that first plant.

Bruce's bonsai growing tips

• Learn to wire properly.
• Prune to an outside bud
• Decide which is the ‘front’ and sculpt the plant(s) to be viewed from here.
• In a ‘forest style’ with multiple trees, put the smallest at the back to give it a sense of perspective/depth.
• Pick the right style for the tree- this is hard but comes with practice.

What makes a good bonsai?

• Small leaves, flowers, and thick trunk
• Something with an interesting base, not dead-straight

Bruce likes Ornamental Pear for the different seasonal interest.

Maintenance

• Water twice a day in hot weather - Bruce has a sprinkler system.
• Use very free-draining mix with virtually no soil at all. “I use bark and scoria not soil because it clogs up the drainage holes and plants get root rot.”
• Always tie tree into pot from underneath (so it doesn’t show) - “if a pot gets knocked over by possums or birds it will kill tree, so tie them in.”
• Condition with seasol regularly.
• Prune regularly so you don’t get long ‘runs’ forming

* Check before planting: this may be an environmental weed in your area

Filmed on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country | Doncaster East, Vic