Intern. Bonsai Academy in Kastela, Croatia 2013 #7

Past weekend the International Bonsai Academy 2013 took place in Kastela near Split , Croatia. There we have Mediterranean climate. This means no frost in winter, palm trees on the beach. The climate is similar to southern California and northern Florida. Therefore everything can be done on the trees right now, like repotting, cutting, styling, collecting etc.. End of November is a very good time to repot there. Warning: most things can NOT be done now in colder climate.

Marija and Andrija have this mazing collection there and do everything together. During the seminar without much ado we take one tree after the other from more than 100 specimen bonsai and do whatever can be done at that moment. We do a lot of subtle artistic corrections. First thorough tree discussion among there people who have strong opinions. Then a consensus. Then hands on doing what has to be done.

#7:Wild myrtle, Myrtus communis. Collected in Italy. Andrea Meriggoli from Trieste, Italy owned it and then Tony Tickle. The tree has traveled through Europe in the past years, it even was in my garden for a few months. This tree had already been styled into a bonsai and was a bit neglected afterwards. Now we planted it into a good pot and it looks a lot better already. This can now be styled as originally started into a modern bonsai with powerful sumo trunk and very small mushroom crown. But another path is also possible. In the future we will try to make this look less than a bonsai and rather like a broaldeaved tree. Progress will be reported. Anyway I have personally not seen any myrtle like this before and believe that it is a European treasure.