So the time has finally come. Bonsai Ireland are currently looking for enthusiasts to join in Ireland. There will be a club in Dublin and in Cork. Me and Piotr are currently heading the recruitment drive for Cork.

If you are interested we will be having our initial meeting in mid September, date to be confirmed. This will be the Cork Club of Bonsai Ireland.

If you are interested please don’t hesitate to contact me at lyonsbonsai@gmail.com you can also leave me a message after this post. We will be hoping to start regular meetings and get a club established for the Cork region. It is badly needed to have a club in the Munster region.

Hope to hear from plenty of motivated bonsai enthusiasts in Ireland, we know ye are out there.

Wacky weather makes bonsai grumpy too. We’ve had, in the middle of the United States and in Europe, some of the oddest weather in years: Very cold springs in both places. These unusual weather patterns can result in seriously bummed out bonsai.

Even if you’ve only a few seasons of bonsai under your belt, it’s probably obvious that a bonsai is a very vulnerable plant. Because it lives in a pot, strange weather is a stronger version of strange to the tree. We might need to wait longer to bring our trees out of winter storage, which can result in tree weakness if they’ve been growing there for a while already. Pests and diseases can latch onto trees they normally would not have a chance with. Or, we can simply have hotter summers than normal which create other problems.

I remember very well my first year as an apprentice in…