Centre for Continuing Education

Bonsai Course

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Horticulture and gardening. Open to everyone.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update: arrangement of our courses

Some of our courses have moved to online delivery. We aim to continue to deliver a high-quality educational experience through interactive, online classes in real-time. If you are currently enrolled in a course with us, we will be in touch soon with options for your enrolment.

Please note that for online classes, all course materials will be shared electronically. No printed resources will be available.

Enjoy gardening on a smaller scale. Explore the fascinating world of bonsai.

Find out which varieties of plants are most suitable and how easy it is to create your own bonsai. Learn which containers, soil, materials and equipment to use and how to shape, prune, maintain, style and display your plants.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

  • identify plants suitable for bonsai
  • recognise the defined styles of bonsai
  • select appropriate containers, soil and fertiliser for bonsai
  • prune and wire a plant to create a bonsai
  • repot a bonsai proficiently
  • maintain and cultivate a successful bonsai.

Content

This course covers the following topics:

  • history of bonsai
  • Chinese Penjing/Japanese bonsai
  • suitable specimens for bonsai: Australian, Exotic
  • styles of bonsai: informal upright, cascade, etc.
  • pots and containers: textures, shapes, sizes, colours
  • soil
  • equipment: tools for potting, wiring and pruning
  • wiring techniques
  • pruning techniques: branches, roots
  • re-potting
  • maintenance: light, water, fertiliser
  • pests and disease control

Intended audience

Suitable for anyone interested in creating and successfully maintaining a bonsai.

Delivery style

Delivered in an interactive classroom environment where the creation and maintenance of bonsai is discussed and demonstrated. Bonsai equipment is displayed and various forms of bonsai are presented.

Materials

Comprehensive course notes are provided in class.

Features

  • Expert trainers
  • Central locations
  • Free, expert advice
  • Course materials – yours to keep
  • CCE Statement of Completion

What others say.

  • Our Tutor was excellent and made it very enjoyable and easy to understand. The hands on exercise really helped. I recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Bonsai and doesn’t know where to start, or for those who have received a Bonsai tree as a gift and aren’t sure how to look after it.

  • Another excellent course. Very informative and well presented.

  • The course presentation was very informative with plenty of visual aids and real plant samples. The presenter was very good and knew her subject. I am very happy that I did this course.

  • This course was well organised and most enjoyable.

  • Just to say how instructive and fun the course was. The tutor was thorough and very approachable and very competent. I certainly went away fully satisfied and confident about the topic discussed.

  • The tutor of our bonsai course was fantastic. Their knowledge of plants was really impressive and they passed on to us in an engaging and fun way, which made the day very worthwhile. I loved it.

Bonsai Course

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2020-04-19 Sun 19 Apr 2020 2020-04-19
1 session, 6 hours total
10am - 4pm
Online
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What others say.

  • Our Tutor was excellent and made it very enjoyable and easy to understand. The hands on exercise really helped. I recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Bonsai and doesn't know where to start, or for those who have received a Bonsai tree as a gift and aren't sure how to look after it.
  • A great mix of theory and practice. This course gave a great introduction to Bonsai and the instructor is interesting and knowledgeable. Kept everyone excited!
  • Great one-day course - learnt the fundamentals and principles of bonsais, their types, how to care and create new ones. A good part of the day doing hands-on work on real bonsais. The tutor was extremely knowledgeable and very helpful.

Subjects

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