By Luke Voogt
Bonsais are easier to maintain than most people think, according to long-time pruner Paul Buttigieg.
He and fellow Geelong Bonsai Club members will show off their best-trimmed trees at Belmont next weekend to inspire the city’s next batch of green thumbs.
“We’re more than happy to help people start from scratch,” he said.
The club has been going since 1986, and has members aged from their twenties to their nineties, with varying levels of expertise.
“A few eat and breathe bonsai,” Paul said.
“We’re from all industries and walks of life – we’ve all been bitten by the bonsai bug.
“About 20 of us have got serious, fantastic collections – and I’d be in the 15 to 20 mark.”
Paul, 70, reckoned his horticulture hobby had pruned years from his life, along with not smoking.
“Everyone’s got to have a hobby that takes their mind off the pressures of life and makes them enjoy being alive – for me that’s bonsai,” he said.
The IT salesman began pruning his first juniper 2009 when his children bought him a bonsai course for Father’s Day.
“I can proudly say it is still alive and thriving,” he says. “Often people lose their first tree.”
Paul’s collection has since bloomed to about 100 plants, and pruning, wiring and weeding his bonsais is a welcome meditative escape.
“When I’m with the trees I forget the hustle and bustle of life,” he says.
“Time stands still. By the time I’ve finished, all the stress is gone.”
The Geelong Bonsai Club’s annual show runs on 11 and 12 November at Geelong Masonic Hall, Belmont. For more information email geelong@bonsai.org.au.
