This web page provides Convention updates, press releases and media content to promote the 2025 AABC Convention in Canberra.

The Canberra Bonsai Society, on behalf of the Association of Australian Bonsai Clubs (AABC), will present the convention in Canberra on May 16–19 next year (2025). The following articles are updates. 

23 March 2025 - VENDORS READY TO DO BUSINESS

The 2025 AABC National Bonsai Convention will feature 12 vendors offering a high-quality range of bonsai pots, trees, stands, books, artwork and tools to convention delegates and the general public.

The convention will be held in Canberra from Friday, 16 May to Monday, 19 May 2025. The convention is booked out – with over 200 delegates from all over Australia,

Part of the convention's attraction for delegates is a special exhibition of Canberra's best 100+ trees, and a vendor display with a national variety of trees, pots, and equipment.

The exhibition and the vendors' display will be open to the public on Saturday, 17 May and Sunday, 18 May.

The vendor display will include:

• Neil Padbury from Shibui will have bonsai and pre-bonsai
• Tien from Bonsai Sensation will have bonsai and pre-bonsai
• Grant Bowie from the Canberra Bonsai Studio will have a wide variety of pots and tools
• Rod Verwoert from Underwoodstoneware will have distinctive pots for sale
• Megumi Bennett from Bonsai Art will have bonsai books and artwork
• Brisbane-based Marie Hewartson will have her pots for sale
• Lindsay Bebb will have bonsai stands in a range of shapes and sizes
• Kate Justo from Kate's Plastic Bonsai Pots will have a range of plastic bonsai pots
• Hugh Grant from Treemakers will have trees, tools and pots
• James Tranter from Samarkand Pots will have a variety of distinctive pots
• Elaine Brown from Bonsai Island will have bonsai pots in different shapes and sizes
• Greg Horner from Bonsai Ceramic will have his range of distinctive pots.
  
  

23 MARCH 2025 - CONVENTION UPDATE

Hundreds of bonsai enthusiasts will be heading to Canberra in May this year.

More than 200 delegates from Australia and New Zealand have booked their places for the four-day Association of Australian Bonsai Clubs (AABC) National Convention.

Hosted by the Canberra Bonsai Society on behalf of the AABC, the 37^th Convention will be held four days from Friday, May 16 to Monday, May 19. The Convention is fully booked for Two-day and Saturday - Only registrations. Places are still available for Sunday-only registrations.

Delegates will meet and learn from an internationally and nationally recognised lineup of bonsai demonstrators and discuss the future directions of bonsai practice.

The program is packed with demonstrations, masterclasses, discussions on the future of bonsai, workshops, bus tours, a dinner and a welcome reception. Internationally recognised demonstrators from the USA will be featured at the Convention.

The Convention includes the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the Canberra Bonsai Society and a once in 50 years exhibition of members’ high-quality trees.

The exhibition of 100 + trees, distinctive pots, and bonsai display stones (suiseki) will be open to the public over two days: Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. Alongside the exhibition, the convention vendors area will be open to the public, offering trees of all sizes, pots, tools and equipment for sale.

The Convention and the exhibition venue is the Canberra Rex Hotel on Northbourne Avenue Canberra. Supported by the ACT Government, masterclasses and workshops will use the facilities at the National Arboretum Canberra.

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Or phone 0450 012 402

Canberra Bonsai Society

Convention details at www.canberrabonsai.club

15 FEBRUARY 2025 - CONVENTION UPDATE
With the National Bonsai Convention only three months away, I want to update all the registered delegates on progress.

Total number of delegates is close to the maximum of 200 – with only a few places left. All the states, the ACT and New Zealand are represented – with 39 clubs sending delegates.

• Bookings are complete for both masterclasses on Friday, 16 May (with our international demonstrators Jennifer Price and Michael Hagedorn).
• There are only a few places left in the two Workshops with Jennifer Price, so book your place so you don’t miss out.
• All the exhibition tree critique sessions on Saturday, 17 May, and Sunday, 18 May, with Michael Hagedorn and Jennifer Price, are fully booked.
• The welcome reception and the convention dinner have attracted around 100 registrations and will provide an excellent opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones.
• The bus tour to the National Arboretum and the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection Australia on Monday, 19 May, has just a few seats left.

We have selected 12 vendors for the trade display, which promises to provide a high-quality selection of bonsai trees, pots, and equipment, with a wide selection of items to buy.

We are finalising the convention exhibition, working on selecting over 100 exhibition trees of outstanding quality in a display of the highest standard. The exhibition celebrates 50 years of the Canberra Bonsai Society and will feature Canberra’s best autumn trees. The Convention demonstration trees include diverse species, including Black Pines and natives such as Melaleuca, Casuarina, Kunzea and Nothofagus.

If you want to adjust any part of your registration – taking up any workshop vacancies and adding to your registration, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Keep an eye on our Facebook and the convention website, www.canberrabonsai.club, for updates as we move closer to May.

Best wishes – I look forward to meeting you in May.

Tony Gill
2025 Convention Co-Ordinator
February 2025

15 December 2024: Convention places still available

The rush has been on for places at the 2025 National Bonsai Convention in May next year.

With 6 months to go, registrations are running well over the 75 per cent mark, which means there are still places left.

Registrations can be made online at  www.canberrabonsai.club

Registrations for the masterclasses, critiques and workshops featuring the five national and international demonstrators are filling fast.

There are still places for Jennifer Price’s workshop sessions for those who act quickly.

Jennifer from Chicago is an internationally acclaimed bonsai artist. She is one of only five professional female bonsai artists in the world. She travels extensively, leading workshops and demonstrations and representing the United States at international conventions. If you want to see her workshop skills, here is one of her most recent workshops - https://youtu.be/oh3wc-IhQ2U

Any questions? Email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

10/11/2024 Applications by selected Convention vendors – closed on the 30 November.

Bonsai vendors expressed a strong interest in participating in the 2025 National Convention at the Canberra Rex Hotel. The convention team requested 16 vendors who indicated interest by 31 October 2024 to respond to a formal application as vendors. The sale vendors application process closed on 30 November, and successful vendors were notified in early January.

The team has selected vendors offering a range of bonsai goods in terms of quality and price that will meet the expectations of delegates attending the convention and the public visiting the exhibition. The names of the selected vendors will be revealed to the public in the coming weeks. 

30/10/2024  Marcela Ferreira at Melbourne native bonsai symposium

One of the 2025 AABC convention demonstrators, Marcela Ferreira, focussed on native plants in a Melbourne symposium in August.

The Victorian Native Bonsai Club hosted the Australian Native Plants as Bonsai Symposium.

Its intention was to continue the strong work of previous symposiums, inspire bonsai enthusiasts to work with Australian native plants, and encourage people to grow Australian native plants as bonsai.

Marcela will bring her enthusiasm for native plants to the convention next year.

The symposium included a demonstration using Yamamori material. Quentin Valentine worked on a large Leucopogon parviflorus (bearded heath) originally sourced by Jarryd Bailey in Tasmania.

Jarrod Bailey is another of the 2025 convention demonstrators. The tree now resides in Canberra after being a raffle prize won by a Canberra Bonsai Society member.

 The presenters on the weekend included Marcela, Stephen Cullum, Kevin Ritchie, Craig May and Quentin Valentine.

Places in the convention’s workshops and masterclasses are still available for the 2025 Convention at www.canberrabonsai.club

30/10/24 Jennifer Price at Munich Masterclass

One of the 2025 Convention’s International Demonstrators, Jennifer Price, has led a masterclass in Germany.

Jennifer joined other international bonsai artists from Croatia, USA, Slovakia, Czechia and Germany to work on a range of trees. As part of the Masterclass, Jennifer redesigned a stone planting for Bonsai Garten
München in Germany.

The Masterclass, led by Walter Pall, was held at Bonsaigarten in Munich in Germany and attracted an international line-up. Participants included Jennifer, Chicago USA; Andy Bello, USA; Sergik Cuan, USA; Marco Merschel, Germany; Thomas Haering, Germany; Maros Belan, Slovakia; Lukas Sirotny, Czechia; Andrija Zokcic, Croatia with helper Marko; Matija Triglav, Slovenia with helper Katja; Nick Rozman, Slovenia.

The following picture shows Jennifer with one of the trees she worked on in the Masterclass. Jennifer Price is one of four international demonstrators to feature at the AABC national convention in Canberra from 16 to 19 May 2025. To reserve a place in masterclasses and workshops, register on this site: www.canberrabopnsai.club.

October 30 - Spring pointer to convention exhibition

More than 600 visitors had a spring preview of the quality of Canberra’s bonsais at the Canberra Bonsai Society annual exhibition in October.

The CBS show exhibition featured more than 70 high-quality bonsai from the collections of CBS members, including some created by local artists represented in the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia at the National Arboretum, Canberra.

It included both traditional exotic plant species and Australian species. They ranged from Ezo spruce (Picea jezoensis) from snow-covered mountains, Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra), Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) and Lebanese Cedar (Cedrus libani var. brevifolia) to Mallee honeymyrtle (Melaleuca acuminata) and Western Queensland White Gum (Eucalyptus argophloia).

The exhibition included traditional Japanese tokonoma-style displays.

People’s Choice (with 500 votes cast) went to a Japanese Red Pine (Pinus densiflora)  - pictured below.

According to the category judges, Steven Soley from the Goulburn Bonsai Club and Canberra potter Monica Leone, it was a top-quality exhibition and an excellent indicator of the quality of the exhibition at next year’s AABC National Convention.

The convention exhibition team is well on the way to creating a remarkable exhibition to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Canberra Bonsai Society.

It will feature more than 100 trees, especially curated for the exhibition.

The convention team has been busy helping CBS members improve the quality of their overall displays, including trees, stands and accent plants.

With the autumn exhibition seven months away, tree preparation is well underway so that the trees will be at their best in May next year.

The exhibition is open to the public, but an important part of the convention. Early bird registrations for the convention, to be held 16-19 May next year, close at the end of October at www.canberrabonsai.club

CBS Media Release on the announcement of the 2025 Convention hosts. <<Press Release 20/05/2025>>