Bonsai Pot Acquisition Prize The Bonsai Pot Acquisition Prize 2021 is designed to encourage the appreciation of the art of bonsai pottery and to highlight the beauty and functionality of bonsai pots. Your challenge is to create a bonsai pot for a Water gum, Tristaniopsis laurina and have the chance to be on display at the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia and win a cash prize!

Join us for this year's Bonsai Week event, entitled Bonsai Reshaped which will run from Friday 26 March - Sunday 28 March 2021. Come along to Bonsai Reshaped where Australian native trees and Australian artists feature alongside the beauty of Japanese traditional arts. From hands-on workshops to demonstrations and discussion forums, learn more about the ancient arts of bonsai, kusamono, ikebana and bonsai ceramics, which all focus on subtle elements that enhance nature and seasonal beauty. Join our local and interstate guest artists and the Curators of the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia for three days of events, held at the National Arboretum Canberra, home to the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia (NBPCA). ​ Overseas or can't travel? Join us online for the Demonstration and Discussion Forum on 27 March 2021. Please find further information on the link below.

Congratulations to Matthew Hartley, winner of the 2020 Jake Keller Award. The presentation was made at the joint Friends & National Arboretum Canberra end-of-year event on 16 December. A great night!

Thanks to our enthusiasts at Friends of ACT Trees, below is the list of Westbourne Woods Arboretum monthly walks for your calendars. They are free guided 2-hour walks through the grounds of the Royal Canberra Golf Club. 2nd Sunday of every month: meet at 9.30 am at the entrance to Royal Canberra Golf Club, Bentham Street Yarralumla. No dogs allowed. The dress code of the Golf Club which can be found at www.royalcanberra.com.au applies if you wish to accept the invitation of the Club to take refreshments at the Spike Bar after the walk. PLEASE WEAR SENSIBLE SHOES/CLOTHES AND BRING A HAT AND WATER. WHEN WITHIN THE GOLF COURSE PLEASE RESPECT GOLFERS' NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO PLAY SHOTS WITHOUT DISTURBANCE.

Colours visible in our Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park (STEP) for this month include white, yellow, pink and purple. Check them out below and then go and see how many you can find - after coffee/play in the playground of course!

Hearty congratulations go to Ange McNeilly, the Friends of the National Arboretum of Canberra Volunteer of the Year for 2020! Ange was presented with this Recognition Award at our recent joint Friends and National Arboretum Canberra End-of-Year celebration event in the Village Centre. Ange has had a truly amazing year - Canberra stopped but Ange did not! She worked throughout the smoke, storms, wind, cold winter days and throughout COVID lockdown keeping the Garden ready for the next season. She was harvesting, cooking, drying herbs and seed throughout the year, planting and potting up plants for the Garden and for sale at our Market Stalls. Ange is such a worthy person of this Award!

Wow! Check this out! One of our cherished volunteers, Joanne Maples, made a 20-second recording of the sounds in Forest 2 (local eucalypts and grasses) on 20 December. These cicadas are really loud! You can just hear the traffic noise from the parkway underneath them towards the end.

The Australian Association of Friends of Botanic Gardens has just released its November issue of Eucalypt. It's a great read - below are listed some of the many interesting articles. In particular, there is an update from the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens in Bateman's Bay. You remember it was severely damaged by the January bushfires.

Help us capture and record the history of the Arboretum - because the Arboretum will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. The Friends are planning to embark on a project that will capture the ‘told’ and ‘untold’ history of the Arboretum - the stories and the people who made it happen and so successful.

This video tells the story of the plantings on the western edge of Walter Burley Griffin’s city plan, the Green Hills, now known as Roman Cypress Hill, Dairy Farmers Hill and the Himalayan Cedars. Originally marked on plans as a forest and game reservation and later a continental arboretum, Griffin finally settled on the afforestation of the three bare hills with cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) and cedars (Cedrus atlantica), from 1918 to 1920. Narrated by Trevor Lipscombe, ACT National Trust Heritage Walks organiser and filmed and directed by Anne Claoue-Long and Bronwyn Blake from the Australian Garden History Society, this short video reveals the connection of these three green hills which are driven past and visited by thousands of visitors every year.