New member.

Hi, I'm John.
I am from Hertfordshire in England, retired and living in Alsancak/Karavas. I took up Bonsai just about six months ago as a hobby, something to keep me occupied. Why did nobody tell me how addictive it can be? I am a partner in a garden centre but I find that I spend a large part of my time looking for plants (nursery stock?) to take home and try to turn into bonsai. Some good, some not so good, some dead! I managed to buy a couple of Olea Europea from a garden centre in Dali (?) which are doing fine
I am frustrated that I can't buy tools, pots, wire, soil etc. on the island but at least I have a steady flow of understanding friends. I read somewhere that someone is importing cat litter to Cyprus for use as a growing medium, does anyone know about this?

I was inspired by Mehmets' pictures of his Carob trees and have managed to collect some small leaved wild Olives which had been brutally uprooted by a JCB from the site of a new road next to my house. Three have survived, one is dormant and two were too badly mangled to survive. I also collected a few seedlings of Pinus Brutia but despite my care in removing them from the ground they all perished. Made me feel dreadful that I dug them up.

As part of my job I travel around in order to buy plants to sell in the garden centre. Funny how I now always find myself looking at the trunk first!!! We have a trip planned to Israel for later in the month and I will look for olives 10-15 years old to turn into large bonsai as I created ten plants this spring and they were very popular. I am also finalising an order for a container of plants from China and plan to include some ready-made bonsai and some pots just to fill the container. If anyone has any special requirements please get in touch and I'll see what I can do.

OK that's enough for a first posting....I only planned to introduce myself but hey-ho!

John.

Hi John,
Nice to see you here. Iam happy that we did this forum in English so everybody can join us. I hope you enjoy retirement in Cyprus. Bonsai is very addictive actually. I hope you have plenty of time to work with bonsai. Try to use native species.
Yes as you mentioned there is no shop in Cyprus to provide you with the necessary supplies. We usually import things from the UK, Germany or even The States. You can only find some “mallsai” and some cheap Chinese pots.
Mehmets carob trees are quite impressive! I can see why you have inspired by these trees.

I would love to see your trees here as well.
Stay tuned with us

Hi John,its always nice to see new members in the forum and its even nicer when these members are so close.Wellcome and keep in touch..it will be nice if we meet sometime for a coffee and a chat....thats for the future....Wellcome...