After an interview with Hennie Smit, he said, “My interest in bonsai trees started in the seventies after I watched a movie called The Invincible Boxer in the drive-in cinema in Potgietersrus (Mokopane). The small trees in a pot caught my attention. It was only in 1992 that I met Willie Erasmus in Phalaborwa when I bought my first bonsai, a Celtis Africana. He was my first teacher from whom I learned a lot about Bonsai. After this experience, it was as if I had a virus that was uncontrollable. I could not stop digging into the mysteries of bonsai. I made a nuisance of myself when it came to gathering knowledge on bonsai trees, especially when shopping for trees at George Frey and Attie Louw.
“My life was never the same again; I was addicted. With more confidence, later I started to experiment and use my own ideas, which turned out to be successful in the area where I live, an extremely hot and humid area. For instance, I experimented with my own soil mixture and fertilizer. I realised that bonsai trees, like any other living organism, need to drink and eat to stay alive and that some bonsai trees can live in the same soil for up to 10 years if you feed and water them properly.
“In the last eighteen years I have been growing and styling my own trees. I have built up a vast collection of trees. I also have a bonsai nursery where the beginner as well as the collector will find suitable trees. I also sell young bonsai trees wholesale to nurseries. I stock for instance baobab, celtis, olives, bougainvillea, maples, Chinese elm and a variety of acacia and fig and many more.
“A tree that touches my heart is the baobab that grows in very hot and dry areas in South Africa. It is the giant of all trees and has its own unique style in nature, which I try to create in my baobab bonsai.”
Hennie was part of the Bonsai project in May 2010, hosted by Rob and Sjoert from the Netherlands. Hennie also provided baobab photos for the American Bonsai Society Care Sheet in April 2011. Every third Saturday of the month, all the bonsai enthusiasts of Tzaneen and the neighbouring towns (as Rudy Adams' wife once referred to as “The Bonsai playgroup”), gather at the Hennie's Bonsai domain, which was purposely built for bonsai workshops to work on their trees.
With decades of experience in the bonsai industry, Hennie Smit welcomes you to visit his informal bonsai growing nursery in Tzaneen and to visit his private bonsai garden to view his spectacular collection.
Although we do not deliver to other areas of the country, we welcome both the public and garden centres to visit us for their bonsai needs. We have thousands of starter trees and Yamadori growing happily at our growing nursery, waiting for their new home.
