Sydney Bonsai Spectacular 2013

I was really happy to learn that Sydney Bonsai Spectacular is happening again. So far, it took place only once in 2011 and it was much better than your average local bonsai club show. At this point, Australia can’t have a national exhibition because of quarantine restrictions between the states. An event like Sydney Bonsai Spectacular is the closest thing we have to the national exhibition. This time, I anticipated it to be just like the last one if not better. To my regret the standard of bonsai this year was less impressive, but the suiseki display was a little better. Images above show some of the trees I liked. All three of them have pleasing shapes, but require further refinement.
 
I know that bonsai enthusiasts in Sydney have some really good trees, but we don’t see them at our bonsai exhibitions. The only way to encourage people to come forward with their best trees is to make it a competition for an attractive price. It can be a prestigious trophy, cash or something else.
  
As for the suiseki, Sydney Bonsai Spectacular had a few interesting ones (see images below). Some of them featured fine daizas or suibans. Some had faults in their display, but suitable display accessories can be hard to find.

Pest of the month: Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphid

Several years ago, one of the members of my bonsai club showed me a bonsai infested with woolly aphids. I couldn’t investigate what species it was at that time, but last month I have come across some woolly aphids on Chinese Hackberry (Celtis sinensis) (images above). This time I had the opportunity to identify the species. Images below show microscope sild specimens of winged and wingless adults, which have to be prepared for species identification. It turned out to be the Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphid (Shivaphis celti), an exotic species recently introduced to Australia. Woolly aphids such as Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphid can be a real nuisance. They quickly multiply and draw large amounts of plant sap to secrete a sugary substance or honeydew and deposit it on the plant’s surface. It is intended as ant food in exchange for protection ants provide to the aphids. However, in the absence of ants honeydew gets infected with sooty mould fungus, which blackens the leaves. Don’t let it happen and kill woolly aphids with an insecticide as soon as you notice them on your bonsai.

Exhibition of Bonsai Society of Australia

Another year, another annual exhibition of Bonsai Society of Australia. Some of the better trees are shown in the images above. They are not perfect, but their owners made some effort to refine them. There were many trees with tremendous potential; however, without a period of frequent wiring, pruning and styling their potential seemed wasted.

Demonstration by Robert Steven

At the beginning of this month, I attended this year’s “Tops Weekend” (Weekend Workshops at Stanwell Tops organised by the Illawarra Bonsai Society). The main demonstrator this year was Robert Steven, a bonsai artist from Indonesia known internationally for his two books. He practices bonsai at his bonsai centre in Jakarta. I was there just for a day and saw his two workshops and a demonstration. Images below show some of the trees from the workshops. Images on the left depict each tree before the workshop and images on the right show them after the workshop.

During the workshops Robert kept on emphasising that ‘bonsai rules’ are only guidelines designed for beginners. Once you understand the rationale behind the rules, you should follow the rationale and not necessarily the rules. As an example he drew two trees. One was a typical bonsai while the other was a tree with the first branch very short and growing at mid-height of the tree (not 1/3). The lengths of other branches of this tree were drawn at random as well. To my surprise the tree that didn’t follow classic bonsai rules looked more interesting and natural.
 

Another interesting observation Robert made is that bonsai represent trees seen from close distance rather than from far away. This is why bonsai with the first branch located relatively high on the trunk are preserved by us as taller trees. To fit the look of a tree viewed from close quarters bonsai must have a sufficient amount of detail. Features such as irregularly shaped foliage pads can provide that level of detail.

He said that one of the common mistakes made by many bonsai practitioners is shaping the canopy of a deciduous or a tropical tree as if it is a conifer in a triangular shape. Bonsai design must always take into account natural growth habits of a species. That way the bonsai will look genuine and will tell a story of its native habitat.

Robert reminded the participants to turn defects into features, but at the same time warned not have too many features: “The more you show, the less people see”.
 

He also pointed out the importance of negative spaces and ‘in-and-out’ spaces in the tree canopy. They make trees look more natural. Robert stressed that asymmetric balance is a very important concept in bonsai design. However, group plantings must have a focal point as well as asymmetric balance in overall composition.
 

Another thing I liked about Robert was that he was full of curious facts. Botanical terminology, plant anatomy, etymology of bonsai terms, etc. He said that he comes by such facts while doing research for his books.

In the evening, Robert did a demonstration. He decided not to do another conifer demonstration, which would produce an ‘instant bonsai’. Instead, he asked the audience to choose a couple of deciduous trees from a small batch of advanced bonsai stock. The first choice was the messiest tree in the batch with a seemingly confusing multitude of trunks (image 1 below). After a preliminary pruning of branches and roots, the number and shape of the trunks became more apparent. The position of the trunks in relation to each other was somewhat symmetrical (image 2 below). To overcome this, Robert changed the angle of the tree (image 3 below). This was followed by the removal of all unnecessary branches, which made the tree look unimpressive (image 4 below). For a finishing touch, however, Robert had a very impressive trick. He pulled out a bunch of artificial brunches made of wire and stated attaching them to the trunks to simulate the future development of the tree. The effect was very convincing indeed (image 5 below). The demonstration was quite entertaining.
 

The second tree chosen by the audience had a single trunk (image 1 below) and the demonstration involved a gradual removal of branches (image 2 below) with the final result shown in the image 3 below. This demonstration was more simple and straightforward.
 

As a whole, it was a fun day.

More wood-fired bonsai pots

This winter was quite prolific in terms of making wood-fired bonsai pots. There has been yet another firing of the kiln this month. Everyone involved agreed that it was the hottest and the shortest firing anyone could remember. The photograph of the kiln shed here is the testament to that. The kiln chimney is about 4 m tall and it’s not in the image, but the flame coming out of it is hard to miss. Many pots in this kiln load were over-fired and got cracked, bloated or distorted. Their glazes ‘ran’ (see glaze tears on the bottom of the pot in the top image). I haven’t achieved anything spectacular this time except that the pots shown in the top two images are larger than what I have been making so far. Their dimensions are 26 x 8 and 27 x 6 cm. All three pots shown here bear the same rutile glaze, which wasn’t the plan, but just happened.

 

 

Grafting knife by Takeshi Saji

I never thought of any of my bonsai tools as elegant. Well-designed and well-made perhaps, but not elegant. Last week, I was window shopping in a Japanese kitchen knife shop and stumbled across a handmade grafting knife by Takeshi Saji (see images below). The shape of the blade and the Damascus pattern on it make it an elegant tool. Apparently, the steel is quite hard and durable too.

Takeshi Saji is a third generation master forge-smith from Takefu, a city in Fukui Prefecture famous for its traditional hammer forged knives. Master Saji is 65 years old and in recent years he has been devoting his time to making custom made knives (such as mine I hope).

Annual exhibition of the Bonsai Society of Sydney

About two weeks ago I saw the annual exhibition of the Bonsai Society of Sydney. It was enjoyable. I love the ikebana component of their show. In fact, the standard of their ikebana arrangements is probably higher than the standard of their bonsai. Images above show a tree and a suiseki I liked the most.

二週間前、シドニーの盆栽会の展示に行きました。楽しかったです。展示の生け花の部が大好きでした。実は、彼らの生け花の方が彼らの盆栽より良かったです。この写真は私の盆栽と水石好きなです。

Demonstration by Masashi Hirao

Last weekend, Bonsai Society of Sydney hosted two demonstrations by a Japanese bonsai artist Masashi Hirao. We were told that he is 32 years old and from 2003 till recently he had been an apprentice at Mansei-en in Omiya. Now, he is working in a company called Advance K & B Farms Corporation located in Omiya, which specialises in exporting koi and bonsai overseas. He is a recipient of a Japanese government grant given to young artists to promote Japanese culture abroad. Apparently, he has to visit ten countries in 120 days. Before the demonstration he showed us a short video about his apprenticeship under Saburo Kato and the preparation for the trip. Masashi also showed us a pair of stainless steel gold plated bonsai scissors given to him by Saburo Kato. They are his talisman. After this he proceeded to style a Procumbent Juniper shown in the image A. After two hours of pruning and wiring he presented us with the tree shown in the image B. On the previous day he conducted a similar demonstration where he styled a Sergeant’s Juniper shown in the image C. I felt that the tree in image B was a more interesting material than the tree in image C and that inspired grater expectations for the demonstration on the day. 

Well, what can I say? Two hours is a very short time for a demonstration on a tree like this. Masashi sure can prune and wire very fast, but after nearly ten years as a bonsai apprentice it can be expected. He said that usually it would take him six hours to style a tree like this. In my opinion the ‘finished tree’ shown in the image B has no appealing form and shows no future promise of it. Masashi said it is a natural style. Sure one may encounter a tree of this shape in nature, but I don’t find it particularly elegant. On the other hand, the tree shown in the image C is styled in a more conventional way and it could become a graceful bonsai in the future. Looking at the two trees styled by Masashi I see extremes, one is usual and the other is odd. I should see more of his work before forming an opinion. Overall, the demonstration was quite entertaining and I enjoyed it.

Latest wood-fired bonsai pots

A couple of weeks ago, I fired another batch of bonsai pots in a wood-fired kiln. I actually had six pots ready, but only three were packed into the kiln. Although I used the same glazes as in the last firing, the results were different. One of the pots had to come home with its kiln shelf (image A), because its rutile glaze ran so much that it got welded to the self (image B). Once it was cut off the shelf, I decided not to remove remnants of clay attached to its feet (image C). It is a unique feature of the pot, which tells a story. Besides, it doesn’t affect the looks of the pot (image D).

The other two pots came out well too. The pot shown in the left image below was made of the same clay and coated with the same gaze as the pot in the images above, however these two pots look different. Also, the glaze on the pot shown below didn’t run and it didn’t get stuck to the kiln shelf. The reason for it is variation in temperature and kiln atmosphere across the kiln.

 

Tsubo niwa on a shoe string

Six years ago, I moved into a townhouse with a small backyard and that allowed me to take up bonsai. Now, I live elsewhere, but in this post I would like to pay a little tribute to that tiny piece of land.

Just months before the house was sold my daughter asked me to make a little Japanese garden. The available space was enough to create a tsubo niwa, a courtyard garden the size of one tsubo (3.3 m²). The idea grew on me and after a while I decided to do it as a challenge. I usually hoard found objects in hope of using them in the garden one day. If I could come up with a garden design incorporating all those found objects, the garden would be inexpensive. Soon I had a plan shown in the drawing below.

The design had to take in to account several considerations:

a) It had to fit into a 2 x 1.5 m plot (coincidently about one tsubo in area).
b) It had to use existing plants, preferably without transplanting them.
c) It had to make maximum use of found objects (which included artificial rock made of polyurethane).
d) It had to incorporate two existing posts supporting overhead irrigation system.
e) It had to have a barrier preventing my dog from entering it.

Now you understand why I considered this design a challenge. Below is a step-by-step rundown of how it all happened.

1 – The area before any work began.
2 – The ground is cleared and sprayed with a weedicide. Two existing plants a tree fern and a camellia are left as they were.
3 – The fence is lined with reed screen. The ground is covered with weed cloth. The artificial rocks are laid out to form garden boundary. The fronds of tree fern had to be removed because of the skin irritation they cause.
4 – Pieces of ceramic pipe, bricks and artificial rocks are arranged to form a retaining wall. This wall will form the boundary of a mossy island surrounded by white pebbles.
5 – The island is filled with soil mix.
 

6 – Stone lantern and a flat rock in front of it are set in place. The top part of the
lantern (spire, roof and firebox) was a found object, but the bottom (firebox platform and post) was carved by me out of hebel. I made it to resemble Oribe style lantern.
7 – The top of the retaining wall is raised higher and shaped with clay. The island is toped up with more soil mix.
8 – Moss is planted on the island surface. All moss was collected in my backyard.
9 – Unwanted rocks and ceramic pieces are laid out to reduce the amount of pebbles to be used in the garden.
10 – The garden is filled with white pebbles and another stepping stone is set in front of the lantern. Timber post at the back is wrapped with reed screen to blend with the background. The timber post at the front is replaced with a thin copper pipe to make it less noticeable. I inserted a steel rod inside the pipe to give it structural strength. This copper pipe is also a part of a fence formed by a very thin wire to prevent my dog from entering the garden.

11 – Artificial rocks forming the garden boundary are rearranged to reduce the area of the garden.
12 – The tree fern with its first new leaf.
13-14 – The tree fern with its first flush of new leaves. A ceramic mask (made by me) is hung to conceal the junction between the timber structure and the top end of the copper pipe.
15 – The base of the copper pipe post is concealed by a rock. A ceramic water basin (made by me) is set in front of the lantern. I meant to reduce the basin's height and place it closer to the lantern, but the house was sold by then.

I had a score of ideas for improving and refining this garden, but it wasn't mine any more. It fulfilled its primary function though - it made my daughter happy. In fact, she could see the garden from her room without even getting out of bed. Image below left shows the intended angle for viewing the garden. Image below right shows the garden in the context of the backyard.

You might say this garden looks a little tacky, but can you do better for less than $200?

Pest of the month: California Red Scale

Last month, I was pruning and wiring an African Olive tree and noticed a profusion of tiny scale insects on its leaves (image A). What you see on the leaves is not the actual insect, but the waxy secretion which serves as a protective shell (image B). You need to flip the scale over to expose the soft and vulnerable body of the insect (image C). To identify the species of a scale insect one must prepare a microscope slide, which usually takes a couple of days. Once the slide is prepared the insect looks as shown on image D. In this case, it turned out to be California Red Scale (Aonidiella aurantii). It is better known as an economically important pest of citrus. To control the infestation of such scale insects, I prefer to spray the pant with a systemic insecticide. If the problem persists spray it again according to instructions on the label.

I have noticed something curious about California Red Scale. Its rear end shown by the arrow in image D has peculiar structures, which look like windswept bonsai (see the image below).

"Kin-tsugi" to the rescue

I made the pot shown above last February. During the final firing one of its corners warped and lifted the foot attached to it off the ground. The effect was awful. I was about to throw the pot away when one of the potters in the studio said: “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it”. That made me pause, and then my ceramics teacher challenged me to come up with a solution to fix it. The solution came when I remembered a story about a Japanese tea master who adhered to wabi sabi aesthetics so sternly that he would smash tea bowls and then glue them back together to meet the criteria of "imperfect, impermanent and incomplete". I didn’t smash my pot though, just cut the crooked leg off (image below right).

The traditional Japanese technique of repairing ceramics called kin-tsugi is to glue broken parts with shellac and then apply gold powder while it is still wet. It makes repaired seams appear as gold lines. Some of the European bonsai pot makers took this tradition to the next level and repaired their pots with pure gold (see http://www.bonsaipots.net/index.php?page=gold-and-ceramics). Well, I took it down a notch and glued my pot with a two-part epoxy glue and then applied gold nail polish while it was still wet. Both epoxy and nail polish are acetone solvable and combine really well. The nail polish I used contains some epoxy as well, which adds to their compatibility. Another upside is that epoxy is really strong and weather resistant. You can see different stages of my take on kin-tsugi below.

The Spider Pot

The bonsai pot shown above was made by me earlier this year. Drying it slowly, bisque firing, glazing and finally stoneware firing took months to complete. Well, better late than never, and I think it was worth the wait. The design was inspired by jumping spiders (family Salticidae), so I called it the ‘Spider Pot’. To me the similarity is obvious (see images below).

Demonstration by Linh Khanh at ‘Bonsai by the Harbour’

Last Saturday, I went to ‘Bonsai by the Harbour’. It is an annual event organised by the Bonsai Federation of Australia in a delightful waterfront setting in Gladesville (image above). Most demonstrators throughout the day had my curiosity, but the last demonstration by Linh Khanh got my attention. In a little more than one hour, he used three Procumbent Junipers, five chunks of mallee root and a marble suiban to create a very believable miniature landscape. The composition was held together by the mortar consistency soil mix, which was 90% fine soil and 10% clay. The trees were in need of further shaping and I would have made them a little shorter, but the landscape was auctioned and sold at the reserve price of $400. Anyway, the photos below say it all.

At last! New wood-fired bonsai pots

It has been a whole year since my last wood-firing (http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/latest-bonsai-pots.html). At last, it’s come along again and I was ready with a few bonsai pots! Some of them are shown below.



Images above show my favorite pot in this batch. Every side of this pot looks interesting. It is stoneware, wood-fired, yellow rutile glaze, round, 19 × 8 cm.

Images above:
Left – stoneware, wood-fired, yellow rutile glaze, round, 16 × 8.5 cm;
Center – a close up of crystalised glaze on one of the pots;
Right – stoneware, wood-fired, yellow rutile glaze, round, 17 × 7.5 cm.

Images above:
Left – stoneware, wood-fired, blue stoneware glaze, round, 21.5 × 7.5 cm;
Right – stoneware, wood-fired, blue stoneware glaze, round, 17 × 4.5 cm.

Images above:
Left – stoneware, wood-fired, white stoneware glaze, round, 20 × 5 cm;
Right – stoneware, wood-fired, no glaze, round, 15.5 × 4 cm.



Images above:
Left – stoneware, wood-fired, naturally formed ash, round, 16 × 12 cm;
Center – stoneware, wood-fired, naturally formed ash, round, 12.5 × 10.5 cm;
Right – stoneware, wood-fired, yellow rutile glaze, round, 13 × 12 cm.

The pots shown in left and center images above didn't have any glaze, instead they were placed right in front of the fire box in the throat of the kiln. As a result, they were mercilessly beaten by fire, smothered with molten ash and buried in embers. Images below show these two pots before and after firing inside the kiln.     

In case you are wandering what is the throat of a kiln, see images below. All other pots shown in this post were fired in the main chamber of the kiln shown below as well.

P.S. For more info on wood-fired kilns see: http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/during-
recent-trip-to-canberra-with.html

Bonsai in ten months

I hardly ever blog about bonsai I have done myself. In this post, I would like to talk about this particular Small-leaved Privet (Ligustrum sinense). What you see in the leftmost image was accomplished in ten months.

Although this tree requires further refinement, its basic shape is already in place. This plant was pulled out of the ground and given to me for free in August 2010. It was approximately 50 cm tall, with no fine roots and no leaves. During the following year I allowed one branch to grow freely to be the future upper trunk and kept all other brunches shorter. There was no styling of any sort at that stage. In October 2011, I chopped the trunk and wired two lowest brunches (see the trunk chop scar in the centre image). In the following months, I gradually wired the rest of the branches and pruned them to form the foliage pads. By August 2012 this tree looked pretty much as it looks in the images. So, the actual implementation of the basic design took only 10 months (Oct 2011 - Aug 2012). The tree was planted in the current training bonsai pot in March 2013 (left image). The height of the tree from apex to the rim of the pot is 17.5 cm. The rightmost image is not real. I used Photoshop to bring the pot into proportion with the tree. This is just to demonstrate the importance of planting your bonsai in a pot of appropriate size. In conclusion, the take home message here is: “For quick results use local weeds and make small trees”.

Grafting pine on thick trunk

I wanted to learn how to graft small pine scions on a thick trunk. Last October, I grafted seven Radiata Pine scions on a 6-cm-thick trunk. By the end of November 2012 two of them had new shoots. By January 2013 all scions were alive and six out of seven had new shoots. I removed the plastic protecting the grafts from drying in mid-March this year. Unfortunately, the plant died last month because I chopped off the upper trunk. I wanted to direct all the plant’s energy into the grafted branches, but my plan turned out to be deadly to the plant. Yes, I know. What was I thinking?! Anyway, below are a few images showing this plant’s progress.

A – The rootstock plant after repotting in August 2012;
B – The plant on completion of grafting in early October 2012;
C – Close-up of the grafted scions on the day of grafting in October 2012;
D – Close-up of grafted branches with new shoots in mid-December 2012.

Here are a few things I learned from this experience:

• Advice from bonsai practitioners and the Internet was useful;
• Peeling bark off the trunk, before making incisions, was helpful;
• A grafting chisel is better for making incisions in the trunk;
• Aligning cambium was easier because on a thicker trunk it is a wider band, which can be recognised by its dark orange colour;  
• Enclosing the whole area with clear plastic with some moist sphagnum moss worked really well;
• Once the grafts have new shoots, the plant needs more sun;
• Don’t do anything drastic to the plant for at least a year.

Pest of the month: scale insects

Over the last two years I have been taking photos of scale insects parasitising my bonsai. Only this month, I became more certain about their identities. Unlike the Brown Soft Scale I talked about last month (see http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/pest-of-month-brown-soft-scale.html) these species secrete wax, which formes a protective shell over their body.  All four species shown below are invasive pests introduced to Australia from various parts of the world. All four have a wide range of host plants. The size of these insects changes as they grow, but the bits of plants shown in the photos should provide you with a rough size scale. Anyway, here they are.

A – The Pink Wax Scale (Ceroplastes rubens) on Japanese Flowering Quince;
B – The Nigra Scale (Parasaissetia nigra) on Japanese Black Pine;
C – The Fly Speck Scale (Gymnaspis aechmeae) on Port Jackson Fig;
D – The Hemispherical Scale (Saissetia coffeae) on Japanese Box.

Pest of the month: 28-spotted Potato Ladybird

It’s common knowledge that ladybirds are beneficial for your garden. Most species are predators feeding on aphids. This time however, the uninvited guest on one of my bonsai was the 28-spotted Potato Ladybird (Epilachna vigintioctopunctata), which happens to be an exotic herbivorous pest (images above show adult and larval beetles). This insect was once happily confined to its native range in the far eastern Russia. The introduction of potato from America triggered its spread to China, Japan and more recently to Australia and New Zealand. Adults and larvae of this beetle feed on leaves of many different species of plants. So, next time you see this ladybird in your garden, remember that it can be harmful.

Pest of the month: Brown Soft Scale

I recently found a new pest on one of my Ficus microcarpa bonsai. This time it was a scale incest. In the lab at work, I identified it as the Brown Soft Scale (Coccus hesperidum) (see images above). This is a common cosmopolitan pest which attacks many plant species used for bonsai. Figs, citrus, stone fruit trees, apples, quince and even orchids are just a few of them. Unlike other kinds of scale insect, soft scales don’t secrete wax, and they retain their legs, antennae and eyes throughout their life. You can’t see those body parts with a naked eye, but they are there (see the arrows pointing at eyes). Adult females are wingless and sedentary. Adult males are either winged or wingless and look similar to aphids. Control of Brown Soft Scale infestations is tricky. The infestation in my garden was small and I removed all scales with my fingers. When there are too many scale insects, you have to spray the plant thoroughly with a systemic pesticide or with one of those pest oils, but be careful  because these chemicals can injure the plant. Some of my bonsai lost leaves and even secondary branches. So, make the pesticide solution weaker than specified on the label and spray twice two weeks apart. Personally, I prefer one of the systemic pesticides, but other bonsai practitioners believe that an oil spray is more effective as it smothers the scales and they suffocate. 

Yakshagana performance in Sydney

This post continues my blog’s ‘Asian performing arts theme’. I do it in a 'bonsai blog' just because I want to. I love traditional Indian theatre with my absolute favourite being Kathakali. While living in South India I got to see it only once. So, when I found that a similar south Indian dance-drama called Yakshagana will be performed in Sydney, I felt lucky. Yakshagana is less stylised and more folksy than Kathakali, which makes it is easier to understand for an outsider. Apparently, Yakshagana appeared as a distinct art form as early as the 15th century and currently exists in various styles across all south Indian states. This particular show was performed by Yakshagana Kendra theatre from Udupi, Karnataka. The performance consisted of two plays – ‘Jatayu Moksha’ a story from the epic Ramayana and ‘Nala Karkotaka’ a story from the epic Mahabharatha. All performers were of high calibre. The musicians were good. The singer, who in a way narrated the story, had an incredibly powerful voice. The costumes were stunning (see images below). The actor’s movements were precise and graceful, their acting was believable and poignant.  All this combined created an overwhelming feast for my eyes and ears.
  

Pest of the month: snails and slugs

Some of the most annoying pests in my garden are snails and slugs. Sure enough they damage bonsai (seedlings, young shoots), but the most disappointing incidents relate to accent plants. Before an orchid is about to bloom, they would chew through the base of the inflorescence stalk. They would eat an entire pebble plant (Lithops sp.), and they would cause severe damage to my carnivorous plants (Sarracenia and Venus Flytrap). The culprits are two species the Common Garden Snail (Helix aspersa, image above left) and the Leopard Slug (Limax maximus, image above right). Both species were introduced to Australia from Europe. An interesting thing about the Leopard Slug is that a stretched body of a fully grown individual can be upto 20 cm long. Control of snails and slugs is very easy – snail pellets sold in most garden centers and hardware stores.
 

The Garden Snail is one of the edible species. It is ironic that superficially it is very similar to the endangered Cumberland Plain Land Snail (Meridolum corneovirens, image below right). The only place on this planet where you can find the Cumberland Plain Land Snail is western Sydney. Ironic again, you may find this rare snail under a pile of rubbish in your backyard (if you live in western Sydney). If you do, don’t worry - Cumberland Plain Land Snail doesn’t feed on living plants. To tell the pair apart see images below. The diameter of adult Garden Snail shell is 2.5 – 4 cm, while the diameter of adult Cumberland Plain Snail shell is 1.5 – 3 cm. The Garden Snail shell has a blotchier pattern and has fewer turns than Cumberland Plain Snail’s shell.