Irish Strawberry / Arbutus Unedo

This Irish Strawberry bonsai was trained from an ordinary nursery stock since 2001. I find the Irish Strawberry to be a good material for bonsai. It grows fast if well fed. It has white flowers in Autumn which will turn into fruits in late Winter/early Spring. The amazing thing is the fruits stay on the tree for a long time. So very often I have both fruits and flowers on the tree at the same time in Autumn. The fruits will turn from green to yellow and then orange and finally red. The Irish Strawberry is sceptible to scales attack. A regular spray of white oil should take care of this problem.
This bonsai was recently displayed at the 24th AABC Perth 2011 Exhibition/Convention. It won a merit award judged by Megumi and Min Hsuan Lo. A good friend from Sydney likes the tree very much. So I offered it to her. She refused to take it without giving something in return. So I told her if that is the only way she will take the tree back to Sydney, then just do as she please. I packed it into a big carton box and she took it back with her on her flight back. It is now safely in a nice home with an expert loving pair of hands looking after it. Could not have asked more for one of my creation. CJ