The deciduous bonsai on display at this year’s expo included some fantastic trees. When considered together, they offer a great opportunity for discovering what you like best about this group of trees. As you look at the photos below, think about the following questions. You can also think about what you look for in the […]
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Recent Posts
PBE Board Announces “Directors’ Choice Award”
In the hours just before the judging period for the 2024 Pacific Bonsai Expo, we received a request to change the category of one of the entries, a coast redwood. Due to a clerical error on our part (on my part!) stemming from this change, the redwood, which received top marks for its category, didn’t […]
Shohin olive ground-layer
About a year ago I received a small olive with an unusual feature – the lower part of the trunk didn’t seem to be alive. The tree continued to grow, but slowly. An even bigger problem was that the trunk swelled a couple of inches above the roots making the tree a poor candidate for […]
How to judge a bonsai show – highlights from the Minnesota State Fair
Last weekend I had the opportunity to judge the Minnesota Bonsai Society’s annual show held at the state fair. An amazing crowd of 225,000 people attended the fair that day, and many of them lined up to see the bonsai on display, a club tradition dating back to 1975. For those who are curious about […]
Developing shohin olives
In the last few years I’ve started working more with olive bonsai. Although they do best where the weather gets hot, they can grow well in mild climates too. As time goes by, I have less patience for species that don’t thrive where I live which makes olives a refreshing addition to the garden. Many […]