A little over ten years ago, I shared an update about a black pine I’d grown from seed (see “Recent pine work“). This was the first post in what became a bi-weekly blog about bonsai care and development. The tree today – Japanese black pine, 12″ tall Today’s post is number 1000. To date I’ve […]
Bonsai Care
The bonsai care category includes topics like Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting and Bonsai Soil. You can also find information about the Pests commonly found on bonsai, and read Interviews with bonsai professionals.
Watch out for wilting candles on young pines
It’s fun to see new shoots elongating on black and red pines this time of year. The light colored growth makes a nice contrast against the darker green foliage from the previous year and the length of the shoots are a good measure of the tree’s health. Spring growth on a black pine group planting […]
Accent plants: Pyrrosia ferns
If you’ve been to a bonsai exhibit in Japan or flipped though a Japanese exhibit book, you’ve likely seen accent plants featuring pyrrosia, an epiphytic fern. Accent featuring pyrrosia at the 2011 Gomangoku exhibition in Okazaki, Japan Although there are close to one hundred species of pyrrosia, many used for bonsai are cultivars of Pyrrosia […]
Rehabilitating a Coast live oak
Two years ago a coast live oak I’d been fond of for many years came into my collection. Coast live oak – January 2017 I’d enjoyed watching the tree develop over the years and was looking forward to working on it. Before getting started, however, I repotted the tree to get a look at the […]
Determining flower color by looking at the foliage – satsuki azalea
I sometimes come across satsuki azaleas of unknown varieties. Although it’s nice to know what the flowers will look like, it can be fun to wait and see what colors show up in spring when the tree blooms. Young satsuki azalea In the meantime, I can make rudimentary assumptions about the flowers based on the […]