What is Akadama? Akadama is a fundamental component of bonsai soil. It is used throughout Japan as a potting medium for both bonsai and general gardening purposes. More and more, it is used around the world in the cultivation of bonsai. The term akadama is Japanese for the words “red” – the color of the […]
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.
Review: Bonsai Intermediate Course
Last weekend, Bonsai Empire and Bjorn Bjorholm released a follow-up to the popular online Bonsai Beginner’s Course – the Bonsai Intermediate Course. Bonsai Empire provided me with access to the course for review purposes. Bonsai Intermediate Course trailer The Intermediate Course picks up where the Beginner’s Course left off by providing detailed information about species categorization, pruning […]
How vigorous are your pines?
We all know the basic signs that are our pines are healthy – dark green foliage and long spring shoots. Green growth on a 12 year-old pine Vigorous spring shoot There’s another clear sign that pines are healthy that may not be as obvious. At first glance, the pine below looks like you would expect […]
Field grown cork oak update
I recently posted photos of four cork oaks that responded differently to being dug up and planted in containers. One weathered the transition well, two immediately lost their leaves, and the fourth showed few signs of life. Just three weeks later, the trees are looking a lot better. Here’s the first tree. Cork oak – […]
Growing terrestrial orchids
Years ago, Boon Manakitivipart introduced me to orchid varieties used as accent plants. One in particular stuck with me. Boon gave me a few bulbs and I grew them successfully for many years. After a while, however, the numbers started dwindling as I often gave them to friends. A few years ago, the last few […]