In spring of 2018, I picked up a prostrata juniper from Kenji Miyata. The branches were long and the foliage was course but I liked the curves in the lower trunk. It was a perfect candidate for grafting. I made one graft using itoigawa shimpaku foliage and spent the next three years reducing the original […]
Bonsai Development
Bonsai Development posts form the heart of Bonsai Tonight. Learn about varieties like Black Pine, Shimpaku and Japanese Maple, techniques like Decandling and Grafting and Air Layering, and bonsai features like Deadwood.
Developing chojubai – tips from Left Coast Bonsai
Last week John Eads of Left Coast Bonsai was in the garden to help get my young trees into shape ahead of repotting season. As John studied with Michael Hagedorn, he’s a great resource for developing the dwarf Japanese flowering quince known as chojubai. Here are a few of the trees he worked on this […]
Cutback and wiring a root over rock black pine
Even though it’s January, I’m just now starting my pine fall work. This entails pruning and thinning extra needles. When time allows, I wire the branches too! Here’s what this looks like with a young root over rock black pine grown by Eric Schrader. Root over rock black pine – 14 years old I’ve had […]
Coast redwood cutback and repotting
I’ve been working on a large coast redwood for the past few years in fits and starts. After an initial pruning and repotting (see “Coast redwood” for details) I’ve worked on the tree in earnest several times only to let it grow out again. After a few cycles of this, I removed almost all of […]
Fall cutback on Japanese plum
When the leaves of my Japanese plums (Prunus salicina) change color and fall off, it’s time for fall pruning. The goal is to remove branches that have reached the desired thickness and wire branches that are soft enough to bend. Here’s an example. Tree #1 before pruning Tree #1 after pruning and wiring These plums […]