One species that I’m excited to work with over the next few years is sekka hinoki, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘sekka’. Sekka are a dwarf hinoki cultivar with incredibly small foliage making them a popular choice for cultivation as shohin. I have a number of sekka hinoki in one gallon nursery containers that need repotting this year. […]
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.
Branch refinement – controlling vigor with decandling
It’s been fun watching the branches develop on some of the older pines I’ve grown from seed. When these trees are healthy, it only takes a few years to reduce the internode length and fill out the basic silhouette. The main challenge at this stage is managing the tree’s vigor to reliably produce two shoots […]
Repotting a young exposed root pine
Last week I received a reminder that it’s time to repot the pines in my garden. Strong winds had knocked over a young exposed root pine revealing lots of new roots. Broken pot My favorite time to repot pines is after the roots start growing but before the buds begin to open so the timing […]
Repotting a Japanese maple forest planting
Tips for removing old soil to improve the surface roots on a Japanese maple forest.
Repotting a neglected atlas cedar
I recently worked on an atlas cedar that hadn’t been repotted in many years. The basic steps are the same as they are for recently repotted trees, but the extent of the work is different. In short, there are far more old roots to be removed. Here’s the tree. Atlas cedar At a glance, the […]