The most consistent fall color in my garden each year can be found on a red maple forest planting that was started by a friend’s father back in the early 80s. Once most of the leaves turn color, I remove them all and do fall pruning. Here’s the tree before I removed the leaves. Red […]
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.
Making a plan for a new bonsai
Two years ago, I saw a large Yaupon holly available in the vendor’s area at the US National Bonsai Exhibition. I’m a big fan of the species but for some reason I didn’t think about taking it home at the time. Two months ago, I saw the tree again at this year’s National Exhibition. As […]
Preparing an olive for restyling
Three years ago I acquired a large olive that had come from the Blue Oak Nursery collection. Olive, July 2020 Although the tree was in need of styling, I wanted to gauge the health of the tree before proceeding. After letting it grow for a year, I repotted it into a deeper container. After pruning […]
Creating redwood bonsai: reducing the sacrifice branch
When developing primary branches on bonsai with large trunks, it’s common to create them with sacrifice branches that grow freely until they reach the desired thickness. Once the branch is big enough, it’s time to reduce it. Here’s what this looks like on a medium sized coast redwood. Coast redwood Reducing the sacrifice branch (thanks, […]
Creating shohin beautyberry
Beautyberry is a great deciduous shrub known for its purple fruit in fall and winter. This show of color makes it a popular choice for shohin as it provides contrast and color to multi-tree displays. I repotted a young beautyberry this past February and have been letting it grow freely since. It was time to […]