A subtle adjustment to wire position can prevent broken branches.
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.
Finding the right hormone levels for making seedling-cuttings
Varying the exposure to rooting hormone can make a big difference when making pine seedling-cuttings.
Cutback on a white chojubai quince
I usually hold off on pruning deciduous bonsai past the first half of August. Not all trees can grow well enough late in the season to make it worth investing in new shoots before fall. That said, I’ve worked on deciduous trees fairly late in the season as some trees will keep their leaves through […]
Summer repotting dwarf flowering quince
Chojubai, a variety of dwarf flowering quince, is one of the few bonsai I can repot in summer. Repotting chojubai in early spring also works, but by repotting now I can get a jump on the upcoming repotting season. Chojubai can be repotted with or without defoliating first, but I prefer to defoliate as most […]
Refining Yaupon holly
Over the years I’ve learned about developing Yaupon holly by doing the wrong thing (see “Developing Yaupon holly” for details). This year is no exception. For the last five-to-ten years, I’ve been neglecting the tree or occasionally pruning it to silhouette without thinning or wiring it. I knew this was not a good approach to […]