I received some fantastic suggestions last week, both in the comments and in my inbox, about how to improve a refined Korean hornbeam. I’ll respond below, but first, here’s the tree as it looked last week for reference. Korean hornbeam A number of you suggested thinning the branches – I agree. I didn’t thin the […]
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.
From landscape tree to bonsai part 5
Six years ago, I started working on a large Japanese black pine that had been developed as landscape material. Japanese black pine – 2012 Over the years I reduced the tree to a single cascading branch (for the full story, see links to parts 1-4 below). Black pine – December 2017 Several years ago, the […]
Wiring and repotting crabapple seedlings
Two years ago I started a number of crabapple from seed. They’re due for some wiring. Two year-old crabapple seedlings The variety, Malus sieboldii, or zumi, must like it cold because they have yet to lose more than a few leaves. Zumi leaf Before wiring, I removed the foliage. After removing the leaves One tip […]
Refining a young exposed root black pine
One of my favorite techniques for developing exposed root pines is bending the roots. To recap some of this work done last year, here are before and after photos on a 13 year-old pine. Before bending the roots After bending the roots and wiring primary branches Now that the basic form of the tree is […]
Cutback on root over rock trident maple
I recently cut back a root over rock trident maple during a live Q&A for Bonsai Empire. Here’s the tree before I got started. Before cutback And here it is after removing the leaves and cutting back the branches. Front Right side Back Left side The goals of the cutback were simple: Replace large branches […]