Density is a key concept in bonsai. We want young trees to develop good density. With mature trees, we aim to maintain density. Density, it seems, rarely takes care of itself. Some of the young pines I’m developing have been decandled for the past several years. This has dramatically increased the trees’ density. Dense foliage […]
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.
Balancing vigor on black pine
The term decandling gets a lot of attention. Rightly so – it’s a key technique in the development of black and red pine bonsai. It’s the technique that helped me get from here: June, 2013 to here: June, 2016 in three years. By itself, however, the technique is fairly limited. Cutback and needle-pulling are equally […]
Stimulating new buds on cork oak
My recent posts on cork oaks feature trees that were removed from the ground this past winter. The goal for those trees is to simply get healthy and develop strong roots so they can withstand further work next year. The cork oak below was removed from the ground in 2015 – one year earlier. The tree […]
Partially defoliating a Korean hornbeam
Spring is a great time for defoliation – the removal of leaves from deciduous bonsai. As defoliation is very stressful for trees, it’s only for healthy specimens that respond well to the procedure. I’ve learned from past experience that fully defoliating my Korean hornbeam can lead to dieback of weak, interior shoots. Now I partially […]
Japanese maple bonsai – working from a sub-optimal starting point
This past winter, I received a number of Japanese maples with good roots but no movement or taper whatsoever. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I considered my options. I figured I could: give them away develop them for landscape material destroy them, or make a big cut and start from scratch […]