I recently received a request – thanks Chris – for an update about a landscape pine on its way to becoming a bonsai. Here’s what the tree looked like in 2012. January, 2012 (see Part 1 and Part 2 for the rest of the story) After removing the top half of the tree and repotting, […]
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.
Cork oak
This past winter I picked up some field-grown cork oaks. Most of the soil fell away from the roots when they were dug so I potted them the day they arrived. The one question I had at the time was whether or not to remove the leaves. I’d seen the question posted a number of […]
Cutting back a Japanese maple
I’ve been working for the last few years on a Japanese maple my mother collected as a seedling. The last time I worked on the tree, I removed a couple of large branches. Since then, the tree has grown freely to help heal the scars. Japanese maple Now that some of the new sacrifice branches […]
Getting the balance right – a follow-up
One of the more common challenges with refining pines is balance. Last summer I wrote about a red pine forest with uneven growth (see “Getting the balance right“). To improve the balance between trees, I decandled the weak trees early and the strong trees later. Here’s how the pine looked last spring before decandling. April […]
New growth on redwood bonsai
Five weeks ago I cut back and wired a coast redwood. Even though it’s mid-November, the tree is filling in quickly and some of the wires are already beginning to cut in. Coast redwood – 5 weeks after wiring and cutback The main goals of cutback and wiring are to ensure that light gets into the […]