Most deciduous trees share the same story this time of year – remove old leaves, cutback, and wire. Doing this work gets trees ready for spring. I’ve been working on the Japanese Winterberry (ilex serrata) below for several years now. Most of the young branches are new to the tree, and will require a number […]
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.
Ume – cutback and grafting
Sisyphus comes to mind when I think about my ume. I’ve been working on the tree for roughly 10 years, grafting, each winter, branches with white flowers onto branches that naturally sport double-pink flowers. Because the variety doesn’t bud back like other deciduous varieties, I find myself re-grafting branches year after year. This year was […]
Fall work – Korean hornbeam
I still remember the moment I fell for Korean hornbeams. Boon had brought several to a BIB meeting when they were in fall color. Some were covered in yellows and greens – another shone orange and red. The trees were vigorous, healthy, dense, and beautiful – I set my sights on getting one. A few […]
Fall decandling – an update
In early October, I began an experiment to see if fall decandling could produce new interior buds on a couple of young Japanese black pines. To date, the results have been good. The first tree I decandled was the weaker of the two. There are plenty of new buds, but not a lot of back […]
More fall decandling
Last summer, Akio Kondo visited California to work and to teach bonsai. During a Bay Island Bonsai workshop, Kondo made an interesting suggestion for improving one of my pines. The tree looked great from a distance, but he quickly noticed that the tree had no interior buds. Without interior buds, the tree had no future. […]