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 […]
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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 […]
Great bonsai at Mirai
My recent trip to Portland included a stop at Ryan Neil’s garden. I’d last visited a year ago (see “Pines” and “Junipers” for details). This year I was struck by how different the trees looked before I’d finished making my way through the gate. In a word, they were full – really full. Twelve months […]
Review: Bonsai Intermediate Course
Last weekend, Bonsai Empire and Bjorn Bjorholm released a follow-up to the popular online Bonsai Beginner’s Course – the Bonsai Intermediate Course. Bonsai Empire provided me with access to the course for review purposes. Bonsai Intermediate Course trailer The Intermediate Course picks up where the Beginner’s Course left off by providing detailed information about species categorization, pruning […]