At long last, I made it to a US National Bonsai Exhibition last month. The exhibit is held every other year in Rochester, NY, home to William N. Valavanis, the driving force behind the event. I wish I had gone sooner! Valavanis has done the impossible four times now, bringing together many of the best trees in […]
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Some wonderful trees
I had the good fortune to see the trees below on exhibit last month. Where were they on display? Trident maple Schillings Holly Bougainvillea Eastern white cedar Little hip hawthorn Japanese black pine Sargent juniper At the 4th US National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, NY. Tune in next week for more.
White pine clean-up
Fall is a good time to work on white pine. The spring growth has hardened off, and the old needles are beginning to turn brown. White pine in need of clean up As the specimen pictured above was in need of a clean-up, I removed the old needles and lightly thinned branches in the strongest […]
Dwarf Sawara cypress cutback
I’m now one year into a project to develop a dwarf Sawara cypress bonsai from nursery material. Last year I reduced the silhouette and repotted. Am doing the same this year. Dwarf Sawara cypress I removed between one and two inches of foliage. Shoot before cutback Shoot after cutback And I’ve pretty much decided on […]
Fall is for fertilizer
A few weeks ago I was struck by yellow foliage on a number of my young pines. After thinking about it for a moment, I came to the conclusion that I hadn’t been fertilizing enough. Black pines in development require a lot of fertilizer. If they don’t receive enough food they can quickly turn yellow. […]