Last year I grew a batch of azaleas that had recently been bare-rooted. To help the trees get established, I let them grow freely all year. By fall they were healthy and full of new leaves. Normally I like to thin azaleas in fall, but because I wanted these trees to continue growing vigorously, I […]
Bonsai Blog
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Review of Bonsai Empire’s Advanced Bonsai Courses
Over the past year, Bjorn Bjorholm and Bonsai Empire released two online courses focusing on advanced bonsai techniques. Together, the courses provide twelve hours of instruction delivered by Bjorn. If you caught the Bonsai Beginners Course or the Bonsai Intermediate Course, you’re familiar with the format. Each course is collection of videos of Bjorn working […]
Refining a 15 year-old black pine
One of my favorite things about working on trees I’ve had for a long time is that the work is straightforward. My normal pattern is to spend the first few years of a tree’s time in my garden getting it healthy. Once the tree is healthy, I can spend the next few years doing any […]
Fall cutback on stewartia
As the weather has started to cool where I live, leaves are now falling from some of the deciduous trees in my garden. This is the perfect time for fall pruning. Stewartia monadelpha I first remove the dead leaves so I can get a better view of the branches. After removing the leaves With a […]
Tracking down banding symptoms in black pine
I was surprised to find yellow banding on a few of my pines this fall. It’s not something I’ve seen much of in my garden over the years so it caught my attention when small yellow patches appeared. Yellow banding on black pine needles The overall health of the needles is good, and the damage […]