I’ve been working to develop the ramification on my trident maple for several years now but the progress has been slow. This year I’m trying something different to see if I can speed up the process. I usually let new shoots run a bit before trimming them and I defoliate the tree 2-4 times a […]
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New ficus bonsai
A few weeks ago, I found myself walking away from the Golden State Bonsai Federation’s Mammoth Fundraiser with three new stands and a large ficus. The ficus sported a funny, bulbous trunk and a nice, full silhouette. So I did the natural thing people in bonsai so often do – I removed the bulk of […]
Mountain Hemlock
I recently added a new tree to my collection – a mountain hemlock. I haven’t worked with the variety before so I have a lot of learning ahead of me. Mountain hemlock – Tsuga mertensiana My first goal for the tree is to develop a healthy root base. To do this, I will bare root half of […]
A root over rock maple is born
I see some amazing trees in Bay Island Bonsai workshops. I also see some amazing projects. The root over rock Japanese maple planting below is clearly one of the latter. Root over rock maple planting in training Young maples were planted on a large stone a year or two ago. This year, the tree’s owner […]
Fertilizer technique
A simple and tidy way to apply bonsai fertilizer? Tea bags. I’ve seen a number of folks use tea bags to hold fertilizer, but I hadn’t tried the technique until this year. I typically pour mounds of cottonseed meal on the surface of the soil, but much of the fertilizer washes away, and the rest […]