When making cuttings of young pine seedlings – seedling cuttings – it’s important to use a potting medium that retains moisture. An easy way to achieve this is by using a potting medium like sand. Its small particles retain moisture and enough air for new roots to develop. Although fine sand particles are good for […]
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Japanese plum cutback
My Japanese plum has really enjoyed the warm weather this spring. The many long shoots emerging from the first branch have given the tree a rangy appearance. It was time for some cutback. Japanese plum – May 2011 I reduced the longest of the shoots and wired what was left of the new growth. This […]
Removing flower buds from azalea
I’ve seen satsuki bloom in most months of the year, but they’re most likely to bloom around May. This is natural as the name satsuki (and old phrase for “fifth month”) refers to the month in which they bloom. Why, then, did my azalea’s single flower catch my attention today? Because I’d previously removed most […]
Air layering a Japanese maple
Almost a year ago to the day I wrote about a Japanese maple I’d taken on that was ripe for several long-term projects (see Restoring an old Japanese maple). I started on the first, an air-layer, this past weekend at a BIB workshop. Japanese maple I would have layered the tree last year, but I had […]
Pine seedlings
[8/16/16 – See the updated and expanded version: How to grow Japanese black pine from seed] I planted pine seeds again this year – black and red. The seeds came from Shikoku, Japan. It’s legal to import pine seeds – permits are available from the USDA – and the process is surprisingly simple. Once I got […]