On May 21-22, 2022, the Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai hosted their 25th annual exhibition at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California. The event featured some fantastic satsuki azaleas in full bloom along with some non-azalea bonsai provided by the Yamato Bonsai Kai. It was great to see a mix of blooming and non-blooming […]
Bonsai Blog
Search
(Enter search terms and press 'Enter')
Recent Posts
Visit to Rakuyo, the bonsai garden of Andrew Robson
During my recent visit to Portland, Oregon, I spent the bulk of my free time at Rakuyo-en, the bonsai garden of Andrew Robson. Andrew started Rakuyo to focus on deciduous bonsai. Although I’d seen photos of the garden before visiting, nothing prepared me for the scale and scope of the collection. For starters, many of […]
Highlights from the Bonsai Society of Portland’s Farm to Table seminar
Last weekend the Bonsai Society of Portland held “Farm to Table,” an event that focused on techniques for developing field-grown material. About 100 participants from Oregon, Washington, and California enjoyed two days of education at the Milwaukie Community Center from bonsai teachers John Eads, Michael Hagedorn, Matt Reel, Andrew Robson, and me. Andrew Robson critiques […]
Spring cutback on ume
Over the years, I’ve experimented with a number of approaches to developing ume. I’ve fully defoliated the tree in spring, partially defoliated it, and avoided defoliating at all. I’ve let it grow stronger before pruning and kept it in shape with regular pruning. To date, I haven’t seen a big difference in how the tree […]
Defoliating a Japanese maple
My shohin Japanese maple grew well this spring which makes it a good candidate for defoliating. I removed the leaves, pruned a few long shoots, and covered the surface of the soil with moss. Before defoliating After defoliating – 7″ tall When the new shoots begin to emerge, I’ll pinch them the same way I […]