Somewhere in the mid-1950s, my grandfather, Leo Dupuich, acquired a number of bonsai from a local landscaper and bonsai enthusiast named Jim Miyasaki. When my teenage father saw the trees, one stuck out to him – a Japanese plum. My dad cared for the tree for a number of years before giving it to my […]
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Cutback on a white chojubai quince
I usually hold off on pruning deciduous bonsai past the first half of August. Not all trees can grow well enough late in the season to make it worth investing in new shoots before fall. That said, I’ve worked on deciduous trees fairly late in the season as some trees will keep their leaves through […]
Summer repotting dwarf flowering quince
Chojubai, a variety of dwarf flowering quince, is one of the few bonsai I can repot in summer. Repotting chojubai in early spring also works, but by repotting now I can get a jump on the upcoming repotting season. Chojubai can be repotted with or without defoliating first, but I prefer to defoliate as most […]
Refining Yaupon holly
Over the years I’ve learned about developing Yaupon holly by doing the wrong thing (see “Developing Yaupon holly” for details). This year is no exception. For the last five-to-ten years, I’ve been neglecting the tree or occasionally pruning it to silhouette without thinning or wiring it. I knew this was not a good approach to […]
Bonsai Development Series #20: avoiding problems during trunk development
There are two goals when developing pre-bonsai trunks: create interesting movement, and minimize flaws. Two of the most common flaws at this stage of development are awkward or inverse taper and scars on the lower section of the trunk. To keep these in check, I prune sacrifice branches before they get too big and thin […]