April is a busy month for oaks in my garden. At the same time that my largest cork oak starts growing, a second flush of growth appears on the coast live oaks. Coast live oaks can start growing anywhere from December through April in my garden, but usually get going in January. By mid-April, the […]
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Developing branches on Chinese wisteria
For years, I’ve been curious about what it takes to create dense branching on wisteria bonsai. I’ve seen many beautiful specimens that bloom every year, but I don’t see as many that have fine, twiggy branching. One of the first steps in ramifying deciduous bonsai is cutting back to create a compact silhouette. This can […]
Bare-rooting a trident maple
The first thing I want to do when I acquire a new tree is get a look at the soil. Based on what I found when I started repotting the trident maple below, I decided to bare-root the tree. Trident maple After removing the soil The tree had been well-cared for but was growing in […]
Wiring a large cork oak
The last tree to start growing in my garden each spring is also the largest. It’s a cork oak I acquired from Kenji Miyata. Cork oak I try to cut back and wire my oaks in fall or winter, but I often put this off for the big oak as it typically doesn’t start growing […]
Kokufu 101: shohin
Today I’d like to share a single tip for styling shohin bonsai – focus on branch density. As you look at photos of shohin displayed at this year’s Kokufu exhibit, you’ll notice that all of the trees are full. There’s a good reason for this. Because the trees are displayed in groups, it makes sense […]