When I picked up a field-grown maple to work on a few days ago, I had no idea what the trunk and branches looked like. The tree had grown almost four feet since last year and the foliage was too dense to see through. Trident maple This made pruning difficult as I had to make […]
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Leaf pruning Chinese wisteria – follow-up
The first time I cut back and leaf-pruned a Chinese wisteria, I was curious how it would respond to the work. I knew wisteria can grow well after mid-season cutback, but hadn’t experimented enough to know what to expect. Now that I’m comfortable with the technique, it’s fun to see how quickly wisteria can fill […]
Decandling a mini-size black pine
Although I’ve been growing shohin pines for years, last year I decided to try making mini-size trees around 4″-5″ tall. As most of these pines were over 12″ at decandling time, I did a lot of cutback when I decandled. Here’s an example. Black pine – about seven years old The tree above has a […]
Applying a moss top dressing to satsuki azalea bonsai
The satsuki azalea community decided long ago what their preferred top dressing would be – mountain moss. Also known as yamagoke (“mountain moss” in Japanese), this moss is typically harvested in China and packaged in Japan. It can be used interchangeably with white sphagnum moss, but there are three benefits that make it popular for […]
Watering deciduous bonsai – part 2
One of the easiest ways to slow down the rate at which deciduous bonsai dry out is to apply a top dressing to the surface of the soil. A top dressing is a thin layer of soil or related material that is applied with the aim of retaining moisture and/or improving the look of the […]