Satsuki bonsai are commonly bare-rooted when they are dug from the field. These trees can have lots of fine roots under the trunk that can make repotting difficult. Bare root satsuki azalea ‘Hanabin’ Lots of roots under the trunk Simply setting the tree into a mound of soil can lead to air pockets in which […]
Bonsai Blog
Search
(Enter search terms and press 'Enter')
Recent Posts
Reducing primary branches on coast live oak
Last spring I brought home a few coast live oaks. I repotted them in early May and found that they responded well to the work (see “Repotting out of season“). Here’s what one of the trees looked like last week. Coast live oak I did, however, notice that most of the new growth was on […]
Refining cork oak – step two
I’m starting this series on cork oak with the second step – reducing branches that are too long or too straight. The first step is repotting the tree into bonsai soil and generating healthy roots. Last year I repotted this oak in a training pot after nearly bare-rooting it. The field soil supported few roots […]
Coast redwood – initial repot
I look forward to repotting some trees months ahead of repotting season. Sometimes it’s because the pot is falling apart or too small – other times I simply want to see the tree in a bonsai pot for the first time. All of the above applied to the coast redwood below. Coast redwood I picked […]
Bonsai from the Gafu-ten sales area
One of the highlights of the Gafu-ten exhibit is the sales area. Like the sales areas at other top bonsai exhibits, the Gafu-ten sales area featured bonsai at all stages of development from seedlings to show quality specimen bonsai. Some of my favorites are pictured below. Japanese black pine Japanese white pine Dwarf jasmine Japanese maple […]