Mid-May is when I usually begin working on my deciduous bonsai. If a tree has grown well, I’ll reduce the new shoots to 2-4 leaves and wire any branches that need adjusting. An ume in my garden has been growing vigorously this year. It’s time for cutback. Ume It was hard for me to see […]
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Removing flowers on satsuki azaleas
Satsuki azaleas are beautiful when they bloom. Cutting-grown satsuki They are somewhat less attractive when the petals fall away. Azalea flowers after losing their petals Once most of the flowers on a satsuki have wilted or fallen away, it’s time to remove the parts of the flower that are left behind – most visibly, the […]
Repotting out of season – bringing new trees into the garden
I generally don’t do a lot of work on new trees until I have a good idea what shape the roots are in. I’ll water, fertilize and maybe do some cutback but hold off on wiring until I know the tree is strong enough to recover from the work. When trees are healthy and have […]
Defoliating a shohin Japanese maple
I started working on a shohin Japanese maple about a year and a half ago. Here’s what it looked like at the end of 2016. Shohin Japanese maple The first order of business was repotting. I found the tree didn’t have a lot of roots so I was expecting it to grow slowly. And as […]
An alternative approach to repotting trees in development
For young trees growing in colanders, a repot isn’t always necessary when the roots run out of space. Here’s an overview of an alternative approach in two photos. Red pine in 6″ colander After nesting the colander within a larger colander The theory behind this approach is that large roots are less likely to develop […]