Spring is typically a season for letting bonsai grow freely. For black pines, some of the main tasks include fertilizing and removing young pine cones. Tea bag with cottonseed meal fertilizer Removing young pine cones Spring is also a good time for catching up on needle plucking and cutback. I generally don’t recommend working on […]
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Novel displays at Bonsai Society of San Francisco’s annual exhibit
You know it’s a good day when a bonsai display makes you do a double take. Slant-style spruce Yep, the tree is sitting on a sheet of glass. Better yet, the glass is supported – balanced no less – by two grooved wood slats. Spruce display by Eric Schrader The display is part of the Bonsai […]
Spring watering tips
Spring is my favorite time of year in the garden. It’s also a rather challenging season when it comes to watering. Without checking the soil, it can be hard to tell how much water a tree needs at a glance. Take, for example, the two young junipers below. Cutting-grown kishu shimpaku For the past week, I’ve been […]
Bonsai Development Series #6: Sacrifice branch basics
Few trees in my garden better demonstrate the use of sacrifice branches than the pine below. Black pine – six-years-old from seedling-cutting The large branch that grows up and to the right is the sacrifice branch. The small tree at the base of this branch is the future bonsai. The future bonsai As I noted […]
Alternative approach to creating shohin pine bonsai
I’ve been following the same approach to creating pine bonsai for the past few years now. It’s time for a change! I outlined the basic approach for starting informal upright pines five years ago (see “Wiring 3-year-old black pines“). Sometimes, instead of removing the lowest needles before wiring, I leave all of the needles on […]