This past weekend, Bay Island Bonsai held their 18th annual exhibit at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California. Following the club’s tradition, the membership recognized the top tree in each of several categories with Members Choice Awards. Here are photos of this year’s award-winning trees, starting with a large white pine shown at the […]
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Improving exposed root pine bonsai with a single bend
As a number of you noticed in the last post, using a straight cylinder for creating exposed root pine bonsai can lead to a fairly uninteresting trunk line. This can be fixed easily – here’s how. Below is a photo of a 12 year-old pine trained in the exposed root style. There is a nice […]
How to tell when something is wrong with your bonsai
Even when you water and fertilize properly and keep your bonsai in a location appropriate for their health, problems can arise. Insects, disease, poor drainage or short periods of neglect can stress bonsai and cause trees to weaken. Working on stressed trees, whether wiring or cutting back, can cause further stress. This may sound funny, […]
How to evaluate bonsai water needs
Once you’ve determined that a given species can thrive in your area and you’ve found a spot in the garden well-suited to its development, the next order of business is determining the tree’s water needs. At a basic level, determining water needs is simple. Dig down into the soil to where roots are growing and […]
General exhibit at GSBF’s 39th convention
As the larger of the convention’s two shows, the general exhibit at GSBF’s 39th convention in Sacramento featured a broader range of sizes and varieties of trees. This included a number of California’s native junipers. California juniper planted on a rock California juniper California juniper Shimpaku grafted on Sierra juniper My favorite of the native […]