Not long after my deciduous bonsai leaf out, I start thinking about when the perfect time would be to prune and partially defoliate them. In general, the more dense the branches, the earlier in the season I do the work. Once deciduous trees reach a certain density, spring growth on the outside branches shades out […]
Search Results for: oak
A visit to the Bonsai Pavilion at Safari Park
Last weekend the San Diego Bonsai Club held their 60th anniversary celebration. The event was held at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park, home to the Bonsai Pavilion, a beautiful garden and bonsai collection built and maintained by volunteers in the club. If you have a chance to visit, I highly recommend it! The team […]
A look inside The Essential Bonsai Book
I’m writing on a Tuesday this week as the release date for The Essential Bonsai Book has arrived! It’s hard to sum up all that went into the book over the last three years – four major drafts, eleven photo shoots, feedback from more than 20 editors plus great work from the sales, marketing, production, […]
Visiting the GSBF Collection at The Huntington
Last weekend I had a fantastic visit to the GSBF Collection at The Huntington. I was in town for the Bonsai-A-Thon, the garden’s annual fundraiser, as a visiting artist sponsored by Joshua Roth (thanks, John and Michelle!). The garden much bigger than it was when I last visited (more than twenty years ago!) and there […]
Highlights from BABA and California Shohin Seminar
Two recent Northern California bonsai events – the Bay Area Bonsai Associates annual show and the California Shohin Seminar – featured some great trees. Here are some of the highlights along with comments about the trees’ designs. Black pine (The apex, the trunk, and the key branch all flow to the right) California juniper(This tree […]




