Last weekend the East Bay Bonsai Society hosted their 58th Annual Show at Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California. The event featured a mix of conventional displays along with a few less-traditional set-ups. Most of the trees were displayed on wooden stands with scrolls or accents. Shimpaku juniper with scroll and accent Lodgepole pine with […]
Search Results for: pine
Bonsai Development Series #17: Thin foliage to preserve interior shoots
Generating new shoots on Japanese black pines is easy. If a healthy tree is pruned, you can expect lots of new growth. Over time, however, crowded shoots can prevent light from reaching the tree’s interior. When this happens, the interior shoots we rely on for future primary branches can die off. The best way to […]
Summer watering tip
Have you ever found that some trees dry out a lot faster than others this time of year? It happens a lot in my garden, on old trees and young trees alike. One thing that can cause this is not watering thoroughly. Sometimes, I’ll water a tree three or four times only to dig down […]
Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 36th annual show
The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society hosted their 36th annual show last weekend in Santa Rosa, California. Looking over the photos from this and past events reminded me of how much some trees have changed – or not changed – over the past eleven REBS shows I’ve visited (see the posts here). More than anything, seeing […]
The effect of fertilizer on water pH
A hidden benefit of many fertilizers is their ability to lower the pH of the water. Had I kept this in mind this past spring, my trees would be a lot greener today. Looking back on my fertilizing habits, I shouldn’t have been surprised that my pines remained yellow despite repeated fertilizer applications. I changed […]