A number of my 13 year-old pines are making the transition from trunk development to branch refinement. During this stage, I’ll often decandle branches that will be part of the final design while letting other branches continue to thicken. Most of the branches on the tree below were decandled this year. The branches that I […]
Search Results for: sacrifice branch
Developing a new leader on exposed root pines
A few years ago I started a batch of exposed root pines – black and red. I let them grow for several years without wiring and they now look like this. Black pine trained in the exposed root style You’ll notice the trunk is completely straight – the least appropriate form for exposed root bonsai […]
Korean Hornbeam – 10 year progression
About 15 years ago, Boon brought a Korean hornbeam to a Bay Island Bonsai meeting. It was November, and the tree was in fall color. I’d never seen such vivid reds, oranges and yellows on a bonsai in person. I decided right then I wanted one. Several years later, I found my chance. It was […]
Watching bonsai become bonsai
If you have a lot of bonsai, you might feel like you’re doing assembly line work at certain times of the year. Summer, for those with a number of black pines, is one of those times. When I have a lot of repetitive work, I often line up a group of trees against the workshop wall, start […]
Cutting back a Japanese maple
I’ve been working for the last few years on a Japanese maple my mother collected as a seedling. The last time I worked on the tree, I removed a couple of large branches. Since then, the tree has grown freely to help heal the scars. Japanese maple Now that some of the new sacrifice branches […]