A couple of years ago I planted several young pines in deep containers with the objective of creating exposed root bonsai (see “Repotting 1 year-old black pine seedlings“). These young trees have grown and now have a single large shoot. 2 year-old seedling The shoot is straight and the only branches are near the top […]
Black Pine
Exposed root black pines at the Green Club
A number of the Japanese black pines I’ve grown from seed have been developed in the exposed root style. It’s a fun style to work with as roots offer possibilities that aren’t always available for specimens whose roots are firmly secured in the pot. My first exposure to the style was at the Green Club […]
Refining a black pine
This summer I recorded the process of refining a black pine for Bonsai: Journal of the American Bonsai Society. The resulting article appeared in Volume 50, Number 3. The work was a lot of fun. I took a few more photos than usual and wrote about decandling, cutback, needle pulling and wiring. Here’s a snapshot of […]
How to grow Japanese black pine from seed
Growing Japanese black pine from seed isn’t the easiest way to make a beautiful bonsai. It requires a variety of skills and it takes a long time. That said, the process of starting bonsai from scratch can be very rewarding – whether or not you end up with a masterpiece. The basics of growing pines from […]
Decandling black pine bonsai – an in-depth guide
Now that decandling season is coming to a close, I thought I’d share an overview of the process taken from previous posts. Let’s begin with the obvious question: What is Decandling? There is a lot to say about decandling pine bonsai. There are as many approaches to decandling as there are bonsai professionals, and many […]