This year’s Taikan-ten featured a special display area devoted to an impressive collection of Korean hornbeams. Hornbeams are a favorite variety of mine as they can show great character in the trunk and develop very twiggy branches. Cascade Korean hornbeam – unglazed hexagonal pot It’s rare to see so many old specimens together so it was […]
Korean hornbeam
Displaying a Korean hornbeam
I’m working, this week, on my submission for the Artisans Cup coming to Portland, Oregon, in September. Haven’t submitted a tree yet? No problem, there are still 3 days left. The requirements are simple – a few photos of your tree, a photo of the intended display, and a few words describing your intention behind […]
For those of you who haven’t done so yet
Now is a great time to remove any foliage that’s still clinging to your deciduous bonsai that go dormant in winter. While deciduous leaves typically fall off on their own, not all varieties let go so easily. If you still see leaves on your deciduous bonsai – and you live in the northern hemisphere – […]
Defoliating a Korean hornbeam – part 2
On May 6, 2012, I defoliated my Korean hornbeam. Here is what it looked like after removing the leaves. Defoliated – May 6 (the few leaves in back belong to an escape branch) One of my main goals for defoliating the tree was to expose the interior buds to more light (see Decandling a Korean […]
Defoliating a Korean hornbeam
I’ve been defoliating and partially defoliating my bonsai for years – particularly my trident maple bonsai. Somewhere along the line I picked up a Korean hornbeam, but this tree I didn’t defoliate. I hesitated the first several years because I was working on developing basic branch structure. I hesitated the last few years our of […]




