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tradition is but a springboard—from there, bonsai is limitless
from the blog
How To Decide The Height Of A Bonsai
A reader asked for an explanation of this sentence from a previous post: “With any tree, thick trunk or thin, follow the taper of the trunk and where the two lines of the sides meet, that’s roughly where your tree should end.“ I admit that wasn’t easy to follow. I often say something like that […]
Fall Work On Satsuki Azalea
You wouldn’t think Japanese Black Pine and Satsuki Azalea are similar in any way. And yet the common techniques for Black Pine and Satsuki are mirrors. In spring we trim the new growth. In fall we simplify the robust summer regrowth. Both strong plants, under normal care and reasonably happy Black Pine and Satsuki will […]
Formal Upright White-out Exercise: Part III
Our formal upright design series wraps this week with comments on each of the 9 remaining design options. To orient again around the options, here’s Joe’s thumbnail layout. 7 was covered at length in Part II. 1. This option has one problem that is mostly a problem of position: the bar branch indicated by the […]