from the blog

Japanese Black Pine Styling: #2

Japanese Black Pine Styling: #2

January 23, 2026

Here’s another Japanese Black Pine with major choices ahead. Let’s take a look.  A scruffy little Black Pine with a few promising lower branches and a lot of nothing halfway up.  After several initial cuts the pine is half the size. The top came back hard, and the two lowest branches were shortened. A slight […]

Japanese Black Pine Styling: #1

Japanese Black Pine Styling: #1

January 16, 2026

Last week we took a look at this leggy Black Pine. The pine reminded me of a crane. Taking off with its long neck stretched out. It won’t be a good bonsai with such wings. So they need to be tucked in. And that neck is overlong.  Nice bark on this one. Maybe 35 years […]

How Kaizen May Be Applied To Bonsai

How Kaizen May Be Applied To Bonsai

January 9, 2026

In the 1930’s engineer Walter Shewhart developed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle of work. This inspired Taiichi Ohno in the late 1940’s with the idea of kaizen, a manufacturing mindset of continual, incremental improvements. It is credited with the success of Toyota. Now the concept is used in many businesses. The word has two parts, kai […]

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