Boxwood Revisit: Regrowth After Summer Defoliation
This summer we hard pruned a Japanese Boxwood. This technique is usually reserved for plants like Trident Maple and Ficus. Set up beforehand, a leggy, strong Japanese Boxwood can also respond well. Boxwood is a hedge plant, and most hedge plants respond well to pruning back into wood. Our hard prune left no leaves—a pause-inducing decision, if […]
How Do We Avoid Pom-Poms?
A reader on this blog raised this great question. It’s an excellent one as it leads to a central tenant of good bonsai maintenance. First, how are pom-poms created? To speak not to shape but to density, pom-poms are created when we nibble at growth. If all we do is nibble at the exterior—like pinching […]
~ 9th World Bonsai Convention ~
I was thrilled to be asked to be the North America region representative at the 9th World Bonsai Convention convention in Australia. And then equally dismayed when Covid punted it down the road one year. Then two years. And I ended up NOT taking a trip to the mysterious Perth that friends said had so many […]
What’s In Intermediate Course 2?
This past spring Bonsai Empire came to the garden to film a new course. A fun twist is that it’s co-taught by the great Bjorn Bjorholm of Tennessee, USA. The filming took place in both our gardens, to get two perspectives on topics that range from young stock development, older refinement, winter care, to the […]
Why Do Trees Twist?
This old question came up again on a recent drive through central Oregon. Western Junipers were everywhere. On one section of route 26 (a lonely one-lane highway) I thought, “OK, let’s settle this once and for all. Do conifers in the northern hemisphere all twist one way?” I looked to the right. The junipers twisted […]
A Rooftop Bonsai Garden in the Windy City
A friend has fought the wind on his top story house in Chicago for years. At a distance I’ve cheered him on. This summer he built a new structure to protect his trees. I thought it worth sharing, as so many have wind issues. In this post he shares the construction of this structure and […]
Mega Black Pine Rewire
This massive black pine was part of the Pacific Bonsai Museum, now owned by a client of Andrew Robson’s. Here’s a video of me wiring this big black in 2021 (partly on a ladder), followed by before and after photos of the past year’s work. Music courtesy Hapasan: Taiko Cave Wiring by ladder? Sure. Better than […]
Hemlock Summer Trim-
Summer is a good time to trim a Hemlock. If we leave the spring shoots on a while, they build plant energy and grow roots. For a not-yet-developed bonsai, it’s a good idea to leave shoots on until fall. On developed bonsai, mid-summer is a good time to trim shoots. If we cut too late, small […]
The Patient Magic of Michael Roberts: Part III
Once again here’s a Michael Roberts tree with a great progression. This one, a huge Olive that he started from a young plant. Michael writes: “As a kid growing up our family moved to a tract home in Southern California, Orange County. When my dad got ready to landscape the front yard he took me […]
Bunjin Part II—Building On Weird
From our previous post in this bunjin series, John Naka suggests bunjin is a poetic form of bonsai. If we agree with this, then we can agree that herd approval won’t be there. Poetry annoys too many. The crowd pleasers are the chunky thick-trunked trees, the Marvel films. Trees and movies we can understand. The problem […]
