Styling A Snaky Mountain Hemlock: Part I
Carmen Leskoviansky, my apprentice, took on the styling of this Hemlock. Side 1 Side 2 Side 3 Side 4. Which front would you choose? Carmen (and I) chose this one. A few boards on the right side and back corner lend a rakish tilt to the left. Given this front and inclination, where would you […]
Reworking An Old Juniper
Old bonsai get shaggy. The crowns round and loose clarity, the silhouette gets bloated and too big. They resemble a haircut 6 months overdue. Older bonsai require a periodic rework to a profile that balances better with the trunk. Old Juniper bonsai that has outgrown its design, hiding the deadwood. Pushing the reset button on […]
Burning Bush with Thread Grafts
A client brought this tree into the studio. It was one of several Burning Bushes collected near a pond where the nutria that lived there nibbled on the bark and created deadwood. Burning Bush, Euonymus alatus, before fall pruning. Several years ago we noticed a hole in the design of this bonsai, on the right. […]
Climbing Hydrangea As Bonsai
Vines make unusual bonsai. You might not want 20 Hydrangea, but 1 is a conversation piece. With a few exceptions like Bougainvillea, vines tend to have thin trunks and leggy branching. And yet they are easy to grow in a pot, with most responding to lots of water, fertilizer and sun. This Hydrangea fits the […]
Young Juniper Stock: Pt. I, Pre-Styling
What’s pre-styling? That was my sketch for a word I didn’t have. But maybe it’s what you do to a plant before you fully style it. And that’s what Carmen did last week, a partial styling. We grew a bunch of Itoigawa from cuttings about 10 years back, and now, having reached that stage of […]
What Do We Call The Top Of A Bonsai?
The top? Apex? Crown? Canopy? Head? And more importantly—does it matter? The Japanese call the top of a bonsai the “atama”, which is head. As an apprentice, light bulbs went off when I heard them calling the top the head. Decades before I’d been taught it was the “apex”. Oxford Dictionaries defines apex as: “The […]
Juniper Deadwood—Which Resists Rot Best?
Deadwood is a prized feature on many conifer bonsai. For the most part, shari and jin on the upper part of the tree rots slowly, as it dries out faster. If in contact with the soil, however, rotting is accelerated. As a general comment, any collected juniper’s wood will outlast a cutting-grown juniper’s wood. This […]
Carmen Wires a Scots Pine
Here’s a tree that Carmen Leskoviansky, my apprentice, worked on. Carmen has been here for two years now. Prior to that she was a very quiet Seasonal student. She isn’t anymore. Daily I hear the animal report—the latest about the crows she’s befriended (her favorite gift from them was a dime), the rabbit nibbling the […]
A Weak Branch Trick
Is a branch on a bonsai failing? Getting weak? Feel it’s essential and don’t wish to lose it? Well, you MAY have come to the right place. I say “may” as we’ve only tried this technique once in our yard, but do have other data points that support its use. David DeGroot has used this […]
When Does Wood Swell?
If we wire our trees, we might wonder this. We notice that there are times of the year that wire bites in. And there are times that it doesn’t. When should we be most alert? Here are a few pointers: Every year, trees grow two annual rings. If you were to cut a trunk, you’d […]