The Long Range Plan for Single-flush Plants ~
Decandling black pines…defoliating trident maples…such techniques stimulate multiple flush plants to ramify and make smaller needles and leaves. Because they spur such surprising regrowth, we look mournfully at our single flush plants as if they could do better. White pines, Japanese maple, Beech, Spruce, Hemlock, Magnolia, Oak, etc. all fall into the single flush plant category. And […]
Color and Unusual Pot Choice-
A tree with red berries in a green glazed pot. A conifer with green foliage in an unglazed, reddish brown pot. An orange flowered tree matched with a blue glazed pot. Common and good options. For pot choices, these opposing colors from the color wheel can work, and work well. But they are also Bonsai 101 […]
When to Take Off Japanese Maple Leaves in the Fall?
This is a tangly question…there’s what’s best for the tree, and there’s what we might want to do because fall leaves are rather nice looking. For Japanese Maple, the fall color is often the most eye-catching thing in the yard. We want to see it for a while. But, if we wait until the leaves […]
Apprentice Jorge Trak and the Trident-
I’ll keep this photo essay short on words and long on images: Jorge Trak studied repotting techniques in February. We covered a lot more trees than I show here, but this Trident was one of the better documented of those we did photograph…
Read This If You Grow Japanese Maple
This post is about a common bacterial disease called Pseudomonas syringae, which frequently affects Japanese maples yet is relatively easy to control. It is often misidentified as Verticillium wilt, as both cause tip dieback. The Pseudomonas bacteria form purply-black stem discolorations, which is the result of a toxin produced by the bacteria which kills cells. […]
Japanese Maple, once again–
Some of you may have been following the development of this Japanese Maple. I just took the brilliant red leaves off yesterday; we’ve had a lot of sun here in Portland and they did not last longer than 1 1/2 weeks. But it was a beautiful fall. In any event, the small trunk to the […]
Japanese Maple, year two
A post from last year was something of a quiz that asked how to improve a particular Japanese maple. This is a follow up post… The lower right branch was airlayered off and integrated into the nebari on the right side to create, eventually, a double trunked tree. The parent tree has been tipped slighted […]
