Monthly Archives: July 2009

A Simple Air-Layering Technique

This image is from Bonsai Today issue 48. The details are a little on the small side, so we’ll break it into pieces for you. Step 1. 4mm is almost exactly 5/32″ BTW: if you need a quality grafting knife… Share

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Contest #6: Paint-by-Numbers!!??

The image that was in this space has been removed at the request of the artist. My apologies for any problems we’ve caused for the artist or anyone else. I picked this image up on Bunjin Journal. It’s a strange and wonderful site, with some parts just wonderful and some parts wonderfully strange. The image [...]

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Speaking of Kusamono & Companion Plants

An exquisite kusamono from our Japanese mystery book. Because I don’t read Japanese, I can’t say what the grass is (can you?), who the potter is, or even, what the name of the book is. However, I can say, with complete confidence, that the whole arrangement is beautiful. What does Kusamono mean? In his book [...]

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Wendy Heller’s Bonsai & Companion Pots

One of Wendy Heller’s pots with a hen-and-chick type succulent that I dug up in my yard. Some very sweet little pots A couple years ago I worked with Wendy Heller on a publishing project. In the process, I had the good fortune of getting to know Wendy a bit (phone and email) and decided [...]

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Contest #5: We’ve got a Winner (Sort of)

Still a mystery I lifted this shohin black pine is from the American Shohin-Bonsai Association gallery. I couldn’t find who the artist is anywhere (and their contact link isn’t working), so I figured if I used it for our contest, someone would let me know. No such luck, so it’s still a mystery to me. [...]

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Jin & Shari #5: Carving Jin with a Draw Knife

In this series of photos (from our Juniper book), Hideki Nakayatsu turns a needle juniper on its side to work on the apical jin (jin can be either a dead branch or a dead top of the trunk). He is using is a draw knife to carve natural looking grooves in the wood. Though there [...]

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Contest Deadline; Midnight Friday Night

It’s time to wrap up our latest contest. Submit your answers (if you have any) by 11:59pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time, USA), Friday the 24th. If no one comes up with all the correct answers, then whoever comes closest is the lucky one. Ties go to the earliest submission. Good luck! Share

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Green Workshop: Bonsai Branching Basics

Both illustrations in this post are from Bonsai Today issue 92. Learn the rules first, then break them Though nothing is written in stone, understanding the basics can be very helpful. If the points shown here are not that familiar, you might want to take some time with each one. As you apply them, your [...]

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Bonsai Today Sale: 40% to 50% off!

John Naka‘s famous ‘Goshin’ graces the cover of Bonsai Today issue 93. Inside there’s a tribute to Mr. Naka and a range of how-to articles and other useful and inspiring photos and information. This and a host of other back issues can now be yours for forty to fifty percent off. I love summer… …my [...]

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