Pests #2: Controlling Scale by Michael Hagedorn

These little critters with their protective helmet-like shields are just one variety of the approximately 8,000 species of scale. Though not all are harmful to your bonsai, the ones that are, need to be taken seriously. Here’s what Michael Hagedorn has to say about scale They’re here again…scale are emerging from their eggs underneath their shields, and beginning to crawl. This is the time to control them. If we sprayed during the winter we wasted insecticide on protected eggs. In June they mature and begin moving around the plant, and can be controlled with oils. All-season oil or Neem oil … Continue reading Pests #2: Controlling Scale by Michael Hagedorn

A Timely Watering Tip from Michael Hagedorn

This illustration by Kyosuke Gun is from our Masters’ Series Juniper book. It is a perfect fit for this post that is borrowed from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. Before the real summer heat hits, consider how you are watering your trees. Have you ever seen your trees grow through spring just fine, only to get fried leaves at the first onset of early summer? Ever wonder why that happens? Those trees just don’t have enough roots. Those are the trees that got overwatered, or simply never dried out, in the cool spring months. Their roots were never encouraged to hunt … Continue reading A Timely Watering Tip from Michael Hagedorn

Michael Hagedorn Interview: Part 2

This is the second and final installment of our Michael Hagedorn interview. Do you collect wild trees? Any advice if you do? I do collect. And I would definitely advise studying the techniques of taking wild trees with a very experienced collector who has a high success rate. Studying this seriously is better than learning by mistake and experiment—enough have done that already! The tree pictured above is Sonoran scrub live oak (Quercus turbinella). Michael says of this tree: I collected this oak from a mountain range in eastern Arizona in 1999, at around 5,000 ft. It was growing much … Continue reading Michael Hagedorn Interview: Part 2

Michael Hagedorn Interview: Part 1

In my last post I wrote a review of Michael Hagedorn’s Post-Dated; The Schooling of an Irreverant Bonsai Monk, a book I consider to be an important and unique contribution to English language bonsai literature. You could say that Post-Dated is in fact literature, as distinguished from the how-to genre that most bonsai books fall into. In addition to being a very accomplished writer, Michael Hagedorn is a first rate bonsai artist. His work appeared in the Kokufu show in Tokyo (Kokufu is the pre-eminent bonsai show in Japan) in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and Mr. Suzuki (Michael’s teacher) honored … Continue reading Michael Hagedorn Interview: Part 1

Post-Dated by Michael Hagedorn

I first read Post-Dated at 30,000 feet; Boston to SFO. By coincidence, the man sitting next to me was reading Thoreau’s Walden, a book usually confined to students and scholars (and everyone else’s bookshelves). He was well past his student years and turned out to be an engineer who simply loved Thoreau. I bring this up because Post-Dated has a chapter titled: Restless Spirits: The Usefulness of Henry and Ernest. Henry is, of course, Henry Thoreau. Ernest is Ernest Hemmingway. Michael included them in his book because they both studied bonsai in Japan as young men. Henry was gifted, but … Continue reading Post-Dated by Michael Hagedorn

A Quieter Tree & a Smaller House

I’ve long appreciated the subtlety of Michael Hagedorn’s bonsai. Michael tends to avoid flash and overstatement, even in some of his crazy experimental stuff.* Here’s Michael’s caption for this understated bonsai… “Japanese Maple ‘Beni-Kawa’ with an unusual pot choice, an unglazed brown.” Here’s more in Michael’s own words (from his blog)… “The decision was to show off the reddish rose of the branches and trunks, to have that be the focus. Often a key tree color is balanced by the opposing color on the color wheel—in this case, the pot would have a green glaze. By NOT going that route … Continue reading A Quieter Tree & a Smaller House

When Can You Call It Bunjin?

Bunjin (aka Literati), a style you don’t see too much in the West. I think it’s difficult to do bunjin properly. It defies our tendency to fill up space. Adding rather than subtracting, where subtracting all the way down to bare bones seems to be one of the keys. There’s much more, but I’m not that versed in the topic, so we’ll leave it at that This is the third consecutive day of our virtual visit to Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. Today it’s some pines in Michael’s portfolio that caught my eye. Though it started unintentionally, there’s a progression based … Continue reading When Can You Call It Bunjin?

Be Smart – Don’t Water Your Bonsai by Schedule!

This illustration by Kyosuke Gun is from our Masters’ Series Juniper book (due back in print in 3 or 4 weeks). It is a perfect fit for this post that is borrowed from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai Continuing with Michael Hagedorn from yesterday, we’ll stick with watering tips. This one originally appeared here in June, 2009 Before the real summer heat hits, consider how you are watering your trees. Have you ever seen your trees grow through spring just fine, only to get fried leaves at the first onset of early summer? Ever wonder why that happens? Those trees just … Continue reading Be Smart – Don’t Water Your Bonsai by Schedule!

One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

This old collected Rocky Mountain juniper is from Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai portfolio. Spent long days all weekend rewriting my old copy for all 700 or so of our products for our new, soon to be live website. It’s a big job, but essential. If you don’t believe me, read some of our current, soon to be replaced thirteen year old website and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, I’m not finished yet and time is still compressed, so it’s back to our archives. This one originally appeared here in April, 2015. It’s one of the best pieces of bonsai … Continue reading One of the Best Pieces of Bonsai Advice…

Bonsai Before & After – a Six Week Transformation

Before and after. The tree is a Lawson’s cypress (Chaemacyparis Louïsiana ‘Elwoodii’). Here’s the caption copied directly from Michel Delen, our source for these photos… “Chaemacyparis Louïsiana ‘Elwoodii’ AFTER Grandioos Noelanders Marc.” Continuing with our recent Marc Noelanders posts. And not by coincidence, Marc’s a headliner at the 2019 Mid Atlantic Bonsai Spring Festival (we hope to see you there) – I’m impressed. The date on the before is Feb 8th and the date on the after is March 22nd (6 weeks later). Given just how little time elapsed, it’s an remarkable transformation. All the photos are from Michel Delen’s timeline Continued … Continue reading Bonsai Before & After – a Six Week Transformation