Boxwood Bonsai – Before & After Armageddon

Michael Hagedorn’s Japanese boxwood. Here’s part of what Michael wrote about this tree (from his Crataegus Bonsai blog)… “And after the new flush of leaves came out, summer 2017. Defoliation creates regrowth with smaller leaves. This photo is after minimal wiring and pad cleanup. There is a scale shift from the earlier, un-defoliated 2017 photos, and the structure of the tree comes out a bit better than the earlier attempt 14 years ago as a well-manicured foliage ‘mop.’ Which was fine for dusting or generally shrubbery use in Monty Python movies, but less good for bonsai.” Up to our old … Continue reading Boxwood Bonsai – Before & After Armageddon

Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Here’s what Bjorn Bjornholm wrote about this impressive root-over-rock (root-swallowing rock) bonsai. “Trident Maple after defoliation and subsequent second flush. The leaves are all pinky nail size or smaller.” Given all the publicity lately, you might think Bjorn Bjorholm is a rising bonsai superstar. A couple weeks ago we featured a post about Bjorn Bjorholm’s Online Bonsai Course and so far we’ve featured about a dozen posts on Bjorn and his bonsai. All the photos in this post are from Bjorn’s facebook feed. You might also like to visit his website and Bonsai Empire’s site on Bjorn’s intermediate online bonsai … Continue reading Keeping the Bonsai Vibe Cool in Rising Summer Heat

Don’t Do It Too Soon but Don’t Wait Too Long

You don’t often see half defoliated trees. You also don’t often see photos of bonsai with both side chopped off, but there was too much noise in the background so this is my solution (you can see the uncropped version here). The tree is a Ficus and the photo is originally from Eduardo Mourão Guedes’s post at Indonesian Bonsai Society. I couldn’t find a live link there but I did find one here. If you live in the tropics you can defoliate a tree like the one above any time of year. However, if you want to defoliate a Ficus … Continue reading Don’t Do It Too Soon but Don’t Wait Too Long

Defoliating Grandfather – Redirecting Energy, Maintaining Balance & Creating Fine Branching

Here’s Juan Adrade’s English caption for this magnificent old Trident maple. “Partial defolation on one of the grandfather trees. Close to 100 yrs old.” Here’s his Spanish: “Defoliación de las ramas exteriores en uno de los tridentes del abuelo de mi maestro. Este arbol posiblemente se acerca a los 100 años.” You might notice the part about exterior branches in the Spanish. This would indicate that Juan is redirecting energy away from the outer tips and down closer to the center of the tree. This photo is from Juan’s facebook feed. Defoliation is an important technique for redirecting energy, maintaining … Continue reading Defoliating Grandfather – Redirecting Energy, Maintaining Balance & Creating Fine Branching

Refining Your Bonsai

I found this rather spectacular tree on Bonsai Nut. There was no caption but it’s part of a discussion on Korean hornbeam ramification. In these days of massive trunks and elaborate deadwood carving, it’s easy to overlook ramification. Even though good ramification is an essential mark of refinement. Especially on deciduous bonsai. In botany, ramification is defined as: 1. a structure formed of branches, and 2. configuration of branching parts. With bonsai, ramification is about branch development, starting with primary branches, then secondary, tertiary, quaternary and so forth, out to the finest twigs. Each level is thinner (and usually shorter) than the last, and when done well, the effect is … Continue reading Refining Your Bonsai

American Elm Bonsai – It Only Looks Like a Zelkova

At a glance, or even on closer inspection, you might think this is a Zelkova. After all, Zelkova is the most common broom style bonsai and the leaves even look Zelkovish. However, it’s not. It’s an American elm that belongs to Suthin Sukosolvisit. You don’t see that many American elm bonsai (or American elms at all for that matter, thanks to Dutch elm disease). And you certainly don’t see many, if any, American elm bonsai as well developed as this one. We have Suthin Sukosolvisit to thank for this. Just in case you don’t know him, Suthin is one of … Continue reading American Elm Bonsai – It Only Looks Like a Zelkova

Showing Off Its Inner Charm

This slender delight is showing off its inner charm. It’s late winter and the new buds are swelling. Without the leaves you can better see the subtle beauty of the bark and the delicate fine branching. The nebari is quite strong (but still in keeping with the delicacy of the tree). Much of its size and strength comes from having two trunks. This provides a good tip for creating nebari: leave smaller second and third trunks, at least for a while, if a strong nebari and lower trunk is your objective. Photo is from Bonsai Today issue 6. Going back … Continue reading Showing Off Its Inner Charm

Defoliación del Abuelo (Defoliating Grandfather)

Here’s Juan Adrade’s caption for this photo. “Partial defolation on one of the grandfather trees. Close to 100 yrs old (Defoliación de las ramas exteriores en uno de los tridentes del abuelo de mi maestro. Este arbol posiblemente se acerca a los 100 años).” All the photos in this post are from a series of photos on Juan’s facebook feed. Facebook is great if you like photos of children, animals or glassy eyed people over eating at restaurants. If you’re lucky and you have the right friends, you might find good photos of quality bonsai. However, it’s somewhat unusual to … Continue reading Defoliación del Abuelo (Defoliating Grandfather)

Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks

This time I took the liberty of cropping and adjusting the contrast just a bit to attempt to better show the details on this remarkable tree. Here’s our original caption: Trident Maple (Kaede) at the Kokufu-ten in 1972. It now lives in Washington D.C. at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The photo is from Capital Bonsai. It’s still mid-summer semi-vacation time, so I’m taking the easy way out once again. This post originally appeared just over a year ago. Because I’m such a big fan of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum (and Peter Tea’s excellent blog) and because … Continue reading Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks

Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks

Trident Maple (Kaede) at the Kokufu-ten in 1972. It now lives in Washington D.C. at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The photo is from Capital Bonsai. Back to square one I’m still trying to get back to square one after the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, so I won’t say too much except that I’ve recently come across two excellent posts about Trident maples. The first is at Capital Bonsai and shows the repotting of a famous old Trident that now resides at the U.S. National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, and the second, which is about defoliation (and more), … Continue reading Defoliating, Repotting & Other Tricks