Spotted in the Wild
Historical Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and RSS posts previously curated by the club (2017–present). Not authored by the club — preserved here since the original source feeds no longer carry this history.
Bonsai Odds & Ends – Oak, Oak, Sweetgum
Designing Bonsai Displays For The Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo
Oto Hime Japanese Maple for display I spent all afternoon designing my three displays for the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo next weekend in Kannapolis, NC. There is more than picking out a tree, table, wiping them off…
Flat-Top Bald Cypress Design Work
New book – The Little Book of Bonsai
This Thanksgiving weekend, I’d like to introduce a project I’ve been working on for the past two years: The Little Book of Bonsai ! Cover of The Little Book of Bonsai The book is a beginner’s guide that introduces…
A Huckleberry Bonsai For 2020
Five patterns for pulling needles on black pine
When thinning needles on black or red pine, I treat branches differently based on my goals for refining them. I typically want weak branches to grow stronger and strong branches to slow down, but there are cases in…
A Visit To Tokoname – Home To World Famous Bonsai Containers
Tokoname is one of the six old Japanese kilns which have continued to support Japanese living for over 1,000 years. Tea pots and sewer pipes are the most famous items crafted and produced in the city of Tokoname, a bit…
A visit To Shunka-en Bonsai Museum
Last week we visited the museum of bonsai artist Kunio Kobayashi in Tokyo. He had just returned from a convention in Viet Nam, but he still had the energy to welcome our group with his wife and curator of his museum,…
2019 39th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition – Part 4
An important part of any bonsai exhibition around the world is the sales or vendor area. Most people visit to see and enjoy the trees, but they eventually end up in the sales area purchasing something for their…
2019 39th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition – Part 3
This year there are five special displays in the Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition. Funayama Display Mr. Funayama lives in the northern area of Japan and has large powerful evergreen bonsai. Mr. Morimae is his bonsai…
2019 39th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition – Part 2
Some impressive bonsai and displays from the 2019 39 th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition in Kyoto, Japan. An ancient Sago palm, Cycas revoulta. Rita and Mark Cooper next to their Trident maple bonsai in the exhibition!…
2019 39th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition – Part 1
The 39 th Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition is being held on November 22-25, 2019 at the Miyako Messe Exhibition Hall in Kyoto, Japan. Shinji Suzuki is chairman again this year. Quite a bit of advance promotion was…
Fall Color And Flower Buds – BC And Huckleberry
An idea for a bonsai show
I’d like to host a bonsai show in November, 2021. You’re all invited. For the past few years, Eric Schrader and I have been thinking about how much fun it would be to attend an exhibit that shows off some of the best…
Autumn 2019 Japan International Bonsai Exploration
This year marks the 20 th anniversary that Kora Dalager and I have been leading value priced bonsai tours to Japan and Asia. Kora is a seasoned travel agent who has traveled the world and that is also a skilled and…
Bonsai Beyond The Border– Yuji Yoshimura, A Bonsai Artist Across the Ocean; New York, 1958
On October 12 – November 24, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Japan presented an Autumn Special Exhibition to commemorate the 10 th Anniversary and Sister Museum Partnership with the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in…
The benefits of thinning satsuki azaleas in fall
Last year I grew a batch of azaleas that had recently been bare-rooted. To help the trees get established, I let them grow freely all year. By fall they were healthy and full of new leaves. Normally I like to thin…
Roughleaf Dogwood Styling Work
Fall Color, Pseudo Fall Color, And An Early Hard Freeze
Review of Bonsai Empire’s Advanced Bonsai Courses
Over the past year, Bjorn Bjorholm and Bonsai Empire released two online courses focusing on advanced bonsai techniques. Together, the courses provide twelve hours of instruction delivered by Bjorn. If you caught the…
WINTER SILHOUETTE BONSAI EXPO COMIMG UP SOON! Don’t miss this event
There is less than a month away from one of the finest bonsai exhibitions in the country. Now is the time to make plans to visit the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo in Kannapolis, North Carolina, near Charlotte, on…
Refining a 15 year-old black pine
One of my favorite things about working on trees I’ve had for a long time is that the work is straightforward. My normal pattern is to spend the first few years of a tree’s time in my garden getting it healthy. Once the…
Fall cutback on stewartia
As the weather has started to cool where I live, leaves are now falling from some of the deciduous trees in my garden. This is the perfect time for fall pruning. Stewartia monadelpha I first remove the dead leaves so I…
2019 Autumn Beauty At The International Bonsai Arboretum
The “official” 2019 growing season has now ended, despite the lack of a killing frost, yet. We do expect some cold days later this week in the mid-20F range, and perhaps two inches of snow. That’s actually what I’m…