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.
If You Don’t Have An American Elm Bonsai, You Should
Watch out for wilting candles on young pines
It’s fun to see new shoots elongating on black and red pines this time of year. The light colored growth makes a nice contrast against the darker green foliage from the previous year and the length of the shoots are a…
Accent plants: Pyrrosia ferns
If you’ve been to a bonsai exhibit in Japan or flipped though a Japanese exhibit book, you’ve likely seen accent plants featuring pyrrosia, an epiphytic fern. Accent featuring pyrrosia at the 2011 Gomangoku exhibition…
Saturday Evening Elms, Then And Now
Chinese Privet Initial Styling
Crabapple update – focus on developing the trunk
Last year I wired and repotted a group of crabapples from 2″ pots to 4″ pots. As the shapes of the lower trunks are set, the goal this year is to thicken the trunks. To facilitate this, I’ve left last year’s sacrifice…
Western juniper on a rock
Instead of sharing photos of the different pots I tried out for a Western juniper, I thought I’d cut to the chase and show the final selection. Western juniper – 24″ After setting the tree in six different containers, I…
Making A Small Cedar Elm Bonsai
Rehabilitating a Coast live oak
Two years ago a coast live oak I’d been fond of for many years came into my collection. Coast live oak – January 2017 I’d enjoyed watching the tree develop over the years and was looking forward to working on it. Before…
Reducing branches on coast live oak – follow-up
It didn’t take long for new buds to appear after dramatically pruning some coast live oaks last month (see Oaks for details). Here’s a photo of new bud development ten days after cutback. Signs of new growth on Coast…
There’s Design, And Then There’s Re-Design
Bonsai At GardenScape 2019
GardenScape 2019 is the annual flower and garden show in Rochester, New York, which runs from March 14-17, 2019. It is held at the newly remodeled dome in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester only five miles from…
Bonsai Development Series #14: Sacrifice branches – the last mile
Not all sacrifice branches need to be big. Small sacrifice branches are a good way to thicken the trunk and close wounds on trees even when most of the branch work is complete. Here’s an example. Shohin black pine – 7″…
Reopening an old wound to promote callus formation
After removing a large branch, you might find that the callus doesn’t form evenly around the wound. The best way to fix this is to reopen the wound. Here’s an example of a wound created one year ago after removing a…
Bonsai Odd & Ends: Making Soil & Potting Water-Elm #40
New Bonsai Coming – Crape & Hawthorn
Bald Cypress Reforestation
Bonsai Development Series #13: Balancing vigor
The basic approach to developing material for bonsai is to first create the trunk and then focus on the branches. In between these two stages, it’s common to split the focus between the trunk and the branches. When…
Determining flower color by looking at the foliage – satsuki azalea
I sometimes come across satsuki azaleas of unknown varieties. Although it’s nice to know what the flowers will look like, it can be fun to wait and see what colors show up in spring when the tree blooms. Young satsuki…
Bonsai Odds & Ends – BC, Oak, Maple
Huckleberry #5 Styling Work
Repotting exposed root satsuki azalea bonsai
Here’s an example of an exposed root azalea that has been bare-rooted. Exposed root ‘Korin’ satsuki azalea – 19″ from top to bottom These trees can be tricky to repot as they lack a solid rootball to tie down. Exposed…
Refining A Japanese Maple Bonsai By Transplanting
September 2018 Joe Noga has been growing and training his Shishigashira Japanese maple, Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira,’ for over 35 years. This dwarf cultivar of Japanese maple has been selected and appreciated in Japan…
Working soil into the roots below the trunk – repotting field-grown satsuki
Satsuki bonsai are commonly bare-rooted when they are dug from the field. These trees can have lots of fine roots under the trunk that can make repotting difficult. Bare root satsuki azalea ‘Hanabin’ Lots of roots under…