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.
A Couple Of Quick Progressions I Like
A Terrific American Elm Bonsai-To-Be
Side-veneer graft aftercare – bag technique
When performing side-veneer grafts on conifers, it’s important to provide extra humidity for the scions to prevent them from drying out. Two popular approaches for doing this are to cover the scion with a small plastic…
Meet Bob Blankfield
Japanesse maple trained by Bob Blankfield from a small bare root stump grown in one of my beds a few years ago. Ok, more than a few years, something like two decades. Come to the US National Bonsai Exhibition in…
Repotting young chojubai in summer
This past spring, as the deciduous bonsai in my garden began to leaf out, I noticed several dwarf flowering quince began to die back. Over the next two months, about half of these chojubai died. I found no evidence of…
Before and after – cutback and decandling exposed root black pines in development
I thought I was nearing the end of decandling season when I remembered a table of black and red pines trained as exposed root bonsai. My standard approach is to not decandle exposed root pines until the trees are older…
Colorful Early Summer Bonsai
SMOKE TREE During my Open Workshops on Friday and Saturday Harvey Carapella brought his Smoke Tree, Cotinus coggygria, bonsai to share and be photographed. He has been training this bonsai for many decades. This plant…
Bare-root azalea follow-up
Back in February I potted up around 60 bare-root satsuki azalea bonsai. Having not worked with bare-root specimens before, I was really curious to see how the trees would do with so few roots. Most started out slowly…
Bonsai Development Series #8: Removing unnecessary branches
When developing material for bonsai, it’s best to avoid creating straight trunks and branches. Many varieties, however, naturally produce straight growth. This gives us two options: cut or wire. Cutting is often…
Here’s The Kind Of Progression I Like To See
Do You Know The Best Thing About American Hornbeam For Bonsai?
Another Cedar Elm Gets Styled
Increasing density on a cork-bark black pine
I’ve been working on an old cork-bark black pine since 2004. The tree has improved a lot over the years, but it still has a ways to go. The main focus at this stage is increasing the branch density. Cork-bark black pine…
Follow-up – defoliating a shohin Japanese maple
I fully defoliated a shohin Japanese maple about six weeks ago. Here’s what the tree looked like after removing all of the leaves. Shohin Japanese maple – April 30 After a week, small buds started to appear along the…
Early appearance of summer buds and a decandling tip
Seeing a note on my calendar to finish decandling a pine, I headed outside and brought the pine below into the workshop. Partially decandled black pine The idea was to remove the weaker shoots ahead of the stronger…
45th Upstate New York Bonsai Exhibition & Sale
The 45 th Upstate New York Bonsai Exhibition was successfully held on May 19-20, 2018 at the Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester, New York. Nearly 100 bonsai were displayed by members of the Bonsai Society of Upstate…
An unprompted second flush of growth on black pine
In general, we can expect black and red pines to produce a single flush of growth all year. If we remove this growth at the right time, we can expect a second flush to grow in the same calendar year. On occasion, we…
Early stage development on field-grown black pines
Working on field-grown material a few years out of the ground is some of my favorite work. The main objectives for this early stage development are to heal wounds, create the upper sections of the trunk, and develop the…
Greenwood Bonsai Studio’s 40th Anniversary Celebration
Greenwood Bonsai Studio in Nottingham, England was established in 1978 by Harry Tomlinson. After Harry’s passing his two sons, Corin and Paul are the new proprietors and have developed the garden into the oldest and…
Bonsai Development Series #7: Preparing the next sacrifice branch
I’m working on a number of five and six-year-old pines. Several look like the tree below, with vigorous growth on the top half of the tree and smaller shoots below. Five-year-old red pine – 27″ I’d like to slow down the…
An early start to the decandling season
The decandling season is starting earlier than normal for me this year. I’m looking to prepare a few trees for an exhibit in September but the pines in my garden usually grow through October and into November. By…
Transplanting A Pine Bonsai
Now that our deciduous bonsai are mostly transplanted and trimmed, its time to begin with the evergreen species. Many of the pines have been pinched, at least once and I have learned that this is the prime time to root…
Caring for recently dug pines
The first few years of growing pines from scratch can be a lot of fun. From sprouting the seeds, to making seedling cuttings, to setting the first curves of the trunk, the early years of pine development include some…