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.
Spring watering tips
Spring is my favorite time of year in the garden. It’s also a rather challenging season when it comes to watering. Without checking the soil, it can be hard to tell how much water a tree needs at a glance. Take, for…
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Bonsai South News + Odds & Ends
In the next two weeks we will be launching our updated website. Cathy has created a wonderful new design, which will be much more functional and easier for you to Continue Reading →
Hawthorn Gets New Home. Nice!
If you’ve spent any time browsing through our site, you’ve seen my awesome Riverflat hawthorn (Crataegus opaca). After several years, this tree is really well developed and frankly is one Continue Reading →
How To Fix Problems When They Happen (For They Will)
As you know by now, we had an unexpectedly cold winter that included two snowfalls that accumulated (inches, which for us is unheard of) and temps of 15F on three Continue Reading →
Spring Work – Potting And Repotting
The beat goes on. As I mentioned yesterday, spring is the time when you need to do all sorts of things all at once. One of those things is potting. Continue Reading →
Spring Work – Parsley Hawthorn
Spring is upon us, and that means a lot of things need to happen all at once and quickly. This includes developmental work on trees collected in prior years. The Continue Reading →
Collecting Season Ends – Got Some Nice Cedar Elms
Spring has come very early to the Deep South. Things are blooming and budding. Yesterday Cathy and I were able to collect some Cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolia), and I think Continue Reading →
Hackberry Collecting Goes Well – Weather Sucked
So we left home on Friday around noon to travel to North Mississippi, where I was meeting up with a friend to go Hackberry (Celtis laevigata) collecting. It was almost Continue Reading →
For All You Timid Root-Pruners Out There
I regularly cause a lot of anxiety by how drastically I root-prune newly collected trees. To be sure, it takes some courage to start really chopping on your deciduous trees Continue Reading →
I’m Seeing BC Buds!
This winter has been pretty awful. In addition to being colder than usual, it’s also been wetter than usual. That does not make for a pleasant time. Just over the Continue Reading →
Bonsai Development Series #6: Sacrifice branch basics
Few trees in my garden better demonstrate the use of sacrifice branches than the pine below. Black pine – six-years-old from seedling-cutting The large branch that grows up and to the right is the sacrifice branch. The…
Alternative approach to creating shohin pine bonsai
I’ve been following the same approach to creating pine bonsai for the past few years now. It’s time for a change! I outlined the basic approach for starting informal upright pines five years ago (see “ Wiring 3-year-old…
REPAIRING RODENT DAMAGED BONSAI
Although Spring is officially here, we are still experiencing 21F nighttime temperatures with snow of course. Our bonsai think its Spring and have begun to grow, especially maples. These must be carefully maintained now…
Repotting a Jeffrey Pine
One of the newest trees in my garden is a Jeffrey pine. Jeffrey Pine Jeffrey pines are high-altitude trees native to California. Like the Ponderosa pine, the needles grow in sets of three. Jeffrey pine needle-bundle…
Bonsai Development Series #5: Selecting a new trunk line
One of my fourteen-year-old pines is a lot bigger than the others. Beyond some selective pruning the last few years, I’ve mostly let the tree grow freely. This year, it’s time to select a branch to continue the trunk…
Bonsai Development Series #4: Removing the sacrifice branch
The basic idea of sacrifice branches is a simple one: develop sacrifice branches in order to thicken the trunk and then remove them when the trunk reaches the desired thickness. The application of this idea is where…
Where do roots like to grow? A look inside the pot
For as important as roots are to healthy bonsai, we don’t often get a good look at how they grow in the pot. Few containers offer a view at what’s going on inside and we often disturb the roots with sickles or chop…
A quick tip for maintaining Korean hornbeam bonsai
Korean hornbeams typically produce lots of back buds. For the most part, this is a good thing as the prevalence of buds helps hornbeam bonsai develop quickly. Korean hornbeam Not all buds, however, are useful for the…
GardenScape 2018
GardenScape 2018 is the annual flower and garden show in Rochester, New York, which runs from March 8-11, 2018. It is held at the newly remodeled dome in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester. Top landscape…
Removing flower buds from satsuki azaleas
Removing the flower buds from satsuki azalea bonsai is a common technique for getting a tree to focus on producing new growth instead of flowering. Satsuki azalea – Momoka Although I’d love to enjoy the tree’s flowers…
Preventing air pockets under the trunk – repotting satsuki azalea
Air pockets in the rootball, we are often told, lead to dead roots which can cause further dieback on roots or branches. It stands to reason – roots exposed to the air will not fare well on varieties like satsuki. The…
Creating A Chinese Quince Forest
Currently I’m conducting my 40 th annual lecture tour in the Southeast United States. Today I’m helping my friend and photographer Joe Noga in Winterville, North Carolina, with his fine bonsai collection. Joe likes…
Repotting bare-root satsuki azaleas
For most varieties of bonsai, there are many approaches to repotting. Soil mixes, timing, and the number and selection of roots to be cut can vary widely depending on who is doing the work. When it comes to azaleas,…