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.
Great Bald Cypress Material – Collecting Trip 2
So, four days ago we had a couple of inches of snow here, and temperatures around 15°F for a couple of nights. Today it was 60°. That could only mean Continue Reading →
The 2018 Bonsai South Survey Results
Thanks to everyone who responded to our 2018 Bonsai South survey. The response was very good, and we learned a lot. Here are the results. Q1: Do you plan to Continue Reading →
More Collected BC Fun – Hard Chops And Small Stars
I often get questions about chopping the roots of collected trees, and it seems the question most often asked is, “If you chop the roots back that far, will the Continue Reading →
The 2018 Bald Cypress Harvest, Part 1
Special note to our BC wish list subscribers: once the BC we collect this year start budding, I’ll begin sending out advance photos of candidates per your requests. For anyone Continue Reading →
Fascinating Facts About 10 Bonsai Species
There’s not much growing at this time of year, so I got to pondering some fascinating facts about 10 of the species I grow as bonsai. Here they are, more Continue Reading →
The 2018 Bonsai South Survey
I thought it was about time to post another survey. Bonsai South is growing rapidly, and I want to make sure we’re providing the products and services you’re most interested Continue Reading →
The Harvest Is Underway
With the new year only nine days away, and with some time to spare today (after wrapping Cathy’s Christmas present), I decided to lift a few trees and get a Continue Reading →
Getting Ready For 2018
Now that winter has set in, it’s time to begin working on the 2018 growing season. The “official” collecting season begins on January 1 and goes through about March. Sometimes Continue Reading →
Winter Work – Design Evaluation
We tend to hunker down in winter, since our bonsai aren’t growing and the weather is often miserable. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make progress with our bonsai. In Continue Reading →
Trying Stuff = Getting Better At Bonsai
Unless you are strictly into bonsai as a connoisseur, meaning you collect bonsai and have a visiting or resident artist/curator maintain them for your viewing pleasure, you can’t ever ever Continue Reading →
Reducing the trunk to improve a cork oak bonsai
One of the first cork oaks I started working on has developed quickly. I let a couple of sacrifice branches grow freely and they have now adequately thickened the branch that will become the new leader. It’s time to…
Initial work on a cork oak bonsai
I recently picked up a field grown cork oak with some nice movement in the trunk. There are, however, few usable branches at this point. Field grown cork oak As I’d like to encourage new branches to grow from the trunk,…
Bonsai Development Series #3: Evaluating field grown material
There’s a lot to try to keep in mind when shopping for field grown material. It can be easy to focus on the lower part of the trunk and think, “This looks nice, I can fix the rest later.” The fix may not, however,…
Double decker air layer on cryptomeria
I’ve always been curious about whether a double air layer could be used to produce three trees at once. Knowing that cryptomeria bonsai layer well, I thought I’d give it a try. Double decker air layer One challenge I…
Redirecting growth on an 8 year-old black pine
I recently picked up an eight year-old black pine growing in an Anderson flat. It had grown in the ground for several years and had been in the flat for the last one to two years. 8 year-old black pine As you can see…
Refining Korean hornbeam follow-up – thinning branches
I received some fantastic suggestions last week, both in the comments and in my inbox, about how to improve a refined Korean hornbeam. I’ll respond below, but first, here’s the tree as it looked last week for reference.…
What next? Refining a Korean hornbeam
Below is a photo of my Korean hornbeam after removing the leaves. Korean hornbeam Although I’ve shown the tree a number of times and it’s been in training for more than 10 years, I’d like to continue to make…
An approach to organizing a bonsai garden
I often spend time organizing the garden toward the end of the year. I’ve found it’s far easier to keep trees healthy when growing similar varieties under similar conditions. For trees in development, I organize by…
From landscape tree to bonsai part 5
Six years ago, I started working on a large Japanese black pine that had been developed as landscape material. Japanese black pine – 2012 Over the years I reduced the tree to a single cascading branch (for the full…
Wiring and repotting crabapple seedlings
Two years ago I started a number of crabapple from seed. They’re do for some wiring. Two year-old crabapple seedlings The variety, Malus sieboldii , or zumi, must like it cold because they have yet to lose more than a…
Refining a young exposed root black pine
One of my favorite techniques for developing exposed root pines is bending the roots. To recap some of this work done last year, here are before and after photos on a 13 year-old pine. Before bending the roots After…
Cutback on root over rock trident maple
I recently cut back a root over rock trident maple during a live Q&A for Bonsai Empire. Here’s the tree before I got started. Before cutback And here it is after removing the leaves and cutting back the branches. Front…
Showing accent plants at their best – wood slabs by Austin Heitzman
Last month, the Bonsai Society of San Francisco invited stand maker Austin Heitzman to talk about his craft. Club members learned about Austin’s design process, the materials that give form to his designs, and the…
2017 5th Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo Awards
On Sunday morning after my educational constructive critique, I announced the award winners. It was a difficult job as there were so many excellent bonsai. Last year there was an award for Fruiting Bonsai, however only…