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.
2024 Pacific Bonsai Expo– An Exhibition Of Extraordinary Bonsai– Part 1
The highly successful second Pacific Bonsai Expo was held on October 26-27, 2024 at the Henry J. Kaiser Center in Oakland, California. Stars of the educational event were the 74 formal bonsai compositions displayed by…
Japanese Black Pine Fall Work: GIF
In contrast to the spring Black Pine technique of decandling, the fall work is less aggressive. We end with the tree still looking full. In the fall we make shoot selections and pull old needles. The shoots are the…
Bonsai pots and the aesthetical impact
Bonsai pots have a rich history and greatly impact the bonsai practice. Both aesthetical and practical the bonsai pot makes the difference on every tree. The balance between horticultural and practicality must go hand…
Vine Maple: REVISIT
Here’s a look back at a Vine Maple clump collected in 2020, assembled on a slab in 2022, and how it looks now in 2024. With John Eads, back in the days when he was an apprentice and would agree to take two hours to…
The Toronto Bonsai Society Celebrates 60 Years Of Bonsai Education
The Toronto Bonsai Society is celebrating their 60 th Anniversary Exhibition and Sale on October 11-13, 2024, at the Toronto Botanical Garden in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Achieving 60 years is a significant milestone…
Bonsai autumn
The autumn shows colours when days get shorter and colder. For now its still a bit warm but slowly this changes. Before we can work on the deciduous when leaves drop, we can do our weekly bonsai work on another species.…
Nick Hopes bonsai interview on video
Nick Hopes is known for his bonsai pottery, and in this episode, we visit the bonsai garden and the pottery workshop in Frigiliana, Spain. We talk about inspiration, aesthetics and the bonsai life in Spain. Ready to…
The ‘Switch-Hitter’ Junipers: Two Ways of Training
Most junipers have two types of foliage, a needly foliage and a non-needly. Often these two foliage types are seen on the same plant. Other times the needly-type foliage is apparent in times of stress or when young, and…
Container Selection for Spruce Bonsai
Last week our bonsai society had a special meeting on spruce bonsai. Harvey Carapella, Marc Arpag and I presented simultaneous demonstrations, in addition to a formal display of one of our personal spruce bonsai. Harvey…
Autumn Bonsai Live Q&A Sunday
Home again after a perfect stay in Spain. Switching temperatures to about 15 degrees C makes the autumn very present. Slowly autumn colours will show and it will be time for new bonsai work to be done. But what’s the…
Shohin olive ground-layer
About a year ago I received a small olive with an unusual feature – the lower part of the trunk didn’t seem to be alive. The tree continued to grow, but slowly. An even bigger problem was that the trunk swelled a couple…
The vanishing video from last week…
As a small business owner I spend an extraordinary amount of time chasing gremlins. Eventually bloggers will write a post that, when it lands in your email inbox, looks nothing like the previews. Last week’s post Limber…
60th Anniversary Toronto Bonsai Exhibition
The Toronto Bonsai Society will soon be celebrating their 60 th Anniversary Exhibition and Sale on October 11-13, 2024, at the Toronto Botanical Garden in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Achieving 60 years is a significant…
Limber Pine: REWORK
This week’s post takes a second look at a Limber Pine first styled in 2019. With a mop of new shoots there is the potential to fully clothe the tree this time. Where we began in July 2024. Following cleanup of old…
Bending trunks. Is it possible?
Bending trunks or thick branches demands some special techniques; in this lecture, I show you how to manage that. This technique isn’t for any tree; therefore, it is shown on a species that tolerates this kind of work.…
The Magic of Puttering in the Bonsai Garden
In a rush we can still take care of the necessary, like putting on clothes. In a rush we do tend to notice the obvious things. That the home is on fire. That a flood is coming down the stairs. That our partner’s hair is…
How to judge a bonsai show – highlights from the Minnesota State Fair
Last weekend I had the opportunity to judge the Minnesota Bonsai Society’s annual show held at the state fair. An amazing crowd of 225,000 people attended the fair that day, and many of them lined up to see the bonsai…
Protected: 2024 Autumn Open House & Sale
This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:
Does Extreme Heat Create Deadwood?
After the famed heat dome in the Pacific Northwest in late June, 2021, we saw some odd things. In the forests of the Olympic Mountains, known for their mild-mannered, moisture-loving trees like Western Hemlock and…
Multiple-Tree Inspiration: Hemlock
When I first moved to Oregon I went to a famous WPA lodge on the top of Mt. Hood—our nearest active volcano—for some low-stress sightseeing. What I found on the walk around this high-elevation lodge spoke beautifully…
Developing shohin olives
In the last few years I’ve started working more with olive bonsai. Although they do best where the weather gets hot, they can grow well in mild climates too. As time goes by, I have less patience for species that don’t…
Stolen Bonsai In Japan For Sale In USA-Be Aware
We all love bonsai, to many of us it is a way of life, as we care for the trees and shape them into bonsai. Many require decades of timeless hard work which we find pleasurable as we create living art. For some time…
Juniper in the fift year
5 years after the first styling I return to this Itoigawa Juniper to bring it closer to the “final” image. progression and development is an ongoing process leading to smaller and bigger changes as the tree develops.…
The Thang Dinh Bonsai & Suiseki Collections
I had a rare surprise invitation to visit the private collections of Thang Dinh before the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition, held in Chicago, Illinois last weekend. He won the first place award in the open division at the…