The most consistent fall color in my garden each year can be found on a red maple forest planting that was started by a friend’s father back in the early 80s.
Once most of the leaves turn color, I remove them all and do fall pruning. Here’s the tree before I removed the leaves.
Red maple forest
And here’s the tree after removing the leaves.
After removing leaves
Once I could see the branch structure, I reduced long branches, crossing branches, and branches that extended beyond the desired silhouette. I also added a few guy wires to reposition a few of the trunks.
After pruning and repositioning the trunks
If you’d like to following along as I do this work (including plucking all of the leaves), check out the video.
News & Updates
- Spots are still available for the Shohin School’s Winter Seminar on January 27-8 in Milwaukie, Oregon. Learn more here.
- We’ve received this year’s shipment of soil for the upcoming repotting season. You can shop for akadama, kanuma, and pumice (which will be back in stock soon!) here. (Learn more about wholesale orders.)
- Are you looking for a new home for any of your show-quality medium-sized bonsai? I’m on the lookout for a few clients so feel free to write if you know of any leads from Portland to Los Angeles.