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Not long after my deciduous bonsai leaf out, I start thinking about when the perfect time would be to prune and partially defoliate them. In general, the more dense the branches, the earlier in the season I do the work.

Some of you may remember Jarryd Bailey here on the blog, who came to study at Crataegus Bonsai a few years back. He lives in Tasmania, which is about as far south as you can go before you run out of Eucalypts and are into the pterodroma petrels sailing over the cooling ocean.

Last weekend the San Diego Bonsai Club held their 60th anniversary celebration. The event was held at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park, home to the Bonsai Pavilion, a beautiful garden and bonsai collection built and maintained by volunteers in the club.

The Michigan All-State Bonsai Show took place on May 10-11, 2025, at Majier Gardens and Sculpture Garden in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

On request I  have written a post about the outdoor Tokonoma created a few years ago

One consequence of writing a book about bonsai is that I’ve really started to take some of the lessons to heart.

In typical David DeGroot humility, he says of his Japanese Black Pine raft, “Like many of my trees, it has gone through occasional work or restyling followed by long periods of neglect, so it is much younger in its development than its physical age would suggest.”

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum
Kyuka-en Bonsai Garden– Yukio Murata