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Last year I wired and repotted a group of crabapples from 2″ pots to 4″ pots. As the shapes of the lower trunks are set, the goal this year is to thicken the trunks. To facilitate this, I’ve left last year’s sacrifice branches in place and moved the trees into one gallon cans.

Instead of sharing photos of the different pots I tried out for a Western juniper, I thought I’d cut to the chase and show the final selection.

Two years ago a coast live oak I’d been fond of for many years came into my collection.

It didn’t take long for new buds to appear after dramatically pruning some coast live oaks last month (see Oaks for details). Here’s a photo of new bud development ten days after cutback.

 
GardenScape 2019 is the annual flower and garden show in Rochester, New York, which runs from March 14-17, 2019. It is held at the newly remodeled dome in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester only five miles from my garden. Landscape companies from around the area transformed the Dome, over one acre in size into a living garden paradise. GardenScape showcases the most unique designs, display, plants and products for the attendees.

Not all sacrifice branches need to be big. Small sacrifice branches are a good way to thicken the trunk and close wounds on trees even when most of the branch work is complete. Here’s an example.

After removing a large branch, you might find that the callus doesn’t form evenly around the wound. The best way to fix this is to reopen the wound. Here’s an example of a wound created one year ago after removing a large branch on a black pine.

The basic approach to developing material for bonsai is to first create the trunk and then focus on the branches. In between these two stages, it’s common to split the focus between the trunk and the branches.

I sometimes come across satsuki azaleas of unknown varieties. Although it’s nice to know what the flowers will look like, it can be fun to wait and see what colors show up in spring when the tree blooms.

Here’s an example of an exposed root azalea that has been bare-rooted.