Mid-Michigan Bonsai Message Corner

July 17th, 2025 - BYOT (Bring Your Own Tree) - Foster Community Center Room 109

This is an opportunity to further work on your bonsai, kusamono and accent plants in preparation for the MMBC August Show at Van Attas.  Get advice and recommendations on how to further develop your bonsai.

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.

The vanishing video from last week…

As a small business owner I spend an extraordinary amount of time chasing gremlins.

60th Anniversary Toronto Bonsai Exhibition

The Toronto Bonsai Society will soon be celebrating their 60th 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 that few other bonsai organizations have established a bonsai community yet.

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.

Bending trunks. Is it possible?

Bending trunks or thick branches demands some special techniques; in this lecture, I show you how to manage that.

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 now magenta, not green.

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 on display, a club tradition dating back to 1975.

Protected: 2024 Autumn Open House & Sale

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Does Extreme Heat Create Deadwood?

After the famed heat dome in the Pacific Northwest in late June, 2021, we saw some odd things.

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 about how to design multiple-tree bonsai.