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Beginning in the late 1960s when at college on Long Island I became an active member of the Bonsai Society of Greater New York. In 1978 as a director I became editor of their quarterly magazine The Bonsai Bulletin. At that time there were three large bonsai organizations in the United States; The American Bonsai Society, Bonsai Clubs International and The Bonsai Society of Greater New York, each publishing their own magazines.

The Japanese maple below is another beautiful tree from Gene Lynch’s collection. The basics are all in place which means the next step is to continue increasing branch density through pinching and pruning.

I’ve only recently started caring for a red maple, Acer rubrum, but I’ve already been impressed by its charms. If you’re looking for a U.S. native deciduous species to experiment with, the red maple is a good place to start.

When I sat down to work on the hornbeam below, I thought about how the tree was created. The branches have a contorted appearance – so much so that I wondered if this is a contorted cultivar.

Suruga Branch of Nippon Bonsai Association

Over the past few years I’ve wrestled with a question about developing Chinese quince: how do you encourage branches to bifurcate after pruning?

As many of you have noticed, there is a large scar at the base of the trunk on my large stewartia.

For the last few years I’ve but cutting back an old stewartia when the leaves turn brown in fall. The work is similar from year to year – a common occurrence for trees in the later stages of branch refinement (see “Fall cutback on stewartia” for last year’s post).

If you’re looking for a new species develop as small bonsai, dwarf pussy willow may be a good option.

I received some good questions following the previous post about a Sierra juniper.