Home

Mid-May is when I usually begin working on my deciduous bonsai. If a tree has grown well, I’ll reduce the new shoots to 2-4 leaves and wire any branches that need adjusting.

Satsuki azaleas are beautiful when they bloom.
Cutting-grown satsuki

I generally don’t do a lot of work on new trees until I have a good idea what shape the roots are in. I’ll water, fertilize and maybe do some cutback but hold off on wiring until I know the tree is strong enough to recover from the work.

Spring is my favorite season of the year. Emerging colorful new growth and spring flowers of deciduous bonsai delight my senses and prepare me for another fresh new growing season. Also, since I HATE winter, deciduous species and maples with early growth signal the end of the long cold season.

I started working on a shohin Japanese maple about a year and a half ago. Here’s what it looked like at the end of 2016.

For young trees growing in colanders, a repot isn’t always necessary when the roots run out of space. Here’s an overview of an alternative approach in two photos.

The American Bonsai Society and the Bonsai Society of Greater St. Louis hosted Gateway to Bonsai this past weekend in Collinsville, Illinois. The event drew visitors from all over the country – and a few from outside the U.S. – who enjoyed a good selection of workshops, seminars, and demonstrations.

In general, I treat red and black pines the same. This doesn’t, however, mean that the trees respond the same to the same work.

Here’s a topic I never planned to address – protecting bonsai from hail damage.

Spring is typically a season for letting bonsai grow freely. For black pines, some of the main tasks include fertilizing and removing young pine cones.