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Spring is my favorite time of year in the garden. It’s also a rather challenging season when it comes to watering.

Few trees in my garden better demonstrate the use of sacrifice branches than the pine below.

I’ve been following the same approach to creating pine bonsai for the past few years now. It’s time for a change!

Although Spring is officially here, we are still experiencing 21F nighttime temperatures with snow of course. Our bonsai think its Spring and have begun to grow, especially maples. These must be carefully maintained now in order not to lose an entire year’s growth. This is a topic for a future blog post, “dancing with bonsai.”

One of the newest trees in my garden is a Jeffrey pine.

One of my fourteen-year-old pines is a lot bigger than the others. Beyond some selective pruning the last few years, I’ve mostly let the tree grow freely. This year, it’s time to select a branch to continue the trunk line.

The basic idea of sacrifice branches is a simple one: develop sacrifice branches in order to thicken the trunk and then remove them when the trunk reaches the desired thickness.