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Last weekend the East Bay Bonsai Society hosted their 58th Annual Show at Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California. The event featured a mix of conventional displays along with a few less-traditional set-ups.

Here’s a simple guide for determining when to prune deciduous trees in fall: prune when foliage shows fall color but before the leaves drop.

 
This afternoon I had another Open Workshop for my advance students to style and refine their bonsai. There were a few interesting bonsai which were brought into the studio.

I’ve been working on a batch of plums for the last few years. I prune them every six months – once in spring, and once in fall.

The basic steps of branch development on coast live oak are simple: stimulate new shoots, shape the shoots with wire, cut back to two or three buds in fall.

Bonsai | Penjing: The Collections of the Montréal Botanical Garden by Danielle Ouellet. $71.95 in hardcover from Goose Lane Editions. 276 pages.

Elandan Gardens is a beautiful and unique six acre natural oasis featuring the bonsai artistry of Dan Robinson. The garden opened in 1993 in Bremerton, Washington which is a short distance from Seattle. This is an excellent location to appreciate the art of bonsai pioneer Dan Robinson who introduced power tools to the bonsai world. Dan’s bonsai are truly unique, and clearly show the respect he has for old, ancient trees surviving the elements of nature. Dead tree trunks, an and snags are prominently displayed with the bonsai as well as interesting stones. He enjoys explaining how and when he collected his world class bonsai revealing secrets of nature one might miss when casually seeing the trees. Most of his bonsai include signs which explain the history and other interesting facts about the trees.