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Leaf pruning Chinese wisteria
Last summer I took a conservative approach to pruning a Chinese wisteria. I shortened long runners down to five or six inches and leaf-pruned to four-to-six leaflets (see “Cutback on Chinese wisteria”...
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Cutback and leaf pruning a dwarf wisteria
I’ve been learning this year that doing the same work at a slightly different time can make a big difference. I usually thin my dwarf wisteria, Millettia japonica ‘Microphylla,’ in May, but this year...
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Slowing down sacrifice branches on black pine
When the trunk of a tree has reached the desired thickness, I evaluate the sacrifice branches to see if it makes more sense to remove them all at once or to remove them in stages. In many cases,...
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Decandling a shohin black pine
Late June through mid-July marks the end of the decandling season in my area. This means it’s time to start working on the smaller pines in my garden. The tree below is sixteen-years-old. It grew...
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Decandling young bunjin pines
A few years ago I came across a batch of slender black pine seedlings from a corkbark parent. They were wired for the first time one year ago and are now ready for decandling. Seedling from corkbark...
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Pruning and repotting an exposed root ficus
It’s been almost one year since I started caring for an exposed root Green Island ficus. I pruned the tree toward the end of summer last year and have been waiting until this year to repot it (see...
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Watering conifers
I’ve seen signs, recently, that some of trees in my garden are staying too wet. What does this look like? On pines I might see yellow at the base of the needles. On junipers, new shoots may extend too...
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Watering deciduous bonsai – part 1
The easiest way to tell if a deciduous tree needs watering is to look at the soil. For most deciduous species, I want the soil to start drying out before watering. Here’s what this looks like. Moss...
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Watering deciduous bonsai – part 2
One of the easiest ways to slow down the rate at which deciduous bonsai dry out is to apply a top dressing to the surface of the soil. A top dressing is a thin layer of soil or related material that...
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Applying a moss top dressing to satsuki azalea bonsai
The satsuki azalea community decided long ago what their preferred top dressing would be – mountain moss. Also known as yamagoke (“mountain moss” in Japanese), this moss is typically harvested in...
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Decandling a mini-size black pine
Although I’ve been growing shohin pines for years, last year I decided to try making mini-size trees around 4″-5″ tall. As most of these pines were over 12″ at decandling time, I did a lot of cutback...
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Leaf pruning Chinese wisteria – follow-up
The first time I cut back and leaf-pruned a Chinese wisteria, I was curious how it would respond to the work. I knew wisteria can grow well after mid-season cutback, but hadn’t experimented enough to...
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Pruning a field-grown trident maple
When I picked up a field-grown maple to work on a few days ago, I had no idea what the trunk and branches looked like. The tree had grown almost four feet since last year and the foliage was too dense...
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Spring tune-up on Japanese plum
I like to check every tree in the garden at least once during the growing season. For deciduous trees, I look to see if there are branches that need wiring or pruning. The tree below produced a lot of...
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Which pine species can I decandle?
Decandling is a great technique for refining selected pine species trained as bonsai. At its most basic, decandling refers to the removal of spring growth with the aim of stimulating summer growth...
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Approaches to managing new shoots on pine bonsai
Last Friday’s post resulted in fantastic feedback from readers around the world (see “What pine species can I decandle?” and the comments on this Instagram post for details). For those who...
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Notes on Aleppo pine bonsai
My experience with Aleppo pine is limited. Beyond pruning nursery stock for several years, I have yet to train one as bonsai. Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis, is a great example of a species that can be...
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When ignorance was bliss – and good for my bonsai too
There has been a lot of enthusiasm lately for the scientific side of bonsai. I’ve been a part of this, sharing stories, for example, of testing and acidifying water in an attempt to green up my...
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Bonsai Development Series #20: avoiding problems during trunk development
There are two goals when developing pre-bonsai trunks: create interesting movement, and minimize flaws. Two of the most common flaws at this stage of development are awkward or inverse taper and scars...
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Refining Yaupon holly
Over the years I’ve learned about developing Yaupon holly by doing the wrong thing (see “Developing Yaupon holly” for details). This year is no exception. For the last five-to-ten years, I’ve been...
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