Summer Ficus Work
As I have worked on my ficus bonsai this summer, I have been considering a question. Who do we learn from? For a number of years I felt pretty good about learning about how to care for tropicals from...
View ArticlePopping the Cork on Spring 2022
Today I popped the cork on spring work. Among other garden and bonsai work, I repotted a couple of trees. It has begun. Bonsai folks — especially bonsai professionals — will talk about the work that...
View ArticleGround Boxes, 2 Year Follow Up
Experiments are slow in bonsai. I still have a lot of questions and a lot to learn about what I am calling ‘Ground Boxes.’ You can read my first post on this topic HERE. For those who want the short...
View ArticleBonsai Hack
So I dug up a privet from my yard last year and put it in a wooden box to recover. It did great, and now I’d like to put a little movement into the young branches before they are too thick to bend....
View ArticleHidden Problems
For all the content out there about bonsai, we continue to have limited access to information about root work. Let’s call it poetic irony that the unseen content aligns with the unseen part of our...
View ArticleLearning About Display
I am just starting to learn about formal display of bonsai. Let me share some things I’ve learned. My display at the 2022 PBA Festival I should probably start by qualifying two parts of the opening...
View ArticleStepping Back and Moving Forward
It has been an honor to serve as president of the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society (NVBS) for the past 5 years. I didn’t plan to serve in the role this long but there was a bit of a disruption in...
View ArticleStaying Warm in Unusual Cold
I live in Northern Virginia on the cusp of USDA plant hardiness zones 7a and 7b which means I can get annual extreme minimum temperatures between 0 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit. We just had a very cold...
View ArticleAdding Insult
We all make mistakes, though it might be argued that the masters among us make mistakes less often than the rest of us. Here’s a faux pas I recently committed that should remind you how much “Bonsai...
View ArticleGetting Started with Bonsai
So, you’ve discovered bonsai and think, “this is something I could really get into!” Now what? Anyone who practices bonsai for long will be able to tell you this art form involves a lifetime (or more)...
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