Thank You For A Great 2016 – This Year Will Be Even Better
Happy New Year to all of you! And many thanks to all of you who helped Bonsai South grow in 2016. We've been doing better each and every year since I relaunched the business in 2010, and I'm happy to report that 2017 looks like it will be another record-setting year....
Big Cypress Gets Worked On Today – Planning For Next Year
It's been a while since I updated the development of my big Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum. This is year two following collection in Winter 2015. Here's a photo of the tree in February of last year, just when it was pushing its first buds. ...
Sunday Bonsai Fun – A Little Fall, And Bleaching The BC
The weekend's almost over. I spent a good bit of time yesterday and today cleaning benches and reorganizing my trees. We seldom get fall color around here, which I guess is the price you pay for not having excessively cold weather each winter (*brrr*), but here's...
Some Real Good Bonsai Lemonade – How To Do It Right
In keeping with my fun series on making great bonsai out of less-than-great starting material, I wanted to show you what you too can do with a little time and a good plan of action. Because I tend to send my initial efforts at making bonsai lemonade to other artists...
How To Make Bonsai Lemonade – Part 2 Of Part 5
Last weekend we made a promising future Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) bonsai from a piece of material that did not come through the collecting process intact. I'm a big proponent of not wasting material, and the fact is a lot of great bonsai come from...
How To Make Bonsai Lemonade – Part 5
A few weeks ago I posted a blog about a Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, that I collected in 2015 and that failed to bud all the way up the trunk. I have a couple of others hanging around that I had been planning to make something of. Today it was time to work on...
A Forest For Next Year – And How To Make A Sure-Fire Design
I love forest plantings. With that said, I've seen countless poor forest plantings, and it's all due to poor design. So how do you ensure that your design will pass muster? Is there a formula? Actually, there is. Here's a bald cypress forest I assembled today...
How To Make Bonsai Lemonade – Part 1 Of Part 4
By now you know that I hate to give up on trees that didn't go where they were supposed to when I first brought them home. Not that I never literally chuck out a piece of material, but if there's something work salvaging I keep it on the bench or in a corner waiting...
Child Of The Champ – And What’s Wrong With This Picture?
In the fall of 2010, I made a visit to the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is 17 miles from my home, to see the National Champion Bald Cypress. Here's a photo I took of the tree: This massive tree, reputedly the largest of any species east of the Sierra...
The Natural Companions Are Happy, Plus A Couple More Bonsai
These two bald cypresses came out of the swamp together, having grown for some time as natural companions. I could see a two tree flat-top pairing right off the bat. Knowing I could create the entire crown of each tree in a bonsai pot, I went ahead and put the pair...