Need More Bench Space
Bonsai South is growing. I already knew it, but it really came home to me when I ran out of bench space last week. I like for all of my trees in pots to be off the ground, even the pre-bonsai that will end up going out as raw material. With last week's bald cypress...
Bald Cypress Bonsai – Natural Companions
When I'm searching for trees to collect, I always look for certain characteristics of the trunks in order to determine if they're worth lifting. While there's definitely a bonsai in each one I collect, I generally don't visualize the finished bonsai in making that...
Bald Cypress Time
Today I was finally able to start the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) collecting season. The weather was cool and dry, meaning ideal; the material was plentiful. In fact, I pretty much stopped collecting when I ran out of charged battery packs - which was for the...
Potting A Bald Cypress
I last showed you this bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, when I did the initial styling on it a couple of months ago. It grew very well in 2015, after being collected in February of that same year. I decided the tree was ready for its first bonsai pot this year. ...
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
One of the most useful - and underutilized - tools we have as bonsai artists is the camera. While it's gotten pretty common in this age of smart phones to take photos of our trees, how often do we use the results to help us with our styling? I've made a conscious...
Remembering A Good Bonsai Friend
I first met Allen Gautreau ("Go Tro" - it's one of those Cajun names) in 1986, when my rekindled interest in bonsai had me seeking out local enthusiasts. He was new to the art, as was I. While I don't recall that many details of our early encounters, I know we went...
Labor Day Sale – Fall Approaching
We've just about reached the last gasp of growth for 2015. Summer always takes a toll, sometimes more sometimes less. But our main goal is to endure, and prepare our trees for the coming dormancy while anticipating 2016. I've put everything on sale for Labor Day,...
More August Bonsai Fun
This bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, was one of the last two BC I collected this past February to bud out in spring. Unsurprisingly, the growth was sluggish throughout spring and into the first part of summer. It didn't bud as prolifically as BC usually do, but it...
The Basics Of Bonsai Design – Part 2
In Part 1 of this article, we briefly explored the concept of artistic design first as it may be expressed by the landscape artist, and then expanded that same concept to bonsai design. In bonsai, our goal is to make a small tree look like a much larger and older...
Bald Cypress – Last Edits For 2015
Here's where we left off with this bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, a couple of weeks ago. I had made mention of the fact that defoliating a healthy bald cypress in early July leads to a new flush of fresh growth within two or three weeks. It's common for BC to get...