Watch Me Wire The Big BC – It’s Progress!
Last week I defoliated this very large Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). Not surprisingly, the tree is already showing new buds. The wiring needed to be done now! Here's the step by step work I did on this tree. When you defoliate any tree, it gives you the...
Have You Ever Defoliated A BC? Here’s How To Do It
If you grow or plan to grow Bald cypress bonsai, it's vital that you learn an indispensable development technique - defoliation. It may sound challenging at first blush, but it's one of the easiest and most beneficial techniques you'll ever use in growing bonsai....
Designing A Bald Cypress Pairing – Next Step
In early March I created this bald cypress pairing. On the 31st here's what it looked like. Not so impressive. But from humble beginnings.... A month later, the trees had responded like bald cypress responds, and I was able to get the initial styling mostly done. ...
Spring Work – Potting And Repotting
The beat goes on. As I mentioned yesterday, spring is the time when you need to do all sorts of things all at once. One of those things is potting. Another, related, is repotting. Here are today's subjects. Here's my Chinese elm, Ulmus parvifolia, that you can...
For All You Timid Root-Pruners Out There
I regularly cause a lot of anxiety by how drastically I root-prune newly collected trees. To be sure, it takes some courage to start really chopping on your deciduous trees the way they need to be, but once you figure out they don't mind it does get a lot easier....
I’m Seeing BC Buds!
This winter has been pretty awful. In addition to being colder than usual, it's also been wetter than usual. That does not make for a pleasant time. Just over the past few days we've seen temperatures moderate a bit - and by that I mean it gets into the 60s during...
February Sucks, Styling Helps
Every August I think August is the suckiest month, then along comes February and I remember there are worse things than killer heat and humidity. To help make February less sucky, there is some work that needs doing on trees being developed. If you have some...
More Great BC Material – Collecting Trip 3
The weather was dodgy today, meaning we had a torrential downpour all across South Louisiana. We did have the good fortune to be able to collect a few nice trees before the sky really opened up, however. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of how we did. This...
I’d Like Your Opinion On This
After posting yesterday's blog, a reader commented that I should include a standard reference object in order to make it easier to gauge the size of certain trees. Here's a photo of the really big two-tree Bald cypress specimen I showed you yesterday: I've never done...
Great Bald Cypress Material – Collecting Trip 2
So, four days ago we had a couple of inches of snow here, and temperatures around 15°F for a couple of nights. Today it was 60°. That could only mean one thing: go collect more Bald cypress! Here's today's haul. I focused on larger specimens today, which means I...