The Bonsai Files
Your free access to general and how-to articles, The Bonsai Files. Detailed and filled with bonsai pictures, Zach shows you step-by-step how he designs bonsai and provides before, during, and after images.
The Bonsai Files
Fun With Dogwoods
fun with dogwoodsSneak PeakDogwood (Cornus) is one of those species that just about anyone you ask would say they'd love to have one. Yet they're uncommon as bonsai. The Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, is a Southern icon. Yet as bonsai they're hard to come by...
Haircut Time For Water-elms
haircut time for water-elmsSneak PeakI've written about shearing bonsai during their development - a procedure now popularized as "hedge-pruning." I recently pulled a few Water-elms that had grown enough to need a haircut. See how that went below.Haircut Time For...
Rulebreaking 101 – Red Mulberry
rulebreaking 101 - red mulberrySneak PeakRules are made to be broken, right? Yes and no. When you break a rule of art, what you end up with had better be a lot better than if you'd stuck with the rule. In bonsai it's not any different ....Rulebreaking 101 - Red...
BC Forest – Would You?
bc forest - would you?Sneak PeakIt's common to have to redesign bonsai over time. A branch dies; you find a better front; and in the case of established forest plantings you lose trees, which have to be replaced. Here's one of those cases, and what I'm thinking of...
Sweetgum Progression
sweetgum Progression Carousel Sweetgum INSTRUCTIONS: The image has an arrow on both the right and left side. Click the arrow on the right ( > ) to go forward and see the next image(s) in the progression. Click the arrow on the left ( < ) to...
Huckleberry #5 Progression
Zach's Personal Collection huckleberry #5Zach's Personal Collection Progression Carousel Huckleberry #5 INSTRUCTIONS: The image has an arrow on both the right and left side. Click the arrow on the right ( > ) to go forward and see the next image(s) in the...
Willow Oak Progression
Zach's Personal Collection willow oakProgression Carousel Willow Oak INSTRUCTIONS: The image has an arrow on both the right and left side. Click the arrow on the right ( > ) to go forward and see the next image(s) in the progression. Click the arrow on the...
Zach’s Collection
zach's personal collectionread all about it progressionsClick on one of the green buttons to see complete progression documentation.Read About the Bonsai in Zach's Collection bald cypressRead About the Bonsai in Zach's Collection huckleberryRead About the Bonsai in...
Maple Sunday
maple sundaySneak PeakThe maples are going gangbusters right now. Some have been cut back a couple of times already. This sort of rapid growth is not only common, but essential with collected trees that are in the recovery process. The faster the recovery growth,...