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
Harvesting A Hefty Huckleberry
It's Huckleberry collecting time, and today I harvested a hefty one. Here it is, right out of the ground with the roots washed off. The trunk base is 2.5" above the root crown. This is about the trunk size limit for the species, as near as I can tell. I'd...
What Lies Beneath – Zag When You Gotta
The mildness of winter (so far) plus the need to get things moving for 2020 encouraged me to pot up this Water-elm. It's a nice smaller specimen, an unconventional triple-trunk. The larger ones are 3/4" thick, with the entire base 2" across. The first thing to...
The Bonsai You Only Need To Buy (Or Nab) Once
It's a winter tradition for me to do at least one post about tropical species for bonsai. Today's subject is Dwarf jade, Portulacaria afra, otherwise known as Elephant bush or Spekboom. Dwarf jade is a succulent plant that in the tropics can grow up to 15 feet...
More Collecting, A Couple More Examples
Here's a quick update for today - a balmy Deep South winter day, high 75, meaning the weather wasn't miserable for lifting trees. This triple-trunk Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, is actually a connected root specimen. The trunks are nice, with great taper,...
An Early Start On Collecting Season
I planted out some Parsley hawthorn whips a few years ago. True to the old adage, "first year sleeps, second year creeps, third year leaps," this year I've noticed a number of the specimens have put on some heft. A few have reached my minimum for lifting,...
Swamp Maple #2
I recently sold a Swamp maple I've been working on for three years. Among the very nice features of that tree was the fact that it didn't start rotting from the chop down in year three, which had been my experience over the course of many years and many trees....
More Fall Work – Water-Elm
This nice Water-elm got its first bonsai pot in late February of this year (2109). I had collected it as a bare trunk, and chopped it where you see the obvious mark. So here we are, just under 10 months later. There's been a good bit of wiring and trimming...
Bonsai Odds & Ends – Oak, Oak, Sweetgum
Here's a nice smaller Water oak I started working on last year. Water oak is quickly becoming one of my favorite species, featuring small leaves, short internodes and ease of ramification. They are very happy in a bonsai pot. This one budded fairly...
Flat-Top Bald Cypress Design Work
This flat-top Bald cypress is coming along really well for a single year of training. With that said, the design can stand some tweaking and fall is a perfect time to do it. All of the foliage will be off this tree within the next few days, so knocking some off...