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
Bonsai Odds & Ends – Water Oak and Privet
You've been following the development of this Water oak (Quercus nigra) since last year. The tree was collected in February of 2018, but failed to bud except in one spot. The obvious answer was to make bonsai lemonade out of that lemon.Here's the tree last...
Water-Elm Collecting 2019 #2
Our second Water-elm hunt of the season happened today. This is the biggest specimen that came home with us (trunk base over 3"). Here's one view of the tree before it got re-chopped top and bottom. I'm not sure which front is going to be best. What do you...
Fun Fast Bonsai Development
I love fast-developing trees. Some species and styles naturally lend themselves to rapid progress. The flat-top Bald cypress is a perfect example of this phenomenon. This specimen was collected in Winter 2019, and here's how it looked after the initial styling...
Water-Elm Collecting 2019 #1
Today began our Water-elm collecting season. Each of these trees you see has been under about 20 feet of water since winter. Now it's time for their growing season, which will only last a few months. The short growing season is why these trees, though they may...
A Specimen Water-Elm Gets Some Attention
I potted this Water-elm earlier in the season. It came home last August, and recovered very well. Since Water-elms love the summer heat, I know I can do some development work now. It's common to have to make choices as you develop your trees. In this case, I...
Bonsai Odds & Ends – Things To Come
I wasn't able to blog last week, so I'm going to try to make up for it this weekend. For a start, here's the Chinese elm forest that I'll be developing this coming year. As you can see, the growth is already lush. All that needs to happen with this specimen for...
Huckleberry #5 – Summer Work
You've been following the development of this Huckleberry bonsai-to-be for the past year or so. This is where the specimen stood just over one year ago, in July of 2018. And here it is in February of this year. I had done some carving on the trunk chops in...
Chinese Elm Forests
Can you guess what this is? Some background first. I field-grow Chinese elms for bonsai, and frankly you'd be hard-pressed to name a better overall species for bonsai. In fact, it's not hyperbole to state that Chinese elm is the single best deciduous species...
A Water-Elm Gets More Interesting
I potted up this Water-elm that we'd collected last July back in February. It's a pretty cool little twin-trunk, featuring dead wood on both trunks as well as a "flying root" on the right side. You wouldn't ordinarily want a root like that, but I thought it...