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 – Some Evening Shots
I took a few minutes this evening to do some quick trimming on a couple of trees, including this Chinese elm. Most of you are familiar with this specimen. It continues to fill out and get nicer. I liked the lighting as the sun was going down, so took the...
A Water-Elm Gets Styled
I love designing bonsai, and I especially love working with species that grow quickly and can be brought to a high degree of development in just a year or two. This Water-elm, Planera aquatica, came home in August of 2018. It recovered quickly, and this spring...
If You Don’t Have An American Elm Bonsai, You Should
I collected this American elm, Ulmus Americana, in May of 2018. It's not a bad piece of material. The trunk base is 2" in diameter, and I chopped it at 16". It didn't take long for buds to show up all over the trunk.Within two months I was wiring like...
Saturday Evening Elms, Then And Now
This is my earliest photo of what has become a rather nice Chinese elm bonsai. Isn't it pathetic! The photo dates back to August of 2014. Never forget the old adage, "from humble beginnings."Five years later, using tried and true bonsai development...
Chinese Privet Initial Styling
I potted this Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, into this nice Chuck Iker pot earlier in the season. I had had the specimen for a few years, but neglected it, but for those of you who know privet you understand that it didn't really affect the tree that...
Making A Small Cedar Elm Bonsai
This small Cedar elm, Ulmus crassifolia, was collected in 2018 and is the last of three I had in the pot (they went on to their own pots last year). I love the nice natural shape this tree exhibits. If you look closely you can see the spot about halfway up...
There’s Design, And Then There’s Re-Design
If you grow bonsai for any length of time, it's almost a given that you will be compelled to re-design some of them along the way. Stuff just happens to our bonsai. Maybe a storm comes through and something large falls and breaks off a branch. Maybe insects...
Bonsai Odd & Ends: Making Soil & Potting Water-Elm #40
I'm often asked about the soil I use for my bonsai. Here's a short blog about how I do it. There are countless formulas for bonsai soil, and the subject is one of the most hotly debated out there. My advice: find out what works for you. Here's what works...
New Bonsai Coming – Crape & Hawthorn
I lifted this ground-grown Crape myrtle specimen last summer. From a bare trunk it grew shoots very quickly, and I was able to wire the complete structure in the same season.This is the same tree, nine months later. It's got a nice structure and the leader is...