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
Water-Elm #35
Planera aquatica Collect date: 8/4/18 Trunk base: 3" Height to highest chop point: 18" Estimated age: 45 years Estimated release date: 4/15/20Water-elm #35 Video #1
The Bonsai South Collection – A Preview Of What’s To Come
Recently I emailed you with news about the changes coming to Bonsai South, and specifically mentioned the Bonsai South Collection. In this post, I want to give you a preview of what's to come when work on the collection begins in earnest. Perhaps the biggest change...
Water-Elm Collecting Trip 6 – Show And Tell
Today our Water-elm collecting season for 2018 came to a close. We got a few more really nice specimens. Check 'em out below. Here's a very nice single-trunk specimen featuring great trunk movement and taper. The base is 2.5" and it's 16" to the chop. Here's the...
Water-Elm Collecting Trip 5
The Water-elm collecting season is winding down. Here are a few specimens from yesterday's trip. Here's a nice single-trunk specimen with great movement, character and taper. There are two natural uros from this front view. I'm looking forward to styling this tree....
Water-Elm Collecting Trip 4
Here are some more wonderful specimens I'll be working on in the future. Here's a terrific clump style with a 3" base. I was simplifying it (it was a real thick bush), and pretty much stopped when I got to this point. Are all of the trunks suited to the final...
Water-Elm Collecting Trip 3
Today we got an earlier start so we could beat the heat. We also benefited from cloud cover during most of the lifting. The results would have been just as good, but it's always nice when you don't have to suffer so much. Let's start off with this clump-style...
Big Bonsai Are Impressive – Check Out These Water-Elms
Say what you want, there's just no denying that big bonsai are very impressive - provided, of course, that you start with great material and train it right. Recently the old longing has returned. A few decades ago, I set out collecting what Cathy calls "giant...
A Quick Dragon Update
This photo shows where we left off with my water-elm "Dragon" last fall. It had grown out very strong following the initial styling, unwiring and then trimming judiciously. Since this photo was taken in October, the tree didn't grow much more prior to...
The Heat Was Miserable; The Water-Elms Were Great
As many of you know, I collect Water-elms (Planera aquatica) in the heat of summer. I've collected some in late winter, but the trees seem to respond better to summer collecting. The big problem with summer collecting, of course, is the heat. Yesterday the heat...