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
Trying Stuff = Getting Better At Bonsai
Unless you are strictly into bonsai as a connoisseur, meaning you collect bonsai and have a visiting or resident artist/curator maintain them for your viewing pleasure, you can't ever ever stop trying and learning stuff. Now, don't take that to mean you should learn...
Fall Color And Reflection
As the year draws to a close, it's nice to spend some time reflecting on this year's growing season and how it impacted our bonsai. Was it a good year? What new things did you learn? What surprises (good or bad) popped up? It's for sure that you never stop...
A Few Sweetgums For 2018
It's not time to dig trees yet, certainly not Sweetgums (Liquidambar styraciflua), but it's not a bad time to scout for specimens to dig when the time comes. Here are a few that I expect to lift in 2018. This one volunteered four or five years ago, and I...
I Love This Tree, It Just Keeps Getting Better
My great Riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, is finishing up year six in my care. The leaves will be off the tree soon, but just as the deciduous tree gives us different looks throughout the year I like this in-between one too. For those of you who haven't worked...
The Learning Never Stops – Here Are A Few Survivors
I do all sorts of things with trees, some good and some bad but all with the best of intentions. The ultimate goal is a great bonsai that really makes you think it's a real tree. My preference is to speed up the process as much as possible. Here are a few examples...
It’s Showtime! How To Prepare Your Tree
My local bonsai club is having its fall show this coming weekend. I've been pondering which of my trees I'd like to show, and today this one caught my eye. This, you might say, is one heck of a hornbeam. The American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, is one of...
God Bless The Ever-Reliable Crape Myrtle
Living in the Deep South has some advantages. Fall color on bonsai trees is not one of them. So imagine my surprise when I noticed this guy last evening Lovely fall color, right? Crapes tend to produce fall color down here when most other deciduous species just end...
Happy Halloween From Me And The Dragon
Today's Halloween, and Halloween is my birthday, so I took the day off and it turned out to be a perfect day to do some work on the Dragon, my super-duper Water-elm (Planera aquatica). For those of you unfamiliar with this tree, here it is in "stick" form back in...
Don’t Ignore Problems At This Time Of Year
As the growing season comes to an end, we have certain chores we do to prepare for winter. Deciduous trees are either in full color or already dropping foliage. Watering needs decline from two or three times daily to once every few days. Cold frames are getting...