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
Those Devilish Details – How To Make Your Trees Better
You may remember this American elm, Ulmus americana, from a couple of months ago. I lifted it and put it directly into this neat funky Chuck Iker rectangle. It dutifully threw new shoots, and I wired an initial design. So far, so good. Here we are this morning. ...
One Of The Big Trees I’m Keeping, An Awesome Bald Cypress
In keeping with the weekend's theme, I wanted to update you on one of the big trees I'm keeping, an awesome Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). The last time I blogged on this one was in July. July is Bald cypress defoliation season. If your tree is in good...
Just This One Last Big Tree … I Think
A couple of weeks ago I measured the height of stupidity at 25 feet, because I collected this massive Sycamore that had to be chopped down from that height. At the time I observed that getting older means working with fewer really massive trees. They really are...
How A Few Trees Will Get A Lot Better In 2018
It's a safe bet to say we spend most of our time in the pursuit of bonsai looking toward the future. Why? Well, with the exception of the perfect or "finished" bonsai on our benches, everything's a work in progress. So we look ahead to what we're going to do today...
Small Change, Big Impact – And How To Hurry A Tree Along
I've been having a great time this year with Cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolia). I slip-potted this one last month, as part of my bound-and-determined campaign to develop this tree into a bonsai as quickly as I can. This is something I started doing almost 30 years ago,...
This Crape Is Superb – How Did I Do On The Initial Styling?
I recently acquired a couple of Crape myrtles, Lagerstoemia indica, from a grower, this one and a Pokomoke I'm planning to keep for myself. The only thing I've done to this specimen since I got it was to take off a large leader in back of the tree (you'll see where a...
You Can’t Fix Stupid, But I Found Out You Can Measure It
I posted a couple of blogs earlier this year about the stately Sycamore (aka Plane tree), Platanus occidentalis. As I said at the time, I've never worked with the species before as it just has these huge leaves and doesn't look all that inclined to produce much in...
How To Do A Successful Slip-Potting
Sooner or later you'll encounter a situation where you'll need (or really want) to move a tree from a nursery container to a bonsai container out of season. This can be done with a very high success rate, provided you bear in mind a few key principles. In this post...
What A Nice Surprise This Ficus Gave Me!
Last year I began to get more interested in some tropical species, among which was Green island ficus, Ficus microcarpa. This year I've been working on stock for the future, along with getting a jump-start on some offerings. I had bought a few larger specimens of...