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
A Few New Bonsai I’m Working On
I collected this Parsley hawthorn, Crataegus marshallii, in February. Though it was a decent piece of material, I knew there were quite a few years ahead of it in order for it to become a presentable bonsai. Then a thought occurred to me. That nice slender trunk...
Getting A Leg Up On A Bald Cypress Bonsai
I often try to get a leg up on developing bonsai. I typically do this by selecting trees I've collected that don't need any trunk development, or at most only minimal development. What does this mean? If you collect a tree and chop the trunk, and at the point of...
What About That Perfect Crape Myrtle Plan? It’s Awesome
Remember how earlier this year I repotted and worked on this legacy Crape myrtle, Lagerstoemia indica, that my friend Allen Gautreau bequeathed me? The large branch in the tree's crown had grown too thick over the years, and needed to be removed. At the time I...
The From-Scratch Design: How To Control Details
As you know by now, I more often than not collect deciduous tree trunks. Though I seek good size, movement and taper, I seldom come home with a branch structure. But that's okay. That just means I have complete control over the branch structure and can tailor it to...
One Way To Better Bonsai – Draw A Picture Of What You Want
Here's a nice little Sweetgum bonsai, Liquidambar styraciflua, that I potted up a few weeks ago. I'd been growing it for a couple of years prior, liked the base, and it struck me that I might just have a decent broom-style specimen in this tree. So I chopped the...
Impressive And Unusual Bonsai-To-Be: Dragon, Grape, More Sycamore
"Dragon" the Water-elm put on a lot of growth last year, as you can see in this photo where I can't get it all in the frame. I left it to grow without any restraint last year because the branches need to gain heft. But there does come a point where you have to...
Bald Cypress Design Work: How To Maintain That All-Important Silhouette
You've been following along as I've worked on this Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, starting from a nice stick collected this past winter. The initial work was done a couple of months ago, when the new shoots had hardened off enough to allow for wiring without...
Rip Van Winkle Wakes Up – How To Know When They’re Really Dead
You may remember my wonderful Willow oak, Quercus phellos, from this photo I took last fall. I repotted it last spring, and cut back the lowest right branch hard to improve it, and from there just did some light pinching and pruning through the growing season. This...
Ground Growing For Size – How To Make Them Fatter Faster
I posted this photo last December of a Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) I had been growing in the ground for a few years. The tree started out as something just beyond a seedling, in a nursery pot. I was developing it in the pot, using directional pruning...