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
An American Hornbeam – Nice, Unusual And Challenging
American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, is hands-down one of the best bonsai species for beginners. I'll be out looking for new material next month, but in the meantime I had this lone specimen left on the bench. I collected it last year. What I liked about it,...
Lifting A Water Oak – How To Make Decisions Step By Step
It's that time of year, time to start collecting next year's crop of trees. Today I lifted this Water oak, Quercus nigra. When you venture out to collect your own trees, you'll make decisions all the way from selecting suitable specimens to preparing them for...
Grow And Chop – How It’s Working For Three Bonsai-To-Be
I've written often about developing bonsai from the ground up. Today, following our first couple of freezing nights for the year, we warmed up enough to make working outdoors pleasant. Here are a few bonsai-to-be that I've been growing in the ground for a while. ...
The Awesome Beauty Of The Deciduous Bonsai In Winter
Fall in the Deep South is an iffy affair. When we do get fall, it typically comes and goes in short order. This year we actually got perfect conditions for a nice season of color, a lengthy drought that ended around Thanksgiving. In the past couple of weeks we've...
The Blackgum – A Rare Bird For Bonsai, And A Push Of The Envelope
We're "enjoying" our second rainy day in a row. As bad as this might sound, there is some positive to it. If I had to pick the ideal conditions for collecting trees during late fall/winter it would be cool but not cold temperatures and a light drizzle. With these...
It’s Cold, Rainy And Boring – But Here’s Something Green
The winter rains are terrible and wonderful. We have to have them. But they seem to follow right on the heels of the nice fall colors - which we don't get much of here but we do cherish what we get - putting a big damper on the landscape. Still, we always look for...
American Hornbeam In Fall – Last Pruning For 2016
American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, is one of my favorite species for bonsai and a great choice for beginners. This particular specimen has been with me through six growing seasons now. This past year I repotted the tree, which gave me a good opportunity to do...
Big Cypress Gets Worked On Today – Planning For Next Year
It's been a while since I updated the development of my big Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum. This is year two following collection in Winter 2015. Here's a photo of the tree in February of last year, just when it was pushing its first buds. ...
Propagating Bonsai Material – How To Make Five From One
There are four sources of material for bonsai - collected trees, trees from seed, trees from cuttings, and trees from air or ground layers. Today I want to show you how to use two of these methods to make more bonsai material. I made this Riverflat hawthorn,...