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
Growing Future Bonsai – How To Make The Next Move
Every bonsai starts from either a seed, a cutting or a layer. That's about it, unless you're into gene splicing or some such. You, as the bonsai artist, enter this picture at a certain point - not necessarily sowing the seed or rooting the cutting or making the...
Can There Be Big Happiness In Small Packages?
Sunday morning musings I love big bonsai. I've loved big bonsai since I first got really into the art, and became aware that bonsai could range up to four feet tall. I've collected and trained my share of big bonsai. And whenever Cathy is explaining to someone that...
Designing Your Bonsai – How To Not Miss Better Options
Even after 25+ years of collecting trees for bonsai, I still do crazy/risky things. I mean, this is all for fun, right? Here's one of my latest examples. I usually collect Sweetgums (Liquidambar styraciflua) in May and June. Winter collecting has resulted in poor...
A Forest For Next Year – And How To Make A Sure-Fire Design
I love forest plantings. With that said, I've seen countless poor forest plantings, and it's all due to poor design. So how do you ensure that your design will pass muster? Is there a formula? Actually, there is. Here's a bald cypress forest I assembled today...
Fall Work – How To Get A Leg Up On Next Year
The days are getting shorter, and many if not most of you have already had some cool nights. Your bonsai have also begun to slow their growth. Now, this doesn't mean they aren't growing at all, it just means the dynamic growth of spring and early summer has given...
How To Make Bonsai Lemonade – Part 1 Of Part 4
By now you know that I hate to give up on trees that didn't go where they were supposed to when I first brought them home. Not that I never literally chuck out a piece of material, but if there's something work salvaging I keep it on the bench or in a corner waiting...
A Little Evening Fun – Cool Future Bonsai To Be
The weekend is almost upon us, and that means more bonsai action is on the way. I got a little restless this evening, so I decided to photograph a few bonsai-to-be and post them just for fun. I'm probably the only person on the planet who propagates water-elm,...
New Water-Elms – And It’s Not Fall, No Matter What They Say
I'm happy to report that the heat index today was only 100°. The other day they said fall has arrived. I'm thinking somebody's wrong about this. Nevertheless, it is water-elm collecting season and here are a few specimens that came home today: I really love the...
How To Get Some Old World Charm In A Bonsai
My great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Sicily in the late 1800s - the emigration grant from King Umberto of Italy is in the family archives, a very neat document. If there's one thing about folks who immigrated from the Old World, especially those from...