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 Colorful Hornbeam
We've done pretty well this year with our fall color, including this nice little American hornbeam, Carpinus Caroliniana. The yellow and salmon-colored leaves make a nice contrast with the greenish-gray, smooth bark. As with other of my deciduous trees, this one was...
A Few Winter Silhouettes
It's still a couple of weeks before the official start of winter, but I'm very close to having benches full of winter silhouettes. This is one of the reasons I love deciduous trees. You definitely get four full seasons out of them, from spring budding through summer...
A Little Fall Color – Not Too Common Here
The only thing I envy about my fellow bonsai artists from up North is the fall color they get to enjoy on their deciduous trees. In the Deep South we typically don't get a lot of fall color. When we do, it arrives suddenly - this weekend for 2015, to be precise -...
Another Promising Water-Elm For 2016
I wrote before on my new experience of collecting water-elms, Planera aquatica, in October. A number of the specimens I brought home have shown new bud activity, though late in the season of course. There won't be shoots from these buds, but their appearance tells...
Good Boys Do Fine Always – Playing Your Bonsai Scales
Winter is no excuse to stop practicing our bonsai scales. By this, of course, I mean the continued practice of techniques that help us get better and better at designing and developing our bonsai. And along these lines, I'm a big proponent of practicing on less than...
Dreaming Of 2016 – American Hornbeam Work
I think this is a significant American hornbeam (Carpinus Caroliniana) bonsai in training. With a trunk base measuring 6" near the soil surface and a projected final height of 30-32", great nebari and taper, and characteristic muscular trunk, what's not to like about...
Building A Chinese Elm Bonsai – Year 1
Chinese elms, Ulmus parfivolia, grow quickly in the ground and this is how I grow all of my Chinese elm material with the exception of trees intended for forest plantings. In 2014 I lifted a specimen I'd had in the ground for a few years to see how quickly I could...
A Winter Storage Container
Winter storage of my bonsai is exceedingly simple: everything on the benches until temps reach 25° F; everything on the ground below 25° down to 15°; everything covered with poly sheeting below 15° down to 10°; fervent prayer below 10°. Okay, only kidding about that...
Bonsai Design – Going With The Flow
Creating Deadwood Bonsai - Even When You Hadn't Planned To As you pursue the art and craft of bonsai, it's a sure bet that all of your design ideas will not be realized. While this may sound like a bad thing - we're in charge of designing and developing our trees,...