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
Rebuilding A Bonsai Collection
As most of you know, the winter of 2014 was extremely harsh down here, so much so that I lost a number of trees during a snow and ice storm that literally froze my trees to their benches. I wasn't alone. I only spoke with one or two of my clients up north who didn't...
Bald Cypress Initial Styling
It's the time of year to do initial styling on bald cypresses collected this past winter. I had posted this specimen earlier in the season, and mentioned my idea of a style for it that represented something I've never done before. There's nothing like a rainy Sunday...
Mayhaw Repotting
We've been following the progress of this Mayhaw, Crataegus aestivalus, for a while now. Back in winter I did a hard pruning of the branches in order to continue development of the tree's structure. As with any such work, I then let the tree alone to grow untrimmed...
American Elm Development
I'm sure you remember this American elm, Ulmus Americana, that I first posted last month. My goal with this tree is to train it into a classic American elm shape, what's called vase-shape. I did the initial wiring on March 11th, and left the tree completely alone to...
It’s Sweetgum Season – Repotting Too!
This sweetgum was not necessarily due for repotting this year. What prompted me to want to perform this chore was the behavior of the large root at the left rear of the tree. You never know what root(s) a sweetgum will choose to throw a lot of energy into. In this...
Sweetgum Time – Building A Forest
May is sweetgum collecting time. I've been planning to build a forest since last year, and I had Byron Myrick custom-make this pot for it: It's 24" in length by 16" wide, and 2" deep. Isn't the color superb! You always start with the focal...
May Is Here – It’s Sweetgum Time
With May upon us, it's time once again to do some serious things with sweetgums. As I've mentioned in previous posts, collecting sweetgum in winter has not been a happy experience for me in times past. With a success rate of less than 30%, I would just end up...
Developing a Yaupon Bonsai – Spring of Year 2
When we last left the story of this yaupon bonsai in the making, its first growing season was coming to a close. In the photo below it's easy to see where the trunk was chopped. I grew a new leader from just a trunk bud, wiring it to induce movement (yaupon likes to...
Repotting A Large Hawthorn – Six Weeks Later
Back on March 7th I posted a blog on my large hawthorn that needed repotting. You may recall the scarcity of roots on such a large tree four years after collection. Here's what I had to work with: Not much in the root zone, eh? Hawthorns are a bit peculiar in that...