Search results

I purchased this JWP a couple of years ago. It had been some time since it had been repotted. The tree was healthy, but weak and a number of the branches had grown quite leggy. Last spring I repotted the tree and did some light wiring. I let it grow throughout the season to try and restore...

Registration is opening soon for the 2026 ABS Learning Seminars Event: Bonsai in the Blue Ridge on June 4th-7th, 2026. Save the date for this very special event!

Before I left Houston, someone asked me if I wanted to take this pine. It was originally from Brussels - purchased at a Rendezvous many years earlier. It was disheartening- let go for years, the branches had grown long and leggy. I think it was never wired, never decandled, and no fall...

In 2016, Suthin staged a major sale of his collection. I went to that sale and bought two large trees that I’ll post a thread on at some point. A friend of mine from Houston went as well and bought a medium-sized imported black pine. Upon his return home, unfortunately, he had a significant...

The black pine was purchased from Suthin by a Houston friend in 2016 when Suthin had his big sale. My friend kept it for several years but then his health began to decline and he sold this tree to me after he was no longer able to care for it as part of his collection. I’ve had it for about 3 or...

New to me this year. Repotted into a growing pot in spring. One healthy growing season done. Fall trim and remove dead branches.

Save the date. What better way to celebrate the tremendously successful US National Bonsai Exhibition than to make it even MORE awesome! The 2025 ABS Learning Seminars will be in Rochester at the official hotel for the US National Bonsai Exhibition and will be held all day Friday and Saturday...

Repotting my bald cypress today I saw this: White, fuzzy deposits all through the roots. On quick inspection, it is not dissimilar to the symbiotic mycorrhizal fungus seed in healthy black pine. But this is not black pine - it is bald cypress and this is not a mycorrhizal fungus, it is...

Here is an Ashe juniper collected in the Victoria area by the excellent collector of Texas native trees, Ken Schindler. I purchased this tree from Ken before I left Texas in February 2022. Here is the tree on Ken’s bench.

Here is a Rocky Mountain Juniper I purchased from Jim Doyle at the National Show several years ago. I must have went to Jim’s table 15 times before I pulled the trigger. I don’t know why it took me so long - it was an awesome tree. Perhaps it came from Randy Knight originally - I know Jim...

I'm curious - has anyone had any experience with Northern Spicebush? It has a lot of seasonal interest - yellow flowers like a forsythia in the spring and beautiful glossy red fruit in the fall. It grows in clumps all over the woods where I live, but I've not seen any in bonsai cultivation.

So the deal is done and I’m relocating from Houston to Virginia. It’s a beautiful piece of property about halfway between Front Royal and Warrenton. Best of all - I’ve claimed a pasture for my garden! It’s going to be a journey - I’ve got a well to drill, a greenhouse and a cold frame to put...

Please enjoy a few pictures of some of the trees at the National Arboretum. I think I have some pictures of some of these trees from 20 years ago or so when I last visited, but I’ll have to dig them up and scan them. If I find them I’ll post them.

One of the things i love about bonsai is the close connection between to work we do and the ebb and flow of the seasons. Without meaning to sound woo, I just like being connected in a way I don’t think i was before. With that in mind, i thought it would be interesting to inventory the seasonal...

markyscott submitted a new resource: Common juniper pests - Controlling juniper scale and spider mites Read more about this resource...

As we continue searching for retirement destinations, my wife and I have been visiting Charlottesville for the past couple of weeks. Is there anyone from that area participating in the forum? Is there a local bonsai club? How do you like the area? Are there challenges in growing bonsai here...

This thread will focus on a US grown Japanese Black Pine propagated by seed and planted in 2004. The pine was grown by Jonas Dupuich. You can see a post about it’s development on his blog. https://bonsaitonight.com/2013/04/05/developing-young-pines/ I bought the pine from Jonas at the...

It’s that time of year. Leaves are coming out all over our trees and it’s time to start answering questions about whether or not to cut them all off. So let’s dive in to one of the most misunderstood techniques in bonsai. What does defoliation do and what does it not do? When should we do...

Without meaning to reference any ongoing human issues, I noticed we didn't have a “Pests & Diseases” forum. Might be worth considering it - we‘re getting to that time of year when we start getting a lot of posts about this topic and it might be useful to place these threads under a common...

Well I’m getting close to retirement (~2 years) and my wife and I are thinking about relocating in search of a milder summer climate, better hiking and a less urban setting. We’ve landed on somewhere in Western North Carolina as a likely landing spot and are planning some visits this year to...

Apparently I can’t have too many projects. Here is a Chinese elm with beautiful corking bark. Purchased in June of last year.

New tree on the benches. Unclear what variety it is, but the flower color is pink and the bark exfoliates heavily, leaving a beautiful blotchy coloration on the trunk. Someone needs to remind me to stop buying such big trees. The box I‘m repotting it is is on the back bench. Scott

Here’s an old JBP. It was imported many years ago and passed through a number of hands here in the Houston area. It’s never really been properly maintained, resulting in long leggy branches with no interior growth and some major structural problems with the roots. That said, it has an...

I bought this tree from a grower in Dallas. It spent some time as a bonsai - I know because I found drainage screen and aluminum to wire deep in the roots when I repotted. It was then moved into a 20 gallon pot and hedged for MANY years.

I‘ve always found retusa and microcarpa a bit challenging as a smaller tree. Too leggy and difficult to get densely ramified. But, for my taste, they really come into their own as a larger tree. This is my biggest retusa. It’s pretty massive - the pot alone weighs close to 100 lbs. With the...