Menu
concave cutter
The last flush…
Harry Harrington sums up the tasks for late summer and early autumn July in the Northern Hemisphere sees the last flushes of growth in most of the broadleaf and deciduous trees. After the vigorous growth of spring months and a pause for midsummer, these last flushes of growth are typically…...
Is crataegus ideal for shohin?
Harumi Ishii (Ueharu-En) will guide you through the techniques of creating shohin from hawthorn Material 1: Japanese hawthorn (large tree) All the branches are focused in the top section of the tree and there are none at all further down the trunk. Initially it was thought to create this in…...
Italian heart
Creating a moyogi with a small pine Under guidance of Hiroki Miura (Miura Baijyu-en) Ayaka Yamamoto, lead singer of the Japanese girl band NMB48, works on creating a small black pine in the informal upright style. Although it is a thin tree, it has been cultivated in a pot for…...
Just cut all the branches?
How to deal with upward-growing branches on a pine Impossible material with all its branches growing upwards becomes a fine bonsai. Toshio Ogawa notes the superb movement of the lower trunk and solves the problem of branches that are upward reaching. A red pine with no lower branches and an…...
Heavy bending
How to bend thick branches Sometimes wire is simply not enough to bend the branch in the desired position. Here we sum up the proper techniques to make things bend smoothly. Lower a branch by pulling a guy wire Even though you wire it from the base, if a branch…...
Where are the roots?
Air-layer experiment. What works best: Sphagnum or a tourniquet? Yukio Hirose (Yamato-en) is up for an experiment. Which of the air layer techniques gives best results, the one that uses sphagnum only, or the technique that uses a wire, or so-called tourniquet? Air layers are most usually performed between March…...
Too dominant at the top
The charm of the Fagus crenata – Japanese beech The Japanese beech is always an exhibition eye catcher. Its smooth grey-white bark and muscled trunk give the tree a most majestic appearance. Easy to work on, as seen in this example. With just a little pruning and wiring you can…...
Easy elm
Japanese elm is ideal for bonsai and easy to grow Being a rapid and very vigorous grower makes it possible to have quick results with Zelkova. The downside is that the elm can overgrow very quickly and so it needs regular pruning and re-styling to stay in shape. Here we…...
Yew can do it
A simple yew can be made into a stunning small bonsai in just a few steps. Michael Tran of Minoru bonsai guides you step by step in how to create a bonsai from a yew. Yews are a very robust and a great species for bonsai. Their hard wood makes…...
Is this a satsuki?
Satsuki specialist Tadao Tabata saw bonsai potential in the many trunks In a field at the base of Mount Akagi more than a thousand satsuki were planted and then grown wild. Two years ago this tree was lifted from the field and now, in its third year, it is ready…...
Give me space
Understanding the basics of repotting through the example of a young tree One of the big objectives in repotting is to remove a tree’s old roots to provide more space for new roots to grow into, allowing it to flourish continually. The actual techniques used in transplanting are not that…...
Cotoneaster – A friend to everyone
An extremely versatile and easily grown plant. It enables the grower to happily style away with very satisfying results. Bruno Wijman shows the amazing results after a few hours’ work. 1. Analysing the tree This shrub originates from a very large bonsai nursery in Spain, Mistral. In Spain the climate…...
