
Ikadabuki
How to create bonsai from cuttings, grafting and other methods using interesting and unusual species. With the help of illustrations we will see how to take a piece of material through to its completion. This time we are working with crab apple, Malus zumi

When and how to repot
Finding out for yourself the best time to repot deciduous trees isn't easy. Our smart guide to varieties and their cultivars gives you the answers you need.

Pruned by bacteria?
Using beneficial bacteria for stronger, better ramified and disease-free bonsai.

Winning touches
Morten Albek takes time to go through some of the shohin displays at the Nöelanders Trophy.

A fruitful day
How to pollinate flowering bonsai Under the guidance of Hiroki Miura, Japanese popstar Ayaka Yamamoto tries her luck with fruiting fruit-bearing trees. The fruit of a tree is not always produced when it flowers. If left untouched, some species will not produce any fruit at all. Some species are easy…...

Is this the Kokufu?
No, It is The Trophy, the largest show in Europe. A gallery of the best trees

Very delicate
Nik Rozman works for 12 years on a larch Larches are among Europe’s most delicate and feminine-looking conifers. Their fine foliage is nicely contrasted by the rugged bark of old specimens. Because of those features, as well as their low level of difficulty to maintain, they are widely used for…...

On the scrapheap?
Harry Harrington recovers a crab apple (Malus sylvestris) raft bonsai with a new design. I think many of us, as bonsai enthusiasts, will be familiar with the phrase ‘a bonsai is never finished’. However, I suspect that some people do not necessarily understand exactly what that means. Some bonsai can…...

No right or wrong way
Yukio Hirose looks at the many options for displaying medium-sized trees We asked Yukio Hirose (Yamato-en) to create a few different displays using kifu-sized trees (35 cm maximum height), using both deciduous and coniferous species. There is no right or wrong way when displaying trees, it is a manifestation of…...

Is it natural? (2)
Harry Harrington’s helps you to create and use deadwood features on deciduous and broadleaf bonsai As discussed in part one my favoured approach to creating deciduous and broadleaf deadwood is one originally pioneered by UK bonsai artist, Kevin Willson. The deadwood is given a blackened hollow core surrounded by a…...

Malus
Crab apple Malus sieboldii is a member of the apple family, a deciduous tree that can be found growing throughout Japan. Botanically speaking, ‘Miyama Kaido’ is the same, the difference lies in the colour of the fruit, either red or yellow. In the world of bonsai, yellow fruiting trees are…...