Bonsai Today

Online magazine for Bonsai lovers

ramification

Technique

Reverse taper

Miura Hiroki (from Miura Baijyu-En nursery) is a specialist in shohin bonsai. Here he shows how to improve trees with reverse tapering trunks by using air-layering techniques


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Case History

So Immature

Harry Harrington explains the progression of a Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)


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Technique

All about the leaves

Harry Harrington shows how to improve ramification in deciduous trees by partial defoliation...


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Case History

Out of the box

Harry Harrington works on a very bulky elm that has no tapering. By carving the trunk the problem is solved.


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Step by Step

A solid foundation

The creation of branches on deciduous trees does not happen overnight, it is a long-term process ...


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Autumn

Red alert

A twin trunk becomes an elegant moyogi style.


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Workshop

The rough type

The arakawa maple is one of the most popular trees in the bonsai world. Andrea Meriggioli shows why.


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Technique

Just a plastic tray

Working with deciduous trees is always a long-term project which needs some clever thinking, too


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Technique

Pruned by bacteria?

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


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Styling

Jack & John

British artist, John Milton, works on a white pine in Japan.


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Technique

POMEGRANATE

Pomegranate: The challenge is to create a finished tree starting from scratch


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Summer

In the Palmatum of your hand

Leaf reduction helps to protect and to gain more ramification. One important technique to help deciduous trees during the heat of the summer is leaf reduction, or defoliation. This protects the internal branches. Here we look at several techniques that can be used. Partial defoliation and shoot pruning to improve…...


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Shohin

Prickly situation

Jean-Philippe Hoareau (JP) works with the prickly juniper The needle juniper or Juniperus rigida, is a far more rugged tree than the Chinese ‘shimpaku’. Its deadwood is spikier and so is its foliage, too. You can get in a very prickly situation when working with this variety because of its…...


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Technique

Is this too right?

The challenge is to create a finished tree starting from scratch Here’s how to make bonsai with rare, interesting and promising species through the process of taking cuttings. The complete process, from selecting the material to maintenance after taking the cutting, is clearly explained. This time we work with Cryptomeria…...


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Styling

Intimidated by its age

François Jeker styles a venerable 500-year-old Buxus ‘When about to style an impressive old Buxus like this, you are so intimidated that you approach it with trembling hands . . . Over the years, though, I have developed three assets in the bonsai field: imagination for the future design of…...


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Column

How far can we go?

It is fairly safe to say that bonsai in the West has reached a very high level because major exhibitions such as the Gingko Award and the Trophy brought together trees from many nations. And this has evolved even further over the last 25 years with shows of higher quality…...


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Case History

Bonsai timetable

Bartoz Warwas knows that a good plan is the key to bonsai success Before Bartoz explains his timetable for planning the development of bonsai, he will tell you the story of a European hornbeam that has been with him for more than 10 years In all probability, we are living…...


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Tree guide

Pyrus pyrifolia

How to create bonsai from cuttings, grafting and other methods with interesting and unusual species. With the help of illustrations we will see how to take a piece of material through to completion The pear A large deciduous tree in the pear genus of the Rosaceae family. It is found…...


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