Bonsai Today

Online magazine for Bonsai lovers

shoot

Step by Step

Just Clip and grow?

Hawthorn, or Crataegus, is a great subject for bonsai. Easy growing and very forgiving when mistakes are made. It will send out multiple new shoots, giving you plenty of opportunity to grow new branches.


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Technique

Gardenia

You can propagate and create bonsai from seed, cuttings and by grafting


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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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Technique

Silvery bark

The challenge to grow bonsai from scratch: Betula


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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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Seed

Turbo grower

Harry Harrington's story of an oak grown from an acorn


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Technique

Pruned by bacteria?

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


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Technique

A wooden base?

A practical case study of trident maple by Andrea Meriggioli Andrea: I want to show you how correct timing and techniques may turn initially poor material into a good tree you can work on over a long period of time. In practice, when you have a real plant in front…...


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Shohin

Regular fit

Alexsandre Escudero works on a tiny Itoigawa juniper An average juniper can be changed into something interesting, you just need to have a vision and opt for doing something different to make it less regular. The tree I will work with is very commonly seen as bonsai, a purpose-grown juniper…...


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Technique

The branch doctor

Master Oota is the expert on grafting new branches on junipers From grafting branches to finishing a tree and his selection of famous needle junipers, these are trees that have been created by Nobuharu Oota over the years using natural material. Using his expert skills he creates a bonsai that…...


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Technique

On a tightwire?

Winding wire around a branch is easy; effective wiring is more difficult Wiring is an indispensable skill in bonsai; it is something that needs to be used at many stages in tree development, from the first styling of a rough piece of material through to the minute adjustments required when…...


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Propagating

The Edo cherry

The challenge is to create a finished tree starting from scratch. In this series we look at creating bonsai from cuttings, grafting and other methods from interesting and unusual species. With the help of illustrations we see how to take a piece of material through to completion. Common in the…...


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Propagating

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…...


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Spring

The birth of new buds

In autumn you can improve the branch setting of your maple The bare branch structure is revealed and good and bad things are seen. You’ll note where node length has become too long, whether there are too many buds or branches from one point and it enables you to correct…...


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Step by Step

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…...


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