Portulacaria afra Repot and New Front
This little port is a familiar tree in many of my past Facebook posts. Yet, in such a short time, I was able to develop this tree’s branch structure within two years and move straight into refinement.
Development and Design
Developing Chinese Elm Shohin
I started this Chinese elm, Ulmus parvifolia, from cutting stock we had at the nursery. I wish I had taken photos of this tree when I first chopped it as it was repotted during a workshop that was all about repotting and developing proper nebari on elms. It just so happens that the little tree …
Hanging out with the Austin Bonsai Society
I had the pleasure of giving a demonstration and workshop in Austin, Texas, this past week. I was invited out to their beautiful meeting space at Zilker Botanical Garden. We share a lot native elm trees with central Texas but one in the particular that I’ve always have wanted to work with is the cedar …
The Notorious Live Oak Question
Here’s a species I’ve gotten dozens of questions about. Quercus virginiana, more commonly known as southern live oak, a hallmark species of the southeast United States and it always comes up in conversation at the nursery. It’s usually brought up after bringing someone’s attention that almost any species of tree can be a good bonsai. …
Slight Revamp
After an unnecessary hiatus from my blog posts, I am back at it again. For anyone who has visited our homepage in the past knows there has been some changes made to the overall layout. Now everything as been streamlined so content can be accessed a little easier and the webstore is clearly a separate …
“Stinky” The Musk Maple
Here’s a tree I’ve been anticipating to work on, a premna japonica or commonly known as musk maple. There are a couple of different varieties in the premna used for bonsai. There is the much more tender and tropical premna mircophylla that gets confused for this species. P. mirophylla has a small and ovate leaf …
Spring Time Chaos, Part 1
For those who do not know, spring time is the most chaotic time of the year for those who work with bonsai. Especially on a higher level and I’m talking about trees that have been shown at Nationals or are destined to go one day in the future. When I was presented with the opportunity …
Thread Grafting on Parsley Hawthorn
It’s the time of year again! Time to get out all the tools you would not assume to be used in bonsai. Woah! Slow down cowboy! Why would we ever need a power drill equipped with a 12″ long drill bit for bonsai? Well I’m glad you asked by reading the previous sentence to yourself, …
A Stump of a Tree
Okay, it’s time to clear up a lot of things up about these little potted stump trees we have everywhere around the nursery. For those who don’t know, I’m referring to all the freshly collected yamadori. They are the trees that were dug up, heavily root pruned, and tied down into training pots this season. …