Bonsai tree: Japanese black pine

I really like working with Japanese Black Pine. Although they keep needles year round, their appearance changes with the seasons. The pine below is flush with last year’s growth – a mix of spring and summer foliage.

Spring growth above – Summer growth below

I am planning to remove the top half of the trunk when I get a few more grafts in place – more on that next week. After some cutback, needle pulling, grafting and repotting, the tree looked a bit more manageable.

All set for Spring

I learned years ago that bonsai folk can benefit from a deep sense of delayed gratification. Today this tree is both gangly and unbalanced – it looks like it’s waving its arms in the air in dismay. But it’s looking better every year and before long it will look great in an exhibit.
I’ve also learned that there’s far more to bonsai than making trees “pretty.” Routine tasks like repotting provide me with plenty of gratification. While repotting this tree, I was very surprised to see the condition of the soil.

Bonsai soil after 3 years in the pot

After at least three years, the bonsai mix had barely begun to break down. It’s a mix of pumice, lava and akadama. Normally I would expect to repot this tree every or at least every other year. It’s a large tree in a small pot and it’s growing vigorously. But because the soil is so hard, the drainage remained good and the roots developed well.

Combing out the roots

I also appreciate the time savings. Getting an extra year out of bonsai soil saves time and money. Getting that with no cost to the tree’s health is a super combination. Read more!

Bonsai tree: A Very Wild Mugo Pine

This is a wild and wonderful mugo pine showed up on facebook a few weeks ago.
There are at least two things that come to mind when I look at this wild mugo pine. First, that it represents a break with traditional bonsai styles, particularly traditional Japanese bonsai. It just doesn’t look like what bonsai used to look like not too long ago.The second thing about it is that it’s a mugo pine. It wasn’t too long ago that the only pines you’d see as bonsai were Japanese whites and blacks. Gradually, as bonsai spread to the west, other varieties started showing up. Now, mugos are becoming quite common and for good reason; their needles are small, they are tough, over time they can show a lot of character. Read more!

Fantastic Junipers

This is a Shore Juniper (J. procumbens) by master bonsai innovator, Masahiko Kimura. It combinse the sculptural look that has been favored by some Japanese bonsai artists with a more wild, ruged natural look that is in favour in much for the world bonsai community. If bonsai is an art, then the categories are continually being broken down as artist play, explore and inovate. And no bonsai artist that has played, explored and inovated more successfuly thanMaster Kimura.
Junipers are tough, durable and flexible and pruneable. They don’t mind having their roots hacked and they take to container culture. Their needles tend to be small and dense and both their needles and bark come in a range of attractive colours and textures. Perhaps best of all, junipers take to carving like few other plants and their deadwood is both attractive and long lasting especially if you keep it clean and apply lime sulfur.



Dwarf Japanese garden juniper. One thing I do know is that it is unmistakably a Procumbens nana; a dwarf cultivar of the Procumbnes. Procumbens nana is by far the most popular juniper for beginners, at least here in the States. However, you seldom see a masterpiece, as the trunks tend to stay too thin. The trunk on this one is about a thick as they ever get. Read more!