Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
The spring defoliation marathon is officially over here at Aichi-en. Most of the tree’s we did here were japanese maples and trident maple’s. I’d thought I’d share a few trident’s that I did. All these tree’s were grown by Oyakata’s grandfather from scratch but, all quite different. All three were partly defoliated, leaving inner weak shoots and weak area’s.… Continue reading ‘Tri’-athlon

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
I just thought I’d share a red pine tree that resides here at Aichi-en as I did some maintenance on it (pulling needles, reducing the shoot’s to two and thinning), plus it is a hard to get a decent picture of it where it is positioned at the nursery. This tree I find, has a good feeling for me… Continue reading Odd’ball’ red pine

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
On my return to Japan we have been pretty busy with the past Meifu-ten and The impending Kokufu-ten. Mostly the work has been styling/wiring with the occasional black pine/kuromatsu needle pulling. I thought I would share a few of tree’s that I have recently wired and they are all black pines. This is a kifu sized black pine. I… Continue reading Kuromatsu

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
Back along Mr Tanaka came back with a new kifu sized white pine. The tree is setsu-goyo/grafted on to black pine base which many of us are familiar with being as many are exported around the world. Favored for their strength and size. This one however is very old, older than many you see and sets it apart some… Continue reading Ryoji Fukui Goyomatsu

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
Recently I was given three akamatsu (Japanese red pine) work on. The way it works here is we are assigned a tree to work on, given some very simple instructions eg. Wire this tree, cut this tree, etc and the rest is up to us. Akamatsu can be tricky to work with because they can snap with no warning… Continue reading Progression

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
A little while back i was given this akamatsu/red pine to wire.? This tree was first styled back in 2012 by Mr Tanaka for an Kinbon article. As you can see the transformation was truly impressive and some awesome work. It completely altered the tree making compact and balanced. However as in any process of making a bonsai tree… Continue reading Red pine second styling

Originally posted on John Milton Bonsai:
One day before Mr Tanaka was set to go to Kokufu he asked me to style this tree for the sales area. At the time it was just before we watered, it was close to lunch and I need to leave early that day (about 3:00) for personal reasons. Mr Tanaka and the guy’s were heading off to a… Continue reading To Kokufu or not to Kokufu???

Originally posted on Nebari Bonsai:
The ume bloomed beautifully last month. As the last of the blooms faded, it was time to revisit some old articles and notes about pruning. I’ve always read that ume is pruned heavily after blooming. I’ve also read that buds may not predictably open, so if the branch is pruned back, not leaving a viable bud, it’s not likely you’ll… Continue reading Prunus Mume (Part 2 of 4)

Originally posted on Nebari Bonsai:
Last year, one of our club members brought an Ume to a Kathy Shaner workshop, and this year I worked on one with Peter Warren. Both said the same on the timing. Since we’re getting close to Ume blooming season, here is what they said: * Mid-summer: wire green shoots, but don’t prune back. * Winter: when flower buds fatten,… Continue reading Prunus Mume (Part 1 of 4)