Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
Which branches will you keep and which will you remove? Have you noticed how most answers to Bonsai related questions starts with “It depends”. The main reason for this is that we are working with a living organism and it is very rare for generalisations to be applied across all trees. The list below are guidelines to use, especially when styling… Continue reading Bonsai Branch selection 101

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
Let’s get one thing out of the way first. The term Yamadori refers to a tree lifted from the wild where it has spent many years, showing good age with features that will make a great Bonsai. When a tree is lifted from a garden or from any other place for that matter it is not a Yamadori, not even an… Continue reading Garden trees to Bonsai

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
One thing that is for certain when it comes to Bonsai as an art form is that it is never static due to horticultural and climatic influences. Then we have to throw pests, disease and the odd mishap into the equation as well. This little Thuja did meet up with a bug or two one night and the Thuja came of… Continue reading Bonsai – Good comes from bad.

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
It is a well known fact that horticultural knowledge and skills should be on par with the creative side of Bonsai cultivation as a horticulturally neglected tree will never reach its full potential as a Bonsai. It is therefore important that some basic horticultural knowledge and skills are mastered early on the journey towards Bonsai mastery. This series of articles has… Continue reading Horticultural Processes and Bonsai: Photosynthesis

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
Have you ever wondered how water travels from the soil into the roots and then up the stem to the leaves? Well, here we go. The process is called transpiration and starts in the roots through a process called osmosis. This is the movement of water across a membrane from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure.… Continue reading Horticultural Processes and Bonsai: Transpiration

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
We have already looked at Photosynthesis https://bonsaiplace.net/2021/07/17/horticultural-processes-and-bonsai-photosynthesis/ and Transpiration https://bonsaiplace.net/2021/07/18/horticultural-processes-for-bonsai-transpiration/ as two processes that are very important for plants and your Bonsai to stay alive. There is a third such process which is as important as the other two, but because the structures responsible for this one are not that visible, it is not that well known. Respiration is something that… Continue reading Horticultural Processes and Bonsai: Respiration

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
A previous blog post addressed sculpture as an art form and how it relates to Bonsai (https://bonsaiplace.net/2021/03/28/bonsai-as-sculpture-an-art-form/). This blog post will take an more practical approach by making use of photos to describe the process. The start. Carving is usually done to create or enhance jin, uro (holes), shari (stripped bark) or getting rid of areas where large branches were removed.… Continue reading Carving on Bonsai: Sculpture

Originally posted on Bonsaiplace:
In November 2015, the very early days of this blog site, I wrote about Metrosideros excelsa or Pohutukawa as Bonsai and included a few photos of these magnificent trees in nature. This tree is also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree. The link to that blog post is here. https://bonsaiplace.net/2015/11/29/pohutukawa-as-bonsai/ For this blog post I will style a Pohutukawa as… Continue reading Pohutukawa as Bonsai