Author: jcsf1090

Is It Still Winter

Well yes it is. Here in California plants continue to grow albeit slower than in the normal growing season. Some trees are starting to bud and even push new leaves. Pruning certain kinds of trees now will prepare them for the aggressive spring push. The Brazilian Rain Tree(BRT) is tough to grow here. In the

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Late Fall into Winter

I have been a bit quiet this season. That doesn’t mean I am not working on trees or other projects. California weather was very odd in early Fall and it delayed some work. I have been enjoying my trees, taking lots of photos around the Bay Area and working on paintings. I have penned my

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Last August Collection Cleanup

I am in the process of cleaning up the collection for the Fall. Summer light is fading fast and many of the trees are tired. Tropical trees get their final pruning and all my cuttings need to be potted. Potting many of my cuttings. Several different pots were created. My biggest effort was finishing the

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August Demo Calls for Creativity

This month I am to due a tropical demo for SBBK. It will be a Zoom meeting and I have such limited time to present some updates on my trees. I put this PowerPoint together to create some excitement. I will still do a short live stream on working with tropical trees from the host’s

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August Updates

I have been working on many tropical trees this summer and learning some key lessons about up-potting trees in the summer. Several trees in the both personal collection and client collections were suffering greatly in the heat. Some of those issues were caused due to not being able to transplant in the correct season this

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Writings: Intro

The Spirituality of Bonsai: A Journal of Finding Peace in an Age of Tyranny By Gerald (Jerry) Carpenter Intro It is cool but bright in the rising sun as I step purposely out on my patio bonsai garden. I have a chair strategically placed looking directly at a tree positioned carefully on two dark milk

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Pearl Berry In Bloom

Had to share this special little beauty. This pearl berry was purchased from Sandy V before her passing. It has been developed as a shohin. It is a very small compact trunk. Next year this will be transferred to a larger pot to expand the trunk but this year it is doing well and starting

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Summer Tropical Work Begins

I have official begun working on my tropical trees in the collection. Several will be re-potted this weekend. All of these trees have been allowed their Spring blowout and now it is time to shape and refine.

Boxwood Revisited and Refined

Last year I posted an article on boxwood care and ramification. It is time to revisit that tree and see how it developed. The tree has grown steadily and untouched since last summer. This was to allow for branch thickening and new buds to be created on the interior of the tree. That results is

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