The proud owner of the SBBK raffled Ficus and I got to spend some time re-potting her new tree. Donna F. won the tree with a promise of my assistance for the transplanting. We found that the root mass was a beautiful fine mass with no large heavy roots. The pot we chose will be
This year I have been working these ficus trees a great deal. They have been cut back, up-potted, defoliated, and wired. Now it is time to reap the rewards. These trees all still need considerable work. Growing them in California can be challenging because of low humidity, dry burning sun, hard water. This year our
This little gem is a Trident Maple Shohin that has been in training for over 15 years. It has a powerful trunk and some nice roots that I am still working to develop. I could not resist taking this picture after a summer defoliation. The leaves are twice as small as they were during our
I have a painting in progress and many trees being worked on. It is amazing how fast the season has gone by.
Today was a Ficus trimming day. Many of my trees have been grow mode since the April show and were full of foliage and getting stronger. Once they reach that state and the temperatures are stable in the 80’s and 90’s I can trim them back substantially to improve branch development and smaller foliage. One
It is now summer of 2013 and our redwood is growing nicely. I must, during this time of year, pinch the fine light green leaves to keep the inter nodes short and the foliage compact. Below you can see how the tree has grown and some initial summer pruning.
Ficus after second trimming this year in preparation for the the SBBK (San Mateo) August club demo. Now after a few months of growth the tree is ultra full again awaiting its August demo.
My Diamyo Oak as presented at the 53rd Kusamura Bonsai Club Annual Show in April 2013. This is a legacy tree, meaning that it was purchased at auction in 2009 from the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (BGLM). The tree was started by acorn carried from Japan by a Pete Sugawara who was a member
This past weekend I purchased a Ficus tree that will be used in a demonstration in August. It is old stock Ficus Benjamina that has been growing in a box for many years. The trunk has some great natural movement in it and the branches are mostly thin and leggy but excellent material to work with here. In
This juniper was purchased two years ago. The apex was originally a heavy branch that extended out to the right. With the help of Kathy Shaner we wired that branch up with a twist to create a new dramatic apex. I am still working on creating foliage at the new apex and will work on
