I, like many of you, I’m sure, have been very busy repotting trees every chance I get! July and August, at least in my collection, are the months when most root pruning and repotting take place. We are starting to get some warmer days, although there are most likely some cold nights still to come. […]
It’s been a cold start to winter this year but a break from the rain has been welcome, and I’ve been able to commence repotting my deciduous bonsai, as I’m sure many of you have as well. Some of the species you should be working on include crabapples, maples, elms, wisteria, liquidambars, flowering prunus of
May has been quite cold this year, but at least we haven’t had too many windy days. Hopefully, you have enjoyed some autumn colour from the deciduous trees in your collections, especially as we have had a bit of a break from the rain. The sun moves lower in the sky during the colder months,
Autumn has finally arrived with cooler nights and crisp mornings. It’s a good time to take a breath for now and take stock of how the trees in your collection have improved during the last year. We’ve had a lot of showery weather of late, so watering thirsty trees has probably not been a priority
The end of summer and the start of autumn have been pleasant in the Sydney area. We have had occasional rain, but plenty of warm, sunny days to get out amongst our bonsai collections. During the heat of summer, it’s more difficult for many to work outdoors, particularly in the hot afternoons, myself included. For
This summer has been very humid and also quite wet. This has meant that I have had plenty of issues with my trees, such as scale of various types (white wax scale being the worst on some natives), the usual caterpillars, and fungal infections on susceptible trees. I’m sure I’m not alone though in facing
Although we’ve had some hot days this summer, the rain and resulting high humidity have been very prevalent, sometimes making working outside on our trees unpleasant. Some of you may have an indoor area where you can bring trees into the cool of air conditioning for trimming and general tidying up. I have no such
This is one of the busiest times of year for all bonsai artists. One needs to keep vigorous trees, particularly deciduous species, trimmed to encourage short internodes. It’s important to keep the balance between pruning and allowing growth just right, though, as trees that are constantly cut back may lose vigour, which is not what
This spring, so far, has been a crazy mix of hot days and ‘return to winter’ colder ones, but nonetheless, all your trees should be in active growth. As spring growth continues, one must be mindful of keeping vigorous trees trimmed to encourage short internodes and an improved design. Fast growing trees can be trimmed
I always love this time of year, because a lot of my trees have been repotted and/or restyled. I feel great satisfaction visualising the next step in development for each tree as I work on it. Some have been transferred from a training pot to a bonsai pot and some have been reshaped by wire
