Decandling is essential to the development of Japanese Black pine (Pinus thunbergii) bonsai. The goal of decandling is to contain the growth of the tree, force more compact growth, and create back-budding. Decandling removes all of the new growth from the pine, which like any tree, is built to react to foliage removal by replacing the foliage, normally with more compact foliage. After any type of pruning, a tree typically reacts prudently to conserve energy and allow itself to re-establish the photosynthetic surfaces (e.g. needles). In deciduous trees, partial or total defoliation allows lots of light into the interior branching....

Zelkova serrata (Japanese Grey Bark Elm) are a deciduous tree with smooth bark and delicate branching that are prized in bonsai for their winter silhouettes. They are typically grown as broom-style trees from small to medium size; and rarely into large bonsai. Zelkova are also particularly well-suited to creating small bonsai forests, bonsai copse, and bonsai clumps. We are once again selling bare root Zelkova serrata, and we've pulled together answers to all your growing questions in this article!

Small Business Saturday is an annual holiday that encourages everyone to shop at local businesses for the holidays. Small Business Saturday takes place on the Saturday following Thanksgiving - TODAY! It began as a marketing campaign (from American Express!) in 2010 and has evolved and grown to its current status as an official holiday that is important to local businesses and communities. Read this article to find out why you should shop small and 4 ideas of how you can do more to support small and local businesses!

It’s an emotional blow to lose a bonsai. Our advice is to use tree death as an opportunity to analyze the cause so you can learn and not repeat the conditions that lead to your tree's untimely demise. There are numerous factors that can lead to the death of a tree - watering, fertilizer, pest control, and sun protection and cold protection are among the things that if not executed properly will lead to health issues. The good news is that you can observe warning signs of tree stress or improper care, and you can take proven steps to tend to the tree. 

The art of bonsai allows for personal expression in the development and styling of trees, and the selection of bonsai pots. Like many art forms, it takes time and deliberate practice to do bonsai well. Bonsai enthusiasts often spend years studying to become professionals. The rest of us, regardless of Malcolm Gladwell’s research, don’t need to spend 10,000 hours studying bonsai for it to become a rewarding hobby. What we can all benefit from is guidance from enthusiasts and professionals on how to get started. So here it is: a list of seven rookie mistakes anyone new to bonsai should avoid. 

There's a lot of confusion surrounding how to care for Japanese Black Pine bonsai. This confusion likely stems from the reality that these trees require different work to be done at different phases of their life. This article includes an outline of the basic annual care cycle for caring for mature Japanese Black Pine bonsai trees.

There's a lot of confusion surrounding how to care for Japanese Black Pine bonsai. In this article, Eric provides an outline of a basic annual care cycle for developing and caring for young Japanese Black Pine bonsai.

Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) are one of the classic bonsai species and make great trees for bonsai, especially for beginners. They grow well in containers and are generally easy to care for. [I particularly love their spring foliage and delightful autumn colors.] Japanese Maples need direct sunlight every day to maintain health. We recommend 4-6 hours in the morning, and then indirect light the rest of the day. In hotter and drier climates some filtered sun may be better. Early spring work on mature Japanese Maple bonsai includes pinching shoots and thinning out leaves. Without this work, interior growth will...

Root over Rock is one of Eric's favorite bonsai styles, and at any time he has at least a half-dozen young trees in training with auxiliary soil retention mechanisms in place to ensure that the roots make it into the main container so they can eventually be exposed to enhance the value of the composition. Even when selecting stones and arranging roots with intention, there are improvements to make two or three years after the rock and stones were initially paired.

Starting trees from seed is one of our favorite things, and we want to encourage you to give it a try, too! You can pick seeds from a red-leaf Japanese Maple and sow them, and the result will be healthy seedlings that can have a wide variety of leaf characteristics. This article includes two example of Japanese Maple bonsai grown from seed, as well as instructions on how to sow Japanese Maple seeds to grow bonsai.

Eric's desire to design his own bonsai stands for his show trees lead him to a woodworking epiphany - some woodworking projects can only be created with hand tools. Learn what it takes to make a beautiful and elegant bonsai stand with hand tools and hand work. 

Eric uses a little pine as a case study to address his internal debate between "bonsai by subtraction" and growing trees into bonsai via seeds and cuttings. There is a school of thought in bonsai that if you eliminate something from a tree you will end up with a result that is a better, more interesting bonsai. On the flip side, this can produce a tree that is simpler, but not necessarily more interesting. Decisions to cut large branches from bonsai should only be made after careful consideration of all options.  

If you live in an urban environment, maintaining a connection to the natural world may not be as simple as walking out your front door. While city apartments and lofts are a great place to live, giving ready access to numerous urban amenities, they can also leave you short of space to satisfy your aspirations for a green thumb. Here are four simple ways you can stay connected to nature on the daily.

Tap water is commonly used for drinking, cooking, and bathing. It's generally provided for and regulated by a governmental agency for the purpose of keeping people - not bonsai trees - healthy and safe. Fortunately, many tap water sources are also safe for bonsai trees and other potted plants; using tap water for your bonsai makes the most sense unless you know there is a problem. Read this article to discover the symptoms of water quality problems; how to research a suspected water quality problem; and how to treat water to mitigate problems. 

“The power of imagination makes us infinite” - John Muir. A few weeks ago we published an article, "Finding Bonsai Inspiration in the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California". Today's post is part of an ongoing series encouraging you to become a "tree tourist" and travel to places where you can witness and enjoy awe-inspiring trees, and use these examples to influence your bonsai practice.  While there are many species along the California coast that can inspire and and encourage bonsai lovers, in this article we're going to focus on just three: Coast redwood, Monterey cypress, and Douglas fir. Each of these...

While many amazing examples of juniper bonsai are created from trees collected from the wild, smaller trees of exceptional quality can be created by careful crafting of juniper cuttings over as little as 5-10 years. Read this article to learn how!