This rugged, robust and well-fed Rocky Mountain juniper belongs to Michael Hagedorn

Quiz: If we were to fertilize everything the same, strongly, starting early in the year, what would happen?
The young trees would stay forever young
The old, developed trees would become young again.”
Quoted from Michael Hagedorn (the whole quote is below)

This is not the first time we’ve encouraged you to tend to your bonsai’s nutrient needs, and it won’t be the last. To make this point we've got trees and a quote (below) by Michael Hagedorn, a expert on all things bonsai (though I think Michael's modesty would keep him from thinking, let alone saying such a thing). 

Bonsai do not survive on water, light, and love alone. Because most bonsai soil has very low nutritive value (if any), your bonsai depend on you for timely feeding.
Continued below...

 Another rugged, robust and well-fed tree by Michael Hagedorn. It's a Ponderosa pine with Japanese black pine foliage that Michael grafted

Feed generously if you want your bonsai to thrive (this is especially true of younger trees where rapid growth is desirable – see the quote from Michael just below). The best way to do this is frequent moderate doses during the growing season. This is especially true if you use liquid fertilizer. With pellets and cakes, how often you apply them depends on how they break down (more on this in part two of this series).

Note: What follows (in italics) is a part of a post by Michael Hagedorn that we originally posted years ago. It’s from Michael’s famous Crataegus Bonsai blog
“For fertilizing bonsai, we can make this one basic distinction: Begin fertilizing a young, unrefined tree when it begins growing early in the spring. Wait a bit with an older, refined tree—usually begin fertilizing when it’s just hardening off it’s spring growth…
Quiz: If we were to fertilize everything the same, strongly, starting early in the year, what would happen?
The young trees would stay forever young
The old, developed trees would become young again.”

Michael Hagedorn's hand showing off healthy well-fed juniper foliage

Just in case you need to fortify your fertilizer supply (we recommend using more than one type) all of our fertilizers are currently marked down

Stay tuned for part 2 on feeding your bonsai

A Japanese maple that Walter Pall uses to illustrate his 'hedge-cutting method.' This photo was taken four years after Walter started working with this tree. The before photo is below.

Our last post featured a Japanese maple by Walter Pall, so this seems like a good place to revisit Walter's Hedge Shearing technique.

I first learned about hedge shearing bonsai from Jim Smith (sadly now deceased), a highly respected American Bonsai Artist and grower who worked primarily with tropical and sub-tropical bonsai. Because Jim lived in Florida, I figured that hedge shearing was only used in the tropics and sub-tropics, due to rapid rates of growth and recovery.

That was until I began field growing larches here in Vermont and decided that the only way to keep up is to use my sword shears (large one-handed shears with long blades that I originally learned about from Jim) and simply keep cutting back to the desired silhouettes while letting some lower branches grow unrestrained, at least while they’re in the ground.

This was before I knew about Walter Pall’s hedge-cutting method, which as it turns out is considerably more detailed and sophisticated than my old play-it-by-ear technique. 

Before

Quoting directly from Walter… “2008-05: The tree arrived in my garden in this state. The previous owner had kept it in Akadama mush and thought that he would automatically improve the tree by pinching. The crown is much too wide and flat and the leaves hide poorly structured branches. Many branches are dead. The Nebari could be much better and the maple is planted too high in its pot.”

“Well, a few decades ago when the first bonsai were brought to the West, the purchasers asked how they should care for these trees. The answer was given so that no mistakes could be made. It was assumed that the owners wanted to keep the trees in the state in which they purchased them. The pinching was recommended because it is useful for trees that are ‘finished’ and ready for exhibition or sale. Nobody thought at that time that the Westerners would ever be able to develop bonsai themselves.

“In the developmental phase, the goal is clearly to improve the tree. The trunk and the branches must be thickened, pruning wounds must close and the tree is to develop so many new shoots that one has a choice of useful branches. The nebari should also improve significantly. At this stage, the immediate image is secondary to the future beauty. That is why leaves can be large and the tree can look ugly for the longest time. To achieve these goals, the tree needs as much excess energy as possible which it can only obtain through the photosynthetic activity of as many leaves as possible. If exactly those sources of energy are removed too early, then the tree can’t develop. In the worst case, it dies a slow death.”

Walter continued from above…”2009-01: A deciduous tree can be much better evaluated without its leaves. It is now apparent that the center tree ought to be much thicker and somewhat higher. The previous owner didn’t achieve much by many years of pinching. It looks rather poorly developed. The pot by Bryan Albright seems over powering.”

“The numerous leaves produce lots of energy in the form of carbohydrates that moves downwards through the branches and is deposited in the branches, the trunk, and finally the roots. The result is that branches and trunk thicken, that the surface roots – the nebari – also thicken, and that the roots grow strongly. At the same time, many new visible and dormant buds develop. The entire system “tree” is strengthened and it has good reserves for any setbacks. A radical cutback is such a setback.

In Central European climate about six to eight weeks after the first flush, in our area from the middle of May to the beginning of June, the tree is then cut back with big sheers to its previous silhouette. It is irrelevant where exactly it is being cut, or if any leaves are cut. This actually ought to occur as a partial leave pruning will allow light and air into the crown of the tree. All other growth inside the silhouette is not touched but strengthened with this method. And the tree is strongly encouraged to bud out again.”

The final photo in Walter's article

Walter continued from above… “2013-02: The tree was repotted into a very suitable pot by Walter Venne from Germany. The results of the development thus far are quite presentable. But is is by far not the end of the development. Much has changed in five growth periods, yet the work continues as before. In another five years the tree will be better again. The drawback, however, will be that he tree is not really presentable during much of that time.”

The above comments and photos are just a sampling from Walter Pall’s ground-breaking article on his hedge-cutting method.

The following photos are not by Walter

Podocarpus macrophylla by Jim Smith. My best guess is that Jim used his own hedge shearing method to develop this tree. Photo is from The Art of Bonsai Project

Our Sword shears work quite well for the hedge cutting method

SUMMER SELL DOWN SALE ENDS SOON 
We're at 25% off orders 100.00 or more
and that's as far as we'll go
Don't wait or you'll miss out 
to qualify you need to enter: 25 OFF
when you check out

Japanese maple before and aftre by Walter Pall. Because the before is without foliage and the after is in full fall foliage, it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Still, you get the idea

World famous bonsai artist and entertainer Walter Pall put up 38 photos in this series which he calls Japanese maple 6. I'll take it at face value, though if you look through all 38 photos, you might think there's more than one tree there. I won't say much more except I would encourage you to take a look (on his fb timeline) and see what you think

After

 Somewhere along the way, it looked like this

SUMMER SELL DOWN SALE AT STONE LANTERN
 We started at 20% off all orders 100.00 or more
Right now we're at 25% off orders 100.00 or more
We might stop here or we might continue
But don't wait or you'll miss out on some items
to qualify you need to enter: 25 OFF
when you check out

Just picked up these two beauties off Bill Valavanis' fb timeline. We've shown both of these Maple masterpieces before, but these are the latest iterations. So much of bonsai is about maintaining and improving what we already have, and in that regard, it's hard not to notice and respect what Bill has been doing with his bonsai for last 100 years (well, maybe 50)

 Bill working a Green T Mini Turntable. By the way, you can pick one up at this weekends National Shohin Exhibition (see yesterday's Bark post) or you can order yours here 

I borrowed this sturdy little Trident maple from International Bonsai's registration page for the 2019 U.S. National Shohin Exhibition. 

Uh oh. Looks like I almost let this year's U.S. National Shohin Exhibition slip by without giving you a heads up. It's a big event with a great reputation. The right place to be for any bonsai lover

If you're anywhere near NC it's not to late to point your car toward Kannapolis. Here's a link for the registration page on International Bonsai. And here's your link to Bill Valavanis fb timeline for more information

Another photo from the Exhibition's registration page 

You don't see trees like this everyday. Or pots like this for that matter

Today's photos are all from Luutruongson Bonsai in Hanoi, Vietnam, a country that, according to Robert Steven has a bonsai in every other house. Perhaps Robert exaggerates, or maybe not. Either way, you get the idea

In addition to how rugged and unique that trees are, you might notice the pots. Many are strikingly unusual and would add interest to any bonsai collection. If you could figure out how to display them without overwhelming the rest of your bonsai

A little tamer than most of the trees shown here, with its well balanced twin trunks, but it still shows that same ruggedness

Speaking of unique pots...

 Is this tree crawling along the ground?

A little change of pace. Wild and rugged to be sure, but a little more conventional in overall shape 

The tree at top of the post in situ 

*Yamadori are bonsai collected from the wild 

Closeup of the tree above

Twister. Rocky Mountain Juniper, estimated age 250-500. Collected by Randy Knight. Pot by Sara Rayner. Styling by Ryan Neil. Available for purchase at Bonsai Mirai
 

6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album

Bill Valavanis working on one of our
New Green T Mini Bonsai Turntables 
Bill is the driving force behind all 6 National Bonsai Exhibitions
and the Albums

Green Balance Bonsai Fertilizer Pellets

Green Dream is gone. But don't despair, our New Green Balance fertilizer is an excellent replacement at a much better price
Green Balance fertilizer pellets release nutrients evenly
over a 6 to 8 week period
Formulated to encourage healthy controlled growth on established bonsai, with emphasis on development of roots, nebari trunks, and branches with short internodes and small leaves

Green Growth Bonsai Fertilizer Pellets

 Our New Green Growth fertilizer pellets release nutrients
evenly over a 6 to 8 week period
Formulated to encourage rapid growth on young bonsai and pre-bonsai

The following prices apply to both
Green Balance and Green Growth fertilizers

1 lb bags 10.00
2 lb bags  16.00
8 lb bags  48.00

 FREE Shipping for Continental U.S. Orders 50.00 or more

Back on the leash. This is a good example of a maintenance before and after. The basic shape has long been established and refined and now after a period of unrestrained growth* it's time to bring it back into shape 

The following quote is Tyler Sherrod recalling this famous tree from his apprentice days with Shinji Suzuki...
"This memory popped up from 4 years ago. Probably the best Needle juniper in the world. It resides at Shinji Suzuki's Bonsai Nursery in Obuse, Japan. It's this time of year, when the new growth has hardened off, that we cut back these junipers. Tweezers are used to comb out the long foliage, then the "painstaking" task of cutting them back into profile. What a pleasure it was to be in the presence of this ancient tree"

This original before shot provides a peek into a Japanese bonsai workshop. I'm particularly impressed with the microwave and cups arrangement

After. In all its glory

The photos and quote in this post were borrowed from Tyler Sherrod's fb timeline

*periodically letting an established bonsai 'off the leash' so it can regain its vitality, is important for long term health

This Rocky mountain juniper has that natural simplicity that's not as easy to achieve as you might think. So natural that you can easily envision it growing on a mountain side at 9,000 feet in the Rockies.  It was posted by Todd Schlafer

A few days ago we posted a remarkable Colorado blue spruce that Todd Schlafer had a significant hand in developing, so it seems like a good time to take a look at some more of what Todd's been up to. If you'd like to see even more, Here's Todd on fb and here's his less up to date First Branch Bonsai website 

Close up for a better look at the trunk and pot

 Another of Todd's Rocky mountain junipers

Here's that Colorado blue spruce that we featured a few days ago. I think it's worth another look and besides,  I forgot to mention Austin Heitzman who built the perfect stand for this perfect tree. Austin was commissioned by Loren Buxton, the owner of the tree

Close up for a better look at the trunk and especially the wonderful pot