• Deciduous multi-trunk cascade

    How do we style traditional bonsai without being traditional? Sometimes moving ahead and exploring new forms of bonsai art isn’t groundbreaking but just subtle changes that make a difference. This week’s live stream will explore a new idea I came up with some weeks ago.…

  • Shohin Deshojo maple

    The Deshojo maple with its wonderful purple-red leaves is a pure joy to watch. Now naked the tree stands as every other maple, and shows no difference noticeable. The Deshojo is for spring and autumn exhibitions when the colors are full. Often we speak about…

  • Bonsai green season

    It is the bonsai green season. The colour change on the Mountain maples (acer palmatum) is clear from day to day. It’s the growing season taking over. Gallery at the bottom of this post. Delayed very much this season, yes. But finally, some of the…

  • Color shifts

    Color shifts of the autumn keeps amazing me. Year after year I am flabbergasted by the beauty the leaves produces. Especially puzzling is when the same species changing colors weeks apart. Where some Japanese maples, Acer palmatum, are in yellow, red and orange clothings, others…

  • From trash to Shohin Bonsai

    At travel to Japan back in 2005, I stumbled upon a small Japanese pre-bonsai maple. It was placed awkwardly on an almost hidden table like it was dumped. And it was. The owner of the bonsai nursery in Takamatsu has dismissed it as potential future…

  • Spring rain

    It has been pouring cats and dogs all Easter, so it is surprising that the trees are still going on with their spring thing despite cold and wet weather. It has been a very mild winter, so everything seems to be pushed forward by this,…

  • Top 5 bonsai – Japanese maple

    In this small series about my favourite bonsai specimens, it is about the classic Japanese maple. It is so obvious a tree for Shohin bonsai that I can’t neglect it at the list. The shifting kind of leaves, is the Acer palmatum and A. buergerianum have…