Recent content by Brian Van Fleet

Night shot of some fall color.

Trident Maple, Ino pot, last night…

First, to me the image on the left is better bonsai material than the image on the right, so in my opinion it has regressed. I’ve done it too. Second, repotting into a narrower, deeper container will not “get the roots in order” since bonsai pots are typically wider and shallow. This is...

You didn’t ask, and I hope your tree makes it, but my experience with beech is similar to @Gabler: they are unforgiving to training, need to be allowed to develop slowly, and they will punish efforts to be pushed like they are a maple. Like mine did, yours has regressed over the years. Out of...

Was this recent work, as in repotted in December into the smaller, deeper pot, carved and wired?

Then how are you here?🤣

Good to see ya back at it, Al. Looking forward to seeing some updates from your collection.

We’ve been meaning to tell you….and there’s no easy way to say it…but… 😂😂😂

He’s a pretty smart fella.😂

Looks great Serg! Definitely has a big tree presence.

I don’t think they come back after a few freezes in a pot.

Y’all make me jealous. These are my favorite accent plants but I always seem to forget to bring them in when it gets cold outside.

Thanks Rob, good to hear from ya.

Thread-grafting is a good solution in this case. You can stick a new branch anywhere you want it and it will reliably make it.

Cutting candles weakens the tree a little overall because this year’s needles are the most efficient, and you’re removing them in the peak of the growing season. Leaving them helps strengthen the tree overall, even though the outer and upper shoots are strongest, the weaker and interior shoots...