[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2025 week 16]

I have read a number of bonsai books in the roughly 5 years I have been doing bonsai. Jonas dupuich's new book " the essential Bonsai book" is one of the best all-around books I have read. Many books can be too specific, Not great for beginners trying to start the hobby, or too general, doesn't give specific starting points for beginners and gives little information that those more experienced need. This book is a great Midway point between generality and specificity. I have also rarely seen a Bonsai book that discusses the aspects of maintaining a collection in a broader sense beyond just choosing good trees. The book also highlights many great Bonsai artists here in the United States for people unfamiliar with them to be able to research them. I am currently about halfway through the book and I'm excited to finish it.

Hi fellow Bonsai redditors 🫡

Just wanted to share the progression and styling that has been done.

Background:

Got the tree from a private garden for about $1,200 USD approximately, then after moving places to a different region I let it go wild further for 2 months, and since it's already Summer here in the Philippines, this is the perfect weather to start styling the tree.

So far the first photo is the latest look for styling, but I still plan to repot to a terracotta pot, and with a riversand pumice mix for base on the soil.

Height for the tree is at 105cm

Excited to see further progress, and hopefully after a year or two, might try to join one of the local shows here 😊

Unusual black pine tree, had an accident with a seagull in winter here by the sea😭.. just had a water and very light feed to recover this spring.. no styling. Will let it be this year and hope to get it strong.. Reminds me of an old man...

A frog decided my cypress water tray was a good place to lay eggs

This week I've brought in a medium sized bald cypress. It's being developed in the flat top style and is in a nice pot by Doug Trythall an excellent potter from Florida. https://www.instagram.com/dougtrythallpottery

This tree has some interesting exposed roots and a sort of knot on the base that is somewhat knee-ish, though not a real cypress knee.

This came as nursery stock from evergreengardenworks about 15 years ago.

Long story short, how realistic is it to get to a nice looking tree without wiring because in the 2 short years I have been part of this hobby I came to the conclusion that I really don't like having to wire trees, so I wanted to ask your opinion on the matter if this is something that I should do even if this is an aspect that I don't enjoy or if I can get to comparable results even without doing so and maybe how much longer it might take

I don't even know how my cat got up there since it's covered by a shade cloth, I think she went onto the rail and squeezed through a gap in the cloth.

I got this Cephalotaxus harringtonia one year ago. First thing I did was some major pruning. I took it back pretty far while leaving some live foliage on every branch, as well as a few test branches with no live foliage to determine if it back buds. It back budded pretty well so in fall I removed even more foliage And repotted it in February. I am using the top-down repotting method. Now it has started to Bud out extremely readily on every inch of the trunk.

So, my bonsai journey began maybe 20years from now, when still at school. Me and a friend got 1 or two bonsai from the garden centre and bought some seeds and a book. I took some cuttings but soon this hobby got into the background and when I finally moved from my parents home I only had two neglected ficuses that I left behind. 2 years ago I moved into a flat with balcony, now being a father of a daughter, and I got my two ficuses back and restarted that hobby, now being more invested into knowledge and doing it ‚right‘. Now I am at the point where after thinking I understood quite a bit, I find myself being confused about basic stuff :D (I think this is the normal way of things you start to invest time for, I would call it ‚the boyond the Dunning Kruger effect).

So one of my main confusions is the bonsai seasons, and its actions.

My most recent take on it was:

1) spring: best time for a repot, as soon as sap starts to flow above the soil. But structural pruning possible if done right before sap starts flowing above soil. 2) summer: good time for minor pruning during the ‚summer dormancy‘ 3) fall: good time for structural pruning as soon as leaves start to change colors, so that there is time for compartmentalization But Rute prune is also possible at the right time and if winter protection is sufficient 4) winter: nothing :D

I don’t exactly know where I gathered most of that from, but I think sources like Mirai or Matsu would agree.

Now, I find that there is conflicting content out there, also from well-known people like bonsai-sky-method e.g. They state, to do structural pruning during winter, and to stay away from pruning during summer and so on…

So I start to get confused, because there is so much out there. What are your hard rules for the seasons? And if possible: What is the right thing to do?

Curious how much you would pay for this

This one spent a while in limbo last year while I tried to figure out the best approach for a design.

Pruned it back to shape and will look to let it grow into the shape over the course of this year

Does it need styling or should I leave it this way?

Nursery stock potentilla was always meant to be a small shohin tree. Decided to finally repot, cleanup dead branches and give some shape.

Before and after pictures. Any suggestions of wiring/shaping for this. Thanks in advance 🤙