What you must remember is that bonsai are just small trees or shrubs. Because of this, they will act in exactly the same way as other trees around at this time of the year. Most will become dormant and drop their leaves until the weather warms up again in spring. Even needle type trees such as pines or junipers will become dormant and stop growing.

The only difference is that the needles (in most cases) will stay on the tree. There are always exceptions to the rule where the leaves will stay on and the needles will fall off. It’s best to identify your bonsai to find out what it will do this year.

On Saturday I decided it was time to style the box tree and place it in a pot. Mainly to do with having not much else to do but also because it was looking ready for styling.

Here it is in the growing bed before the repot. I’ve put the flash on so that you can see the branch structure better -

Here is the angle from the back in the growing bed of the box tree -

I uprooted the tree and gave the roots a soaking under the tap followed by a vigorous trim. It was fitted into it’s small new pot and new soil mix was added making sure all the gaps around the roots were filled. I added some moss around the base of the trunk for effect and watered again.
After that was the simple process of trimming a lot of excess branches off to give a pleasing look to it. Finally I fully wired the tree into a more twisted position until I found it perfect. Here is the result -

Total time to create: about 45 minutes

Enjoy.

Bonsai can look very beautiful if not even more so when they start to drop their leaves. First the leaves will change colour becoming lovely red, yellow, orange or brown colours. Now your work for the full year will become easy to see showing off the shape and beauty of the tree at it’s utmost.

Some people like to pick off old dying leaves but I like to keep them on the bonsai for as long as they want to stay there because they can give the tree a full new look and colour. This should be savoured because it only comes by once a year.

When the leaves drop off completely in the Winter, you will be able to see the branch structure of the tree. This is the time when you can have a little think about what direction you want to take it in when the new season starts in Spring.

I like to look around to see which trees lose their leaves first in Autumn. The first one I’ve spotted to lose leaves is the ‘Rowan’ or ‘Mountain Ash’ whose leaves died a few weeks ago already at the end of August. Second in turn has been the ‘Horse Chestnut’

Have a look around your area to see which ones die back first.

Looking through the many amazing photos of the trees they all seem so perfect and almost unreal even.
I tried to pick the best part to post on here for you to look at but they are all as good as each other. So here are the full list to the photos:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Make sure you check back his blog often because he does some very neat stuff there!

I’m glad to say it’s going perfectly and could end up being one of my best looking bonsai to date! It’s still very small (about 2-3 inches) and is putting out loads of shoots. It’s had time to grow through the spring and summer and is looking pretty good. Have a look for yourself!

Original post here

- If you have monkey poles you should make sure that the pots are either tied down or place them on the floor while it is windy.

- Try to place exposed trees in more sheltered areas to minimize the risk of damage

- Look above for rotted branches in full sized trees. These can easily snap off in high winds and crush a poor bonsai!

- Resist the temptation to bring the trees indoors as this can do more harm than good with the extreme change in climate.

- Finally… Go and find a big open field and fly a kite in it.

tell me all you know so that I can be a master

Well unfortunately there is a lot to say about learning the full art of bonsai and becoming a master! However there are many different secrets to create on old looking tree without having to sit around for years waiting for it to grow. I bought a fantastic ebook called “Bonsai Gardening Secrets” a little while back which taught me a lot of new tricks. Although I did know quite a few of them already from studying bonsai for the past however many years!

The book is also perfect for beginners as it gives a full A-Z guide full of everything you need to know about bonsai. There is also two interesting free ebooks with it at the moment which I didn’t get when I bought it as the offer wasn’t on at the time.
One called “The Guide To Indoor Bonsai” and the other called “Your First Bonsai Tree: A Buyer’s Guide”.

To see the book and what it has to offer Click Here!