New World Bonsai

A big thanks to BSF, all the volunteers, and everyone for coming out to the 2026 state wide show.

Today is the last day of sales and there are still a few gems left at my tables!

Deciduous can take a long time to grow and heal the trunk but then it's a flury of work to build the rest!

This sarusuberi or monkey slip was already ready for another wiring after about five weeks.

Photo series show the tree from today in May -> April -> December 25'

The Shuchu study group tackled two Trident maple this past weekend. We collectively talked about how to advance each tree to excentuate its best qualities.

The first maple, was a root over rock that we decided was basically ready to trunk chop. The top was air layered and then we added an approach graft to speed up this transition. This tree will be trained much lower to frame the rock with the a dramatic left branch hanging quite low.

The second maple was grown by Cliff Potberg in Florida and is roughly 30 years old. Although the trunk is a little funny and has some flaws we decided the age of the trunk was more important than trunk chopping to fix its flaws and increase taper. The final vision is penjing-esque, bringing the key branch dramatically down. We also drew inspiration from some of the less traditional but incredible maple Mr. Tanaka has grown.

Just a quick announcement for all Shuchu bonsai study group members. This month we will meet on the 14th and 15th.

Lastly, in lieu of a monthly newsletter I've made a Shuchu compendium (linked below) with a care calendar to help you pick which trees to bring at each months meetup. I'll continue to update this compendium and would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Thank you!

The Shuchu Study Group Compendium This Compendium is a regularly updated resource for the Shuchu study group. Soil is always available at each meeting 3/8" to 1/4" pumice 1/4" to fines black lava The following calendar will help you determine which trees should be brought in for work at each meeting. January Repotting all cold hardy...