New World Bonsai

Abstract style Brazilian Rain Tree progress shot. Last photo is from 2023, what a change.

I'm hesitant to label this tree as a cosmic style tree because I'm pinching the ends (as opposed to continually wiring new elongations) and will make pads eventually. I also acknowledged there is a lot more for me to learn about the cosmic style from first principles to the finer details.

At any rate, it's always good to experiment, give yourself a (wiring) challenge, and explore new territories. Advancements often come from unexpected places where disparate fields overlap and crash into one another. So I wonder, what new things will you be trying next?

Let's grow more native bonsai! This American hornbeam has been in bonsai training for over a decade and has some awesome subtle fluting and character that only time can craft.

This native muscadine grape went through the mercurial 25' Winter season and lost a few branches as a result. My area experienced a roughly 50F temperature swing in few days. This appears to be the reason for die back on many young branches of typically very cold hardy trees.

My joke is that every year you grow bonsai you'll have a brand new problem to figure out. So for that seems to hold true.

Photos from May and then before the major cold in 25'.

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.

Had an incredible time at Larry's place in Dallas. I was lucky enough to be able to snag a beautiful one seed juniper and some Jim Barrett pots.

Thanks so much for having me out. I'm excited for the world to see more of your collected trees in the future!