8th National Bonsai Exhibition Retrospective

Every other year, all the greatest bonsai artists in the Unites States gather in Rochester, New York to display some of the most amazing works bonsai enthusiasts can lay their eyes on. The 8th edition of this event happened the weekend of September 9-10, 2023. Hosted by the legendary owner of the International Bonsai Arboretum, William N. Valavanis is the premiere and one of the largest bonsai shows in the United States. 

45th Annual Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition August 18-20, 2023

Member tress from the PSBS did an outstanding job at the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition.  Click below to view more photos of our trees at the exhibition.

PSBS News

Rick Manning

In Memory of Arlene Knapp

I met Arlene 35 years ago at Ivan Watters’s house on the north side of Chicago, where he was teaching Bonsai. We were starting out in Bonsai and took classes

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Rick Manning

Things to do in March 2024

THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH Outdoor: The situation here is the same as it was last month. Leave trees in winter for protection and water as needed. Do not fertilize.

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New videos from select Bonsai YouTube Channels

Transforming Bonsai

In this video Crispin brings in a number of his personal bonsai that need some attention. ——————————————— Order My ‘Bonsai

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Pine Bonsai – Seasonal Species Guide | Bonsai-U

JOIN BONSAI-U https://bjornbjorholm.com/bonsai-u-membership/ JAPAN TOURS https://www.bjornbjorholm.com/tours/ INTENSIVE SCHOOL https://bjornbjorholm.com/school/ VISIT EISEI-EN https://bjornbjorholm.com/contact/ NEW MERCH AVAILABLE HERE https://bjornbjorholm.com/merch/ Visit our website

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Prairie State Videos

Urban Yamadori: Collected Bonsai Tree Second Styling – Part 2

Prairie State Bonsai Society September 21, 2023 2:50 pm

Other News

blog – Michael Hagedorn New Post on Crataegus Bonsai

  • Uncovering A Nebari—
    by crataegus on March 26, 2024 at 12:00 pm

    How to grow a nebari is often talked about. And it should be. The timing and method of uncovering a developing nebari is phase two. In this example we uncover a Red Maple nebari overgrown with fine roots and moss. Red Maple with a good nebari already. If the roots are not buried a bit,

  • Making Bonsai Pancakes with Peter Tea
    by J W on March 14, 2024 at 2:30 pm

    If you don’t know Peter, one of our most accomplished young bonsai artists, you’re in for a treat. And if you do know Peter, you’re still in for a treat. One thing that jumps out for me with this remarkable tree, is the well developed ramification all the way out to the tips of the twigs. Here’s Peter Tea’s caption, “The deciduous work begins! Defoliated this Korean Hornbeam and a slight thinning and cut back.” Another one with good ramification. Here’s Peter’s caption, “Ramified Seiju Elm in a Sara Rayner pot! It’s going to get a repot in February.” Here’s what Peter wrote about this tree, “Chinese quince getting more refined! The roots are also starting to fuse and we’ll show more of that in the next repotting. Graft I did in early 2023 up top is growing and looking forward to fill the hole there. Pacific Bonsai Expo 202?” I’m looking forward to seeing this tree in few years after Peter has worked some of his magic. Here’s what he has to say about it, “Japanese flowering apricot is blooming at the garden! We’re going to graft a few branches closer to the interior in March and dense this guy up!” We’ll let Peter do the talking, “Eli, Max and myself headed down to the Bonsai Garden in Lake Merritt and repotted this 1500+ year old California Juniper. It took three of us to lift the tree out of the pot and we were able to get the tree into a smaller oval pot.” By the way, Lake Merritt in Oakland CA is the home of the Golden State Bonsai Federation’s bonsai garden.  Here’s Peter’s story with one, “Eli and I making some pancakes! Repotted a number of Black pines in big nursery containers. Whipped out the Sawzall to take slices of the rootball away to save time. Once we got close to the roots we planned to keep, we went at it with hand tools.”  Peter’s caption for this one, I purchased this Seiju elm back in 2017 at an auction and the first thing I did was cut all the branches to stubs and repotted it into a smaller pot.  I did this because the branches were very leggy and pot was huge! After a few years of branch development I sold it to a client of mine and has been under his care for the last 5 years. He has since decided to downsize his collection and now the Elm has retuned to the garden! The tree is now just starting to bud out due to warm days in Sacramento last week. I plan to continue its branch development and hope to show it in the future! 🤩 The tree stand right at 17inches tall.” One more by Peter and it’s a doozy. Here’s what he wrote, “Rebuilding this funky little Black Pine! Looking forward to a good 2024 and the continued refinement of this tree.  “I feel like I should give this tree a name. What do you think?”   Sources:Peter Tea on FBPeter’s websiteGSBS Bonsai Garden at Lake MerrittPeter Tea on Bonsai Bark

Bonsaiplace Creativity Through Bonsai

  • Guy Wires for Old Bonsai Maples
    by Bonsaiplace on March 22, 2024 at 10:32 pm

    Someone recently asked about the use of guy wires in Bonsai. I find that guy wires are particularly useful when used on older Maple trees. The branches are very brittle and not flexible at all (the older ones). The tree in the photos is a prime examples of this. Two branches were lost over the … Continue reading Guy Wires for Old Bonsai Maples →

Bonsai Tonight An educational website about bonsai development

  • Early spring work
    by Jonas Dupuich on March 17, 2024 at 7:52 pm

    If you ask me what my favorite time of year in the garden is, I’ll say early spring, right after repotting. It’s the one time of year when everything looks good and there’s little work to do. Or so I used to think. In recent years, I’ve found that spring is a busy time for

Growing Bonsai Grow your own miniature tree