Yearly Archives: 2022

THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH Outdoor: This is a time to be preparing for the coming winter. Decide where and how you will protect your trees; mulch bed, cold storage house, cold greenhouse, etc. Acquire any needed materials now so you are not caught without needed supplies when it is time to store the trees. Keep trees outdoors on cool fall nights. Do not bring winter-hardy trees indoors. Adjust watering to the changing temperatures. The soil is likely to stay damp longer on cool days, particularly cloudy days. Fertilization…

WOOD-FIRED STONEWARE BONSAI POTS Wood-fired means these pots were fired by hand in a wood-fired kiln after loading the wares into the kiln and bricking up the door. You begin a small fire in the firebox, which you build up very slowly. At the start, you are aiming for about 50-100 degrees per hour for the first 16 to 18 hours. After 24 hours, the temperature reaches 1950 - 2400 degrees. The last firing we did, we fired for 41 hours. During this firing, we burned two cords of…

FEATURED TREE Pinus ThunbergiiJAPANESE BLACK PINEType: Japanese Black Pine is an evergreen conifer and is considered to be a two-needle variety of the Pinaceae genus.  Style: Any style except broom.Summer Placement: Full Sun. Spray foliage on hot days. Winter Placement: Protect against severe frost and cold winds.Watering: Water when soil becomes dry. Water sparingly in winter.Feeding: Every three to four weeks during the growing season.  Use acid-based fertilizers such as Miracle Grow. If you choose to feed more frequently remember to fertilize weakly weekly.  Use organic fertilizer cakes on more refined trees. Wiring: Wire in late…

By: Mark Skipworth, August 3, 2020 I am a beginner at bonsai. I joined Prairie State Bonsai last fall (Sept ?) with no prior experience. My first tree was a juniper left over from a bunch I bought for my son’s yard. (The Home Depot, originally $20 on half price clearance). I blissfully started chopping off branches one Saturday in October but stopped when I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I called a member of the club who graciously agreed to look at my mess…

Where did the summer go??  All of a sudden it is Labor Day with the nights getting cooler and people discussing bringing in their tropicals for the winter! We have three more General Membership meetings before our Christmas Party in December.  Let’s have fun while we get ready for a well-earned rest. August Shows: As predicted, August was a great month for bonsai.  PSBS presented its bonsai show at the Destination Asia Festival at the Morton Arboretum.  Thank you to the many members who showed trees, or worked at…

Craig Cronquist A few thoughts about what NOT to do. My first couple years I used a shoplight fixture with two Sylvania GroLux tubes suspended over my tropicals on a table in a west-facing window (only window available to me). It was not very bright and the trees barely made it through the winter. In January 2016, I purchased a Sun System Grow Light system using a high pressure sodium 150 watt bulb (16,000 lumens) from Brew & Grow in Roselle. I was referred to Brew & Grow by…

in Northeastern Zones By Pauline F Muth of PFM Bonsai Studio Reprinted with permission In the traditional sense of bonsai, there are no indoor bonsai. Bonsai artists created their masterpieces from the local species that could remain outside year round in their climate. Modern houses generally are not suitable for the growth of bonsai. Yet people today want to grow their trees inside their homes; so specialized botanical knowledge that allows people to grow houseplants must be learned and modified to work with bonsai. If we remember that the…

THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH Outdoor & Indoor:Watering is still a critical job at this time of year. Trees can dry very quickly on hot days. The roots can be damaged or even killed when the soil stays dry for too long, which can have devastating effects on your tree. Now is the time to switch to a low nitrogen fertilizer. The soil should be moist before the fertilizer is applied. Now is the time when trees prepare themselves for winter. Trunks and branches will thicken as materials are…

Tree of a Thousand Stars Serissa Foetida Type:  Subtropical evergreen that is native to southern China and southeast Asia.  Grown as an indoor bonsai in temperate parts of the world. These small shrubs are much loved as bonsai for their tiny flowers which may occur 2-3 times yearly, gnarled trunks, and naturally miniature leaves. Most bonsai are S. foetida, of which many cultivars are available. Serissa is a notoriously fussy bonsai. The good news is that they aren’t that hard to keep alive. But considering that most people buy…

Bonsai is celebrated across the Chicago metropolitan area during the month of August! Each year in August, we enjoy some of the most important and exciting weekends for Chicago area bonsai enthusiasts. Our event is held this year on August 5, 6, and 7 at Morton Arboretum, as the Prairie State Bonsai Society presents our bonsai show, workshops, and demonstrations as participants in the Arboretum’s Destination Asia Festival. The second event is held at the Chicago Botanic Garden, with our friends at the Midwest Bonsai Society presenting the 44th…