tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83963914198402254342026-03-27T07:03:07.243-04:00Some bonsai experiences and projects that I hope will be of interest.Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-42324878329881189052021-12-19T22:28:00.012-05:002021-12-21T19:01:24.168-05:00

(Members of the Ft. Wayne Bonsai Club will have seen this material already, with some different wording, in a recent "Stuff from Steve".) “Stronger at the broken place.” Have you heard that expression? It comes from the world of medicine, and has to do with the healing of a broken bone. If the broken ends of a bone are close enough to each other and the bone is otherwise healthy, those

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-18765836281148801502021-10-08T23:58:00.001-04:002021-10-09T00:07:01.511-04:00

      Regular readers have seen pictures of this tree before. It's a ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, collected by Andy Smith in 2017. I bought it from Andy in August 2019 and styled it with his assistance. It was repotted in the spring of 2020, and grew well for the rest of that year and into this one. Here's a picture after repotting. Please forgive the cluttered background in

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-42357905299062741052021-09-13T23:37:00.001-04:002021-09-13T23:37:11.098-04:00

     Those who have been to the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition know that when you enter the Regenstein Center thru its front doors, you pass down an entrance hall to the doors of the exhibition space itself. This year, someone decided to put a row of bonsai down the center of the entrance hall, giving the visitor a foretaste of what waited for them at the end. I think it

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-40398914723719694402021-09-06T22:26:00.001-04:002021-09-06T22:26:08.392-04:00

 (With a nod to Charles Dickens.)     When you first enter the exhibition hall where the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition is held, your eye is guided straight through the room to a double tokonoma which holds the Best of Show and Best of Show Professional. This year was the first time in roughly 30 years of attending that I saw two trees of the same species in those places of

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-47945839836750214132020-11-22T23:05:00.004-05:002020-11-22T23:07:23.796-05:00

      In February I wrote a post about a Christmas visit to Wigert's Bonsai, thanks to the generosity of our daughter Kira and her husband Trent. I included as many pictures as I reasonably could, because sometimes, a picture really is worth 1,000 words when it comes to getting across what a place is like. But there was one picture I had not taken, and, I discovered, no one

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-50959702472306002092020-11-15T22:55:00.003-05:002020-11-23T16:36:32.124-05:00

     That could have summed up my reaction a few weeks ago, when I heard Ryan Neil say that trees and shrubs photosynthesize through their bark as well as their foliage. They don’t photosynthesize as much through their bark, but they still do it. This has a number of implications for fall and winter care of temperate-zone trees.(Readers of the Fort Wayne Bonsai Club newsletter

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-52631063808850430082020-04-23T22:08:00.003-04:002020-04-23T22:17:29.309-04:00

     The ponderosa featured in my last post is not only the largest of my pines, but with an estimated age closer to 50 years than 45, it is also the oldest and most mature. Here is the youngest and the smallest. I haven't yet identified its species. One year old. The trunk is about twice as thick as a pencil lead. About a year ago, my wife accompanied our oldest daughter

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-6576427802039055762020-04-14T00:39:00.000-04:002020-04-23T21:06:57.928-04:00

     In my last post, I mentioned the yamadori ponderosa that I intended to repot the following day. I bought this Pinus ponderosa from Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai last summer. Andy collected it in 2017, and estimated it to be 40 years old at the time of collection. In August 2019 he brought the tree with him when he visited Fort Wayne to lead a B.Y.O.T. workshop (

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-12927012911355523512020-04-07T01:07:00.000-04:002020-04-07T01:07:09.516-04:00

Hard akadama, maximum particle size about 5 mm.           Since my first blog post about akadama two years ago, I think I can safely say that my understanding of the subject has become a little more nuanced. In particular, I've learned more about akadama use in a climate like mine: temperate, freezing temperatures in winter, 40 inches of precipitation in an average

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-133528186961283162020-02-08T22:57:00.000-05:002020-02-08T23:08:36.385-05:00

     One of our older girls and her husband, Kira and Trent, flew my wife Princene, our youngest NaevEnya, and me to south Florida for a few days as a Christmas gift. While there, we were able to visit Wigert's Bonsai, about a 30-minute drive away. I'd already gotten one tree from Wigert's online store. Now I was able to see the place in person! Wigert's Bonsai raises and

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-49945799565603827212019-08-31T22:25:00.000-04:002019-08-31T22:25:03.275-04:00

     Ecological scientists tell us that amphibians, such as frogs, toads and salamanders, are much like the proverbial canary in the coal mine: they give early warning. If there is an ecological problem, those creatures are affected  before almost any other animals. If they start disappearing, you know something is wrong in the local ecology. Conversely, a healthy population

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-48093379093970498292019-06-04T00:36:00.001-04:002019-06-04T00:36:19.246-04:00

     One year when I was away at university, my father sent me a birthday check with a note instructing me to use the money for something I really wanted, but couldn't quite afford to buy. I don't remember now what I used the money for, but what my dad said in his note has stuck with me. Any more, ask me what I want for Christmas or a birthday and I'll apply Dad's criteria. So

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-22469183665816598692019-05-15T00:30:00.000-04:002019-06-01T12:40:33.670-04:00

     If you wonder "who is this posting on Steve Moore's bonsai blog", I don't blame you! It has been a while. Suffice it to say that for more than a year, we have been dealing not only with the multiple aspects of moving into a new home (most of which are now behind us), but also matters having to do with another house in which we once lived. But those are now also, and finally,

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     At least, it's new to me. And it's also new in the sense of being different from other training pots - different enough to be granted a patent. The pot is made in Austria by an outfit called "Kristen & Zahalka", possibly the patent holders. I bought mine online from Stone Lantern, a vendor I consider worthy of repeat business. (More on both a bit later.) The

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-77442018524565777472018-11-19T00:38:00.000-05:002018-11-19T00:44:34.968-05:00

     I could almost title this post, "Learning some things in spite of a mistake." The mistake I refer to was my own. I'll get to the reason I could say that, in a little bit. If you're like me, wiring is one bonsai technique that is often more challenging than most others. Explanations and demonstrations can only teach so much: in the end, one has to buckle down and practice

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-12605745354233502382018-06-11T00:02:00.000-04:002018-06-11T00:02:33.953-04:00

     A couple of months ago, I set up a small greenhouse to moderate conditions for my hardy trees. (Here's that post.) After the weather finally decided that spring was really here after all, the greenhouse became a suitable temporary home for my tropical trees while my hardy trees went onto (also temporary) racks elsewhere. I'm planning an outdoor bonsai enclosure on our new

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     I've never had one of my potted pines produce seed cones before. I've seen pollen cones on my yamadori ponderosas (Pinus ponderosa) a couple of times, including this spring. I'm glad to see them because, besides being visually interesting, they indicate that the tree is at least in reasonably good health. But if that's not a seed cone developing on a branch tip of my

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     Fort Wayne, Indiana, has sister-city arrangements with several cities in other countries, including Takaoka, Japan. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival is one element in Fort Wayne's ongoing efforts to acquaint its people with things Japanese. And the Fort Wayne Bonsai Club has a presence at the Festival each year, displaying trees, selling bonsai-related items, and

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-43652630732244466962018-03-26T22:56:00.004-04:002018-03-27T22:37:04.206-04:00

     ... over, and over, and over again. So it has been for much of the last several weeks. Days with highs above freezing followed by nights with lows below freezing, one after another, are almost starting to feel like "the new normal!" This weather pattern has been playing merry hob with my temperate-zone trees' spring responses. My American larch is typical, I think:

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-86929997007765173142018-03-11T00:49:00.004-05:002018-03-11T14:12:05.978-04:00

     A friend of mine once remarked that for some people bonsai is a pastime, while for others it is a passion. If a six-year bonsai contest won't show who's passionate about the art of bonsai, I don't know what will! That's what the Bonsai Nut forum recently launched: a competition to see who can grow the most bonsai-worthy Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) from seed over

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-79545863395029416202018-02-07T23:52:00.000-05:002018-02-09T22:02:00.292-05:00

     If you're like me, you've wondered that more than once. Articles in bonsai magazines, professionals giving talks, bonsai blogs and websites, all urge us to use akadama in our potting mixes. And testimonials back up the claim that our trees’ root systems will thank us if we do. But akadama is expensive (partly because outside of Japan it must be imported.) Is it worth the

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-61429555425326956712018-01-06T23:33:00.000-05:002018-01-06T23:33:06.237-05:00

     Many of us are practicing bonsai on a budget. There are different reasons. Maybe our budget will only stretch so far. Maybe other pursuits are higher in our personal priorities than bonsai. (I'll forgive you.) Maybe we don't want to spend a lot on bonsai material until our skills improve. Many in the bonsai world are familiar with the name of Jerry Meislik, retired

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-24408125801868607572017-12-13T23:04:00.000-05:002017-12-14T08:36:56.116-05:00

     That is the title of a fascinating documentary on the sycamore fig, Ficus sycomorus. One thing that astounded me was the sheer number of different animal species that a sycamore fig will support, literally from ants and (sometimes sozzled) butterflies to elephants! Ficus sycomorus is native to a large swath of tropical and subtropical Africa, as well as some other

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     If you didn't know that there are conifers that shed their foliage every year and grow a full new set in the spring, just like a maple or an elm, don't feel too bad. You're not alone. Perhaps the best known deciduous conifer is the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum.) The larches are also deciduous conifers, known for their clear yellow fall color. That color is one of the

Steve Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028213930495977718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8396391419840225434.post-40533546798511304972017-10-31T23:35:00.001-04:002017-11-01T13:03:28.993-04:00

     This has been a busy summer and fall, and between one thing and another I (still!) did not have winter quarters ready for my tropicals when our first frost was predicted a week ago. The "tropical bonsai two-step" - taking the trees into the house for the nite and then back outside when things warm up enough the next day - is better than losing trees, but still a cumbersome

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