The Kaizen Bonsai Blog by Graham Potter
Whether you are looking to master the basics of tree health or perform advanced structural styling, use the sections below to navigate our decades of experience in the art of bonsai.
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The foundation
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Bonsai Restoration
Bonsai Technique
Video Masterclasses
Graham's Bonsai Trees
Stop ‘Doing’ Bonsai!
Stop 'Doing' Bonsai! Not a phrase I bet you were expecting to hear from me right? My mum always called me Tommy Opposite because I was such a belligerent and awkward little bastard incapable of doing what I was told. Every school report had words scrawled across it that amounted to "Graham can do this shit standing on his head but the awkward little cuss just WONT!" I might have mentioned that before. Now, I'm a working class lad. My dad dug holes and put gas mains in them for a living, my grandparents owned a village shop and butchers (Open All Hours style) whilst the Potter elders were...
The Summer That Was (not) & Upcoming Bonsai Projects
The Summer That Was (not) & Upcoming Bonsai Projects It NEVER ceases to amaze me how you lovely folk are (generally) so impressed with with my silly little blog. I was humbled during my recent visit to Peter Chan’s to receive so many comments on how my dear readers just love to peruse my ranting bullshit. This all started about 1998/9 when I took on the newsletter at our local bonsai club. Back then I didn’t know shit about shit as far as bonsai was concerned but, having got my little Bondi blue Imac hooked up to the interweb via a telephone modem I figured I could do my research and...
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Recent Posts
Ranting and Raving
I know y'all missed me ranting and raving. So, apropos of nothing other than my own therapy here are my thoughts, revelations and reminiscences for the Easter holidays based on my year so far. Should pass a little time if you are stuck in a traffic cue or airport. No...
With Age Comes Wisdom….Or Not
Oscar Wilde wrote "With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” Turns out he was right. Scientists have found that growing older is no guarantee of growing wiser, if wisdom is an intuitive knack for grasping basic beneficial behaviours. I’m not sure why it...
Black Friday My Arse!
Black Friday My Arse! Just in case anyone was tempted to ask me about "Black Friday" deals I thought, for once, I would get ahead of the game. If you know me you know what comes next so let me step aside for a moment. Here is an excerpt from an email I received this...
Littered With Contradiction
I'm on safe ground here when I say Bonsai is Littered With Contradiction. But then perhaps it's not the trees fault and it's not inherent in the programme. Nevertheless there are a lot of variables and those can throw us into confusion at times especially where an...
We’ve Got Your Back.
Just a quick update on what's been happening recently here at Kaizen Bonsai world headquarters. It's nice to know that when things are uncertain, to quote a modern idiom ' We've got your back', or at least someone has. None of us really know what's just around the...
Little Tommy Opposite
By and large I was a sullen little kid, never happier than in my own company, doing my own thing. I was hopeless at being told what to do and my mum used to call me 'little Tommy opposite'. It didn't seem to matter what my parents had to say I would want to do the...