The Kaizen Bonsai Blog by Graham Potter
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Defoliation – What You Need To Know
There are many mysterious techniques used in the world of bonsai tree creation and maintenance. In my experience, many of them are misunderstood and therefore incorrectly applied. In my own case it certainly took a long time to understand what defoliation of deciduous trees was all about. Over the last few years we have been so busy it's been hard to find time for elective techniques. Thankfully life has settled down a bit of late and I'm back on the tools so here's Defoliation - What You Need To Know. What is Defoliation Defoliation is the act of removing leaves from a tree. In this context...
I Got Off The Subject
I sat down to write a diatribe expounding the virtues of defoliation. As usual I got off the subject and never got back. However what follows has proven to very cathartic. Please forgive the self indulgence but rather than consign this to the folder of a thousand unpublished articles on my Mac I am hoping it will help someone who just might be losing their way as I have of late. What’s more stressful, having too much to do or not having enough? I always thought I was stressed out by being so busy, particularly over the last few years. Now, and I am thankful for this, I don’t really have...
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Help With I.D
For the last twenty-five years I have never had less than a thousand plants in my garden. These days we are moving between fifteen hundred and two thousand plants a year. All told a lot of plants have moved through my hands over the years. To be fair I am pretty crap...
Demo’ Dates Coming Up
Over the next few weeks I have a few dates in the diary. We'd love to see you there and I am always happy to bring orders with me and save you the delivery cost. Just let us know what you need in good time. Tuesday 21 June Middlesex Bonsai Society - Demonstration and...
New Video
Following on from my demo' last weekend one of the club members there (Ian) has posted a video. I had nothing to do with it and it's a bit long winded......or is that me who is a bit long winded? Certainly not our usual stripped down production but for those of you...
Demo’ Result & A Dumb-ass Deal
Last Sunday I rolled out of my sack at four thirty in the morning, glugged a cold cup of coffee and hit the road. I picked up a couple of compadres and we settled in for the long run south to a little place called Herstmonceux, your guess is as good as mine regarding...
Demo’ This Week
It's a rare day I leave home. The chain around my ankle does not reach out of sight of my desk. I am constantly asked to travel for demonstrations, often to far flung corners of the world. However being from Norfolk (and apparently an uneducated carrot crunching clod...
Bonsai Tree Avalanche
It's pushing thirty years since I bought my first bonsai tree. It was a serissa, we were at a koi show and it was my birthday. My wife and parents chipped in, whilst the tree was only £30 that was more than any of us could afford back then. Little did we all know what...