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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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 Please forgive the self indulgence but rather than consign this to the folder of a thousand unpublished articles on my Mac I am hoping it will help someone who just might be losing their way as I have of late.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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Recent Posts
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...
Secret Bonsai Stash
My first real contact with bonsai over twenty five years ago was at a little nursery in the backwoods of Norfolk. It was one of those little places where time had stood still for decades and whilst it was actually a rose growing nursery the owner, Andrew, had been...
Dodging Bullets….
If you have been trying to access our web site over the weekend but to no avail we have to apologise for not being here. Our web host 123-reg decided to blow themselves into oblivion by deleting lots of web sites across the UK. Just to add insult to injury they...
Coventry Bonsai Show
If you had the misfortune to get my attention over the last couple of weeks, which hasn't been easy seeing as we largely stopped answering the telephone, you will know I have been a bit grumpy. However if you had the extreme misfortune to bump into me over that same...
Bonsai Dates for April
It's been a crazy year here so far. I have never worked so hard, we're on our knees, my last day off in January seems a very long time ago now. Sitting here in a waist high pile of parcels and a hundred still to do it seems unlikely we will be getting caught up any...