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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Graham's Bonsai Trees
New Products Now in Stock
New products now in stock. With so many products on our books it's difficult to find new things that are not just variations on a theme. Inevitable some always are because everyone has their own way they like to work. Just recently I was looking through our first 2004 paper catalogue. Our range was tiny compared to today but the standard of bonsai was every bit as good. I am unconvinced that so much choice in life is good for us but i'm a Norfolk clod-hopper, what do I know. After many years of searching for a suitably high quality material we are very pleased to introduce a new addition to...
Mediterranean Species In Bonsai. Pistacia.
As I said in my most recent blog post "Bonsai is not easy". After 30 years I begin to think I don't know s**t. There are just too many variables to contemplate and the British climate certainly does not help matters. Almost every day I am asked for my help and advice about some aspect of cultivating bonsai. I have no issue with sharing my best know-how with anyone who asks. However because there are so many variables involved, what works like a charm for me could have the opposite effect for you. Years ago I moved house. I only came three miles down the road and whilst the garden was about...
Top Posts
Recent Posts
Never Give Up.
I have reached that age where I face an ever-increasing past and a diminishing future. Doesn't really matter because I can't see shit without Catherine's glasses. However I have noticed there is one very valuable benefit of being older, one readily overlooked in our...
Good Bye My Old Friend
It's been 25 years, near as dammit, since I started bonsai with my first serissa. Those early days were a heady mix of excitement and ignorance that drove a roller coaster of emotions as I summited highs of success and plummeted into the depths of failure. Ignorance...
Bleedin’ Pines
I was asked this question recently and thought it might help a few folk..... "Hi Graham, J H. has a problem with a Scot,s Pine and we wondered if you could help ? When purchased the tree had a shari created the entire length of the trunk approx 24 inches. Had the tree...
Thank God That’s All Over.
I don't make any secret of my contempt for the modern idea of Christmas but if folk want to go crazy buying stuff who am I to stand in their way. As usual this year has been crazy with hundreds of little trees packed and out the door we have been frantically busy. I...
Two Fat Blokes And A Pine Tree
I get a lot of folk sending me kind messages about how 'gifted' I am with bonsai. Whilst I appreciate the support and kind sentiment I consider the idea of a talent or skill being a 'gift' as absolute bollocks. Just like everyone else I was born pissing my pants and...
There’s More to Life Than Bonsai, But Not Much More.
I'm an ornery old cuss, it runs in the family. A lot of people have asked me why our nursery if so far off the beaten track. Put simply it's not possible for me to reside in the south east (nice weather) and be any further away from civilisation without a boat. I...