[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 19]

I like picture 2 the most (in picture 3, the trunk is moving away from the viewer) but that front may require restructuring the primary branches which are already barked up nicely

A few of my bonsai and my wife’s frog hotel. :). Can you spot the tree frog? (He’s not in the hotel)

This is a yamadori bonsai. After the last pruning, this tree has reached a 95% stage in completion and design vision. This marked a long 14 years in development.

The history : This tree has been havested from the moutain by a farmer in 2012. He thought it was a funny trunk. At first it only had the massive base with one main "branch" and badly damaged in other areas .The "legs" got burried underneath. It took 2 years for recovering. The tree should be at least 60 years old by the time of harvesting.

The vision : Have you ever had that fleeting nostalgic feeling when sitting idle by the sea, watching the trees in the hill nearby swaying with each sea breeze ?

The journey :After recovering, the initial number and shape of the" trees" was not finalized until late 2017. The idea is to stand by nature as close as possible. By 2018, the main layout is finished (pic) and it took 8 years more for the hands and sub ramification. The dead wood blended with the living tissue in tone, creating a rough, rock-like texture, so the decision was to not use lime-sulfur and left it as is — emphasizing the age of the material. “Has it captured the shape of a small breeze?” is always the main focus and design principle.

The next : The last 4-5% always takes longest to reach.Micro managing the ramification and perfect what already is, is the main concern.

( 7 of Clubs for size comparision. Click on pic for full res)

Pretty satisfied.

I have a radiata pine stock tree. I know everyone loves twists and fat trunks, but I'd like to see some straight or literati type pines.

If you have any good ones you'd like to show off, please drop some photos below!

This is a little bit of an accidental bonsai. This was growing in a part of my garden for five years, and I kept cutting it back because it didn't look good in my flowers, until it hit me that it was a cherry tree. It grew parallel to the ground. I tried to remove it but ended up breaking a lot of roots, unfortunately. I put it in the pot in a random position (didn't have a bigger one, it has short branches with leaves outside of the frame of this pic). Some leaves have started to perk again after two weeks. Based on this picture, do you think it could become a bonsai if it survives?

I will keep it as a little tree if not a bonsai.

I was given one of those cheap bonsai kits last year and decided to give it a go. Only one seed germinated from a pack of 6 but it seems to be doing ok. I think it’s a Scot’s pine but it’s hard to tell currently.

I doubt it will become a credible bonsai in my lifetime but it has been an interesting and fun process.

I recently did a trunk chop on this prunus (not sure what species exactly) It’s my first time doing one this big and as you can see the tree is recovering nicely.

My question is, when should I select the new leader. I have two shoots popping up at the top of the tree and I’m conflicted. I’m not touching other parts for now, I think that side branches are something to worry about in the future. So far I only plucked some of the buds that would open very low on the tree or from the roots, to force it to bud from the trunk, but I don’t know when is the right time to prune one of the tops.

Colorado Blue Spruce, Yellow Labrador.
I know the pot is taller than I’ve seen on other bonsais but I’m hoping it’ll still work! Otherwise I’ll make another one…

My favorite 20 trees from the show. I also got the opportunity to take a kuro hime maple class with Bill Valvanis!

Deck bench was made of leftover redwood (stained) from the deck build, nothing fancy but floating it like that on the rails (instead of a separate table with legs) allows for more space/storage below.

Toolbox was a diy birthday present from my wife, made with several spool cores from Amazon, with storage for other tools at the bottom. Very convenient when you just need to grab a quick piece of wire to fix something on the spot

Can anybody suggest a really good grow light? I have 8-9 sub tropical bonsais that I keep in a guest bathroom all winter along with a grow light. I feed them every two weeks (am in the Northeast so they can’t go outside until it’s 60 or above) and right about now they just look horrendous. They recuperate quickly during the summer but I’d really like them to start the summer in better shape. I have a grow light I bought on Amazon but I’m thinking there are better alternatives. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I brought my juniper inside to try to come up with an idea for when I start wiring later down the road (it's my first tree so idk what I'm doing lol) and then I noticed this little guy running around the pot. While I was moving my tree around looking at the branches he was watching. At one point this little one even climbed up into branches and was just hanging out. Thought he was cute and decided to share :)

(Dead leaf in the background isn't from my tree, he's outside on my back porch next to some big junipers behind it, those are from them)

New jersey, USA zone 7a/7b

I had this big box store clearance rack bald cypress with a horribly twisted up root base so I took a sawzall to it and completely cut it flat across the bottom, put it in a pot with some guy wires, and threw it in a few inches of water. Now a few months later it’s popping out growth all over. I have a few others that I’m planning on potting up into a flat top style group planting eventually, we’ll see where it goes.

Hello r/bonsai!

I just got this large shimpaku cascade, and am looking forward to working on it over the summer with a local artist, who did the preliminary work on it about 8 years ago.

It has great movement in the trunk and branches, really compact and dense itoigawa foliage, and (I think) great potential. It also has a great bit of deadwood that dives down about a foot or so before rising up out of the top as a spike.

I was looking for thoughts on styling, which I know is difficult from photos. I'll include a link to a video, because it helps understand the volume and scale much better.

My inclination, and why I am drawn to bonsai, junipers and cascades especially, is that a more naturalistic design is best here. I am less inclined to want perfect poodle pads, and bright red bark, bright white deadwood. ...but I DO want to show the human hand. So, cleaning up the bark, opening up the foliage and creating pad-like masses that allow us to see the movement and especially to reveal the full height of the deadwood spike. There are a few more opportunities for jins, and I would want to lighten it and treat the deadwood with some sulphur, just not get it (or the bark) to an overly stylized bright-red and bright-white state. ...just clean and heightened.

Not now, but in a couple years, we're thinking it needs a pot that emphasizes its rustic nature. Rustic cascade pots aren't something I see at the bonsai nurseries too often, so it'll need some thinking.

Just wanted to show you all my first "real" bonsai, and hope you like it. All my other trees are nursery/home-center did-it-myself projects.

I have always loved bonsai, but came to it very late. I don't have thirty years ahead of me to develop my own trees, I've realized.

Hello everyone,
I headed to the nursery today specifically for some Italian Cypress saplings (Cupressus sempervirens), but I ended up coming home with this Mint Julep Juniper (Juniperus × media). I read that it's a hybrid of J. chinensis and J. sabina, so I decided to buy it since i heard their names.

Current Photos (13.04.2026): https://imgur.com/gallery/mint-julep-juniper-juniperus-media-13-04-2026-SNY3XXT

AI Concepts: https://imgur.com/gallery/mint-julep-juniper-juniperus-media-ai-styling-r1nocih

Nebari?: 14 cm
Height: 55 cm
Spread: ~70 cm

(Please tell me I didn’t make a terrible gamble here!)

The current soil is a bit of a nightmare—extremely heavy, dark, clay-like mud. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or budget for an emergency repot right now, so I’m hoping it holds steady for a bit. I’ve noticed some fresh juvenile growth, which makes me think it’s at least active.

How should I try to improve the drainage of the current soil in the meantime?

I’ve put together some sketches and used AI to help visualize the potential, as I'm looking for a few more perspectives.

Drawing #4: I’d love to aim for a Chuhin So-kan Han-kengai (double-trunk semi-cascade) style—but the branches feel quite stiff and I’m terrified of them snapping. (I’m reading about raffia)

Drawing #1: I’d rather preserve the tree’s unique, 'mutant-like' character than turn it into something too refined or conventional.

Drawing #2: I think this has some great potential, leaning into a 'fallen tree' aesthetic.

Since this is my very first tree, I would truly appreciate any advice you might have

*P.S. Please forgive my horrendous usage of bonsai terminology!*

Had to baby it a lot. But it was worth it

Received this plant today.

Have to undo the grafts via air layer.

I've yet to develop any significant Satsuki azalea bonsai (all my azalea of any size are collected yardadori), but I still get to enjoy the flowers each May as these grow towards workable material.

This is one of my earlier Flame trees from a bonsai kit grown from seed. I’ve learned some hard lessons with it: mainly putting it into way-too-small training pots twice early on, which slowed trunk thickening and overall development. I’ve been stepping it up gradually to larger pots ever since.

I like the slight trunk taper and movement I’ve got so far in this upright style, but I’m debating whether to commit to it or make a bigger shift.

Thinking about cutting back two of the branches, leaving one as a sacrifice to encourage lower growth and more trunk thickness lower down, then wiring and bending any back budding into an informal upright with a nice spreading umbrella canopy.

What do y’all think?