WATCH BONSAI VIDEOS

Cabin Fever reliever: Here is a list of videos to help you prepare for Spring...

Ryan Neil from Bonsai Mirai

BSOP Series: Spring Fundamentals

In this video, sponsored by BSOP (Bonsai Society of Portland), Ryan Neil describes the work that our bonsai require in spring. Ryan categorizes his trees as Development, meaning those trees that need to be optimized for vigorous growth: Balanced, meaning trees where some parts are encouraged to grow and other parts are pruned and contained to limit growth. The third category are trees in Refinement. These trees gets less water, less fertilizer and specialized pruning. For us in Zone 3, this work starts in May as tree buds start to swell and continues to most of June.

Bonsai Beginner Series

Do you like to learn on your own? Do you want to review beginner subjects covered by our Introduction to Growing Bonsai course? 

Bonsai Mirai's Ryan Neil works with a student and teaches him how to create his first bonsai.

Bonsai Beginner Series - Material Selection

Bonsai Beginner Series - Cleaning Conifers

Bonsai Beginner Series - Cleaning Deciduous

Bonsai Beginner Series - Finding the Front: Conifers

Bonsai Beginner Series - Finding the Front: Deciduous

Bonsai Beginner Series - Structural Wiring

Bonsai Beginner Series - Soil

Bonsai Beginner Series - Ceramic Selection

Bonsai Beginner Series - Repotting

Walter Pall

Walter Pall is a well-known bonsai pioneer practicing bonsai in Germany for almost 60 years. He single-handedly looks after 2,000 bonsai, many of which are maple trees. Walter has developed a technique for creating dense ramifications in a short time. In Germany, he can prune his maples like one would prune a hedge up to four times in a growing season. When his maples drop their leaves, he has the entire autumn and early winter to take his time and prune his trees to correct and refine their branch structure. In Zone 3, we can apply this technique to our maples, but due to our shorter growing season, maples can be hedge-pruned in late June and again in late July or early August. Branch refinement pruning can be done after leaf drop but before mid-November, the average date of our first permanent snow. This applies to Zone 3 maples and temperate maples. Temperate maples must be kept at near-freezing temperatures for approximately 1200 hours, after which they can be brought indoors and placed under lights.  

Creating ramifications on a Bonsai (Hedge pruning)

Harry Harington

Harry is a UK bonsai artist and one of his specialties is carving with power tools. Watch him as he uses his amazing skill to create deadwood effects that would take many years for natural processes to replicate.

Carving Deciduous Bonsai

Garth's Picks

Garth Brown, a club member, scours the internet for videos that he thinks our members will appreciate.

Are you or someone you know trimming or cutting down a willow? Don't make kindling. Make bonsai and impress your friends and family.

Do your neighbour's trees drop seeds in your flower beds or garden? Save time weeding. A bonsai tree is falling into your lap for free.

A tale of two mugo pines from nursery to training pot.

Has that beautiful tree or shrub in your yard died back or lost branches to heavy ice and snow? Why dig up years of work and toss it away? Help it tell its story and wow anyone who visits your yard.

Bonsai doesn't have to be expensive.

Total beginners guided one-day trip into bonsai. The perfect example of a great start.