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I acquired a couple of cross-sections from some old trees. Mostly for the purpose of education and having some proof to show skeptics that some of these trees from the dry western United States are as old as we say they are. I finally got my hands on the right kind of microscope to count these...

Sold 10 trees at the club auction... bought one.

The year of the upgrade has begun. Here’s my first addition.

This journey for me is about upgrading the material I acquire. Selling off the bottom 10, buying one to replace it. I visited Andy Smith the weekend, then went to Sara Rayners on the way home, a great weekend of bonsai. In Mica pot at Andy's After stopping at Sara's and finding an oval...

I acquired this dwarf hemlock from a mom and pop nursery going out of business. The tree was growing unchecked in the ground for 25-30 years. It is 48 inches tall, soil to tree top. Living in some debate as to chopping/leaving same height. It's taper is natural. Also leaving the flame shape but...

Here is today's work. A Ponderosa I acquired from Andy Smith. Close up of the base... Result of today's work...

Getting the chance to work(for plants) in a nursery has taught me a lot about the proper way to dig up trees. Recently we dug up a large mugo and I figured I would take some time to show what I've learned these last few years. One rule of thumb that everyone breaks; when you put your shovel in...

Usually these low shrubs grow laterally and root themselves along the way. These extra rooting points keeps old specimens from getting a very large trunk. I'm helping an retiring "mom and pop" nursery as they close down and begin to sell their property. He pays me in plants! This tree never...

Here is the tree as it appeared out in nature. The wind had knocked it over many years ago. It come home with a very good rootball in a very small space. Repotting came the next year, and the year after that was this initial styling. Here is the before and after.

Here is my Andy Smith purchase for the year. A nice wraparound barbershop pole of a Ponderosa. Gonna have to figure out how to make use of the large branch. For the most part I have decided to not start bonsai from seedlings!! A 225 year head start is more my style.

I've been doing this for a lot of years now. All throughout life I have felt moments of satisfaction with life and direction. Then comes moments where what has been leaves an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. While I've had some fun with some trees this summer, I have also felt some...

Due to the ABS award that was part of this years fair, I think there was a pretty good show of high quality trees.

Several years ago I gathered a bunch of Tamaracks for a forest planting. After coming home and doing all of the post collection chores there was one more tree in the five gallon pain. It had almost no root on it and I considered throwing it away. But I felt compelled to as least try so I put it...

Here is a tree that's been in my possession for about 5-6 years. The first renovation removed a large mass of foliage on the bottom. There were two branches filling up the space. I removed one and wired out what remained. I've never been satisfied with the planting angle, last fall I...

What do I have to do to be removed from this site. I want my profile to be wiped off. Please inform me how to do this.

Winter 2014 proved to be tough on this tree. All of the branches are dead. Some new life sprang out from about 3-4 useful places, but they are all very close to each other. Do I build a new apex and make this the mother of all sumo hornbeams? Do I keep the dead apex and wire out the branches to...

For those of you over at Bonsai Classifieds you saw my foolish bidding on a pot. It was unique and cool and I just had to have it. It'll probably never have a bonsai use other than to sit in my office and start discussions! We have discussions about worth and how much you'd pay for...

I have come to a point where I am going to start purchasing quality pots for some of my nicer trees. Starting with my Chojubai, I just acquired this pot from Matthew Ouwinga. It's a handpainted Gekkou pot. I love the detail on the rim. I did repot it already, but the pictures turned out...

My wife and I went for a journey here in the northland. I promised myself it was just a scouting trip for next spring. But these little guys were calling for me. The first two have some sweet structure. The third is just a mass of foliage. It might end up an accent plant or something.

I"m bringing 5 trees for display that gets set up tonight and runs Friday and Saturday at the Horticulture building at the State Fair. The first here is a Chojubai, I don't have a lot of options other than what you see...sorry The second is a Cedar. I have a couple of display options for...

It's been a fun summer getting the word out about Bonsai in my area. A PBS spot, garden tour, scheduled garden tours for next summer and this article in todays paper. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/living-art-duluth-man-devotes-time-attention-bonsai-garden

After a winter of extremes I decided I can't leave my trees to the whims of Minnesota winter. I took the back third of my garage and converted it to storage. r-50 in the ceiling, R-30 in the walls, r-20 on the floor in the heated side.The heated side is 4x8.5 and the unheated side is 11x8.5...

I've rounded up some candidates for this juniper. Got a preference?

It's funny how something you've done for a decade arouses such lack of belief. Here is the work of defoliating my Tamarack. The first picture is how it's grown this spring. The second picture is after trimming off all the whips. I left about a quarter to half inch of new growth. The third...

Every year I get rid of several lesser trees to buy something nice . I sold 10 trees at the MN Bonsai auction last Saturday and used the proceeds to purchase this tree from Don Blackmond. I took some liberties to restyle it a bit this morning. Here are the before and after pics...