The Story Of David DeGroot’s Black Pine Raft In typical David DeGroot humility, he says of his Japanese Black Pine raft, “Like many of my trees, it has gone through occasional work or restyling followed by long periods of neglect, so it is much younger in its development than its physical age would suggest.” Many of us could say the same, though we […]
https://crataegus.com/2025/05/....02/the-story-of-davi

What Does Spruce Pinching Do? Spruce bonsai are beautiful at any time of year, but in the spring they brighten with masses of light green buds. Here is an Engelmann Spruce that illustrates why we pinch these buds in spring. The Engelmann Spruce growth habit is loose. If we were to just let this spruce grow, the looseness would be […]
https://crataegus.com/2025/04/....25/what-does-spruce-

Doing It Any Way is Better Than Not Doing It A few months ago I reacquainted with a friend from college that I’d not spoken with in a couple decades, and we had one of those far-ranging 90-minute chats that didn’t come close to closing the gap. Among the revelations is that he’d been a pilates instructor in New York City for the last 20 […]
https://crataegus.com/2025/04/....18/doing-it-any-way-

Spring Photo Gallery With Notes To help see asymmetrical planting position in repotting, use a chopstick to find the center of mass for the lower trunk and nebari. The chopstick shows more easily where it is, right or left, in the pot. Then adjust placement. This placement is good for a right flow tree.  Japanese Maples at a client’s place. […]
https://crataegus.com/2025/04/....11/spring-photo-gall

Why Are There So Many Right Flow Trees? Right flow Japanese Maple. In display the accent piece would be to the right. Luis Vallejo Bonsai Museum, Spain. Left flow Chinese Hackberry. Luis Vallejo Bonsai Museum, Spain. A common comment is, “The majority of my bonsai flow to the right”. Just this week we did an inventory of right vs. left bonsai on the benches […]
https://crataegus.com/2025/04/....04/why-are-there-so-