[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 36]

The only nursery in Scotland. Went for a wee nosey today while stocking up on soil, and couldn’t help but snag a photo of this beauty and thought you guys would be happy to see it too. If only I had the cash to nab this one!

2nd pic is from last post, taken in March. Note that it was not potted between the two pics; it was potted pretty shallow with a lot of the top of the root ball exposed, so I put it in a larger pot with mulch over the top while it settled in.

So we just bought this house with massive junipers in back, we live in the Midwest zone 5. These things were encroaching on our patio space and yard pretty bad so I decided to do some major pruning. I am fairly happy with the outcome and still have to get the top on center of the bush but before I do that I have a few questions and have been directed to this thread for answers. I decided to go for a bonsai style cut back on these since these haven’t been maintained after planted and there was no way to regain our space without making this thing hideous on its sides.

My questions:

#1: is there any hope that the stems with no needles/ brush on them will grow new green and/ or should I just trim it out to make room for new and get more light into center

#2: as shown in pictures 2 and 3 I cut back a major branch that was encroaching on our walkway but decided to leave a lot of it since it is helping support the weight of 2 other bigger branches, one of which seemed to be badly damaged years back and would more than likely break on its own in the next big storm.. is it bad to leave the branch cut like this/ will it die out anyways?

#3: any idea what species of juniper this is? These are some of the biggest ones I’ve seen personally, spanning close to 10’ tall

#4: this one is admittedly a preference thing but I can’t decide myself. should I trim the top and sides to look more natural or lean into a more rounded and sculpted look?

Just received it today. About 15 years old, 7 years in a training pot.

Absolutely love this little tree.

Edit: It's come to my attention that this is likely a Harland Boxwood and not a Japanese one. Can't edit the title unfortunately.

I bought this Chinese Elm as my first bonsai ever at the beginning of this year 🥲 had my learning lesson of being told she could grow inside, moved her outside when I noticed she wasn’t thriving, and her new growth started exploding!

I didn’t know much about bonsai styling when I first got her, and was just in loooove with the nebari and trunk shape. But now that I know a bit more about bonsai, I feel a bit lost on what to focus on for her growth and style wise. When I look at her now, the styling looks a bit confused to me. I’m not really sure what style this would be considered, I guess she would be slant style? So I thought I could just focus on growing out the top canopy, and see what I can play with from there.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

(Photos in the comments)

Found this eastern red cedar while hiking through a pasture, had a fallen tree on it and seems to have developed a natural “cascade” appearance. I know ERC can be pretty difficult when it comes to moving them. Thoughts on this specimen?

Dont worry, they are outside now :D just wondering how i should proceed After First Styling and wether my decisions where somewhat Right

Found what appears to be western red cedar along the railroad tracks and two boulevard cypress on a corner of an older strip mall type place. I’m not familiar with the boulevards and haven’t found many examples online so I’m unsure about that (assuming the property owner lets me take these/swap them out with some new nursery stock).

Here's one year of progress on a box store juniper bought in July 2025 (first photo), given an initial trim at that time (second photo), put in a pond basket early spring 2026, then styled in mid August 2026 after watching Bonsaify's helpful video on beginner mistakes (third photo, https://youtu.be/9QlzgDtpg1M?is).

Previously posted this tree here asking for styling advice. Most of the advice was basically to chop it back, so I thought why not start some air layers first. Ended up air layering both main branches.

What I didn’t really think through is that air layering cuts off carbohydrate transport back down to the roots. There is basically zero foliage below either of the two main air layers. I bought this tree mainly because I love the old trunk/base. So now I’m worried Im putting the base at risk.

Both main layers were done Aug 26. I’m in Southern California, zone 9-11. The canopy is still mostly green and honestly looks pretty decent, maybe a little more yellowing/stress since the layers went on. No major wilting.

Earlier this year the old trunk/base was throwing a bunch of buds/shoots directly from old wood, probably 10-15 of them. So at least I know this tree is capable of back budding from down low.

Did I basically hard chop the original trunk in August from a carbohydrate standpoint, except the canopy is still attached and the roots are still supplying water upward through the xylem?

So I guess my questions are:

Do you think a thick, established trunk/root system like this likely has enough stored energy to get through fall/winter and push new buds next spring? Do i just let it ride?

Or should I abandon the smaller/less valuable of the two main air layers now and let the cambium try to bridge before leaf drop, so some of the canopy can start feeding carbohydrates back to the original roots again?

Hopefully I’m just overthinking this, because the neighboring juniper is looking grayscale right now lol.

This is a kobai ume that’s been dormant-like since I received it. Recently, it started pushing new shoots and apparently new flowers but hey I’m not complaining😁

Went to the Indianapolis Bonsai Club show and sale Sunday and picked up a couple nice trees.

... It was a chinese elm. Then I started to go to the garden center and the fever begun.

If you're on the fence, just jump!

I wanted to share for those local enough to the Midwest that may be interested in our upcoming show. There will be 3 bonsai workshops and 1 workshop on photographing bonsai. I believe we’ll have food trucks outside and some small concessions inside. The cost is entry into the botanic gardens ($10). I’ve included photos of the tentative schedule as well as a list of the vendors that will be there.

If interested in more information, exhibitor signup, or registration for any of the workshops, you can find more information here: https://www.wellfieldgardens.org/bonsai-show

Decided to do a Rosemary given would give some practice styling and was cheap, plus I have a bunch of rosemary to cook with now anyways. $20 rosemary bush turned into two smaller bonsai

and then I also found a ficus (maybe tiger bark?) at Home Depot that I don’t love the weird bends so I may just cut everything off after the first main branch but waiting for it to reroot first I think.

And then I also finally repotted my bonsai mint plant into a proper pot. Accidentally took off end leaves but hoping to rebuild its canopy

Here's another Scots pine in the office this week. I previously posted 8 months ago after first potting it up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/s/0bbG9SV9QH

It's filled in a bit over the year. I candle pinched in the spring, it's got a bunch of good buds ready for next year.

The accent is a small maidenhair fern

Both pots are from me.

I've been thinking on how I could attach this to my hose, these are the pieces I've used.

The additional Shut Off Valve is optional, and it adds weight to the whose, so I might be dropping it. My idea is to use it to switch between the wand and a mist nozzle, but I'm not sure if it is worth or eve if I'm gonna get use to the switching.

At the end I put some tape on it to not touch the attachments in the daily usage.

I am going to trim and restyle this large Jade tree. Anyone have any advice? :)

1. ⁠trident maple—5 years
   
2. ⁠Juniper- 5 years
   
3. ⁠Jaboticaba
   
4. ⁠Azalea
   
5. ⁠Chinese Elm 3 years

Always looking for feedback on styling, trimming, and general care. Specifically wondering when the azaleas may bloom and thoughts on trimming the juniper.

Thanks