Getting ready for the season

Hank Miller Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:42 pm

In the northern part of the States the bonsai season during which most of the shows and exhibitions take place, occurs in the period from mid April til the end of September. I usually begin getting trees ready after Christmas. This year things are a bit different. We have had over 6 weeks of snow and very cold weather - temperatures dipping below 0 degrees Fahrenheit at night and remaining in the teens during the day. Fortunately, the cold weather has been accompanied by a fair amount of snow as I winter my indigenous trees outside. Snow is a very good thermal insulator and for the past few months my indigenous trees have looked like this.

My tropicals are in a heated greenhouse where the daliy temperatures are above 50 degrees, seldom dipping into the low 40's for no more than an hour or so at night. Snow on the roof provides good insulation and my tropicals have done much better than I expected. Here are a few of my tropicals that I worked on recently. Mostly it has been a bit of wiring and some light pruning. Enjoiy. Hank