The legendary César Ordóñez of Cen Cal Bonsai once shared a simple but powerful truth:
“It sucks to buy a tree and cut off all the branches, but it also sucks to have a shitty tree.”
In this episode of the Black Pondo Podcast, we dive deep into all things deciduous bonsai. I got to pick Peter’s brain about César’s quote—discussing when it makes sense to completely restart a deciduous bonsai and when it’s better to continue refining the existing design.
We explore what truly makes a great deciduous bonsai, common pitfalls seen in the U.S., Japanese aesthetics, and much more.
I really appreciate you tuning in, and I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Chapters
- (00:00:00) - Bonsai 101
- (00:00:11) - Deciduous Bonsai
- (00:03:51) - Bonsai is like putting money in your 401k
- (00:07:00) - What is a Good Deciduous Bonsai?
- (00:07:55) - The secret to good Bonsai
- (00:14:54) - Tree Decorating: Is it worth chopping off an old branch
- (00:19:08) - Bonsai Trees: Age Is Very Important
- (00:19:48) - What other things are you looking for in a deciduous tree
- (00:25:17) - Tree trunks change color
- (00:25:45) - What does good taper look like throughout the tree?
- (00:31:43) - Bonsai Basics: Taper and Reverse Taper
- (00:35:01) - Not dense enough
- (00:40:17) - Deciduous Trees
- (00:43:42) - Taper in trees--
- (00:45:14) - What's happening in the US with taper?
- (00:53:52) - Is it faster to grow a tree than to wire a bons
- (00:55:05) - Growing trees in the ground
- (00:55:29) - How to grow Umay Bonsai
- (00:58:41) - Developers' trees
- (00:59:58) - Bonsai 101: Density and Branch Length
- (01:06:05) - Open mind in the world of bonsai
- (01:10:03) - Bonsai Is Not Cookie Cutter
- (01:15:45) - Experiencing Japanese Bonsai
- (01:20:45) - Can a Japanese Maple Ever Look as Old as a Black Pine?
- (01:24:15) - How to grow a 1000 year old Japanese maple
