Gardening basics: What you need to know about bonsai

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Maria Shalaos from the KSL Greenhouse.

[00:00:02]You can hear us Saturday mornings 8:00 to 11:00 or on the KSL Newsradio app.

[00:00:06]We're on podcast. You can hear us anytime at the KSL Newsradio app. Today, we just have this special opportunity to talk about bonsai and the bonsai of Utah club. And with me today, Aaron Penrod, who's the president, and Steve Turner, the vice president. And we want to talk about bonsai. For those of you who may not be into bonsai and you're thinking about it. So, Aaron, start out. Talk about what we have here and how somebody would go about selecting a tree to start pruning. All right. This is This is a crabapple.

[00:00:37]This was regular nursery stock. And if you can kind of see right here, there was an initial cut made on a trunk that was fairly straight. And then this was just a branch that had budded from that cut. And then that was used to take over what they call the new leader.

[00:00:55]And then another cut and another cut and so on. And then you have your shape all of a sudden. And going to the nursery is is about the best place to go to to select a tree for bonsai. It's the easiest. They're they're hardy to our zones here.

[00:01:11]You're going to have less problems than if you used like an an indoor tree tropical species, I guess. So, Steve, what do you look for?

[00:01:20]What's the perfect tree for this piece of art?

[00:01:22]Anything that looks gnarly and old.

[00:01:25]Pretty much this is a good example here.

[00:01:27]This is a Siberian elm that was grown in the ground one of the club members' homes.

[00:01:32]He has a small field where he grows these, but you can tell looking at the texture on these trees. This is what we look for. We want it to look like it's just weathered through the ages. The way that the the way that the trunk meets the ground or what we call the nebari.

[00:01:47]This isn't a great example of it, but this juniper up here has a really good example of what we look for with what's called nebari. But age does it look old? Does it look weathered? Does it look like it's just been through everything that a human has been through and we can we can connect with that tree. That's that's a lot of it. Okay, what about pots? Are they going to grow out of these pots?

[00:02:10]You do.

[00:02:11]In fact, this tree this year will be upsized. And I've I've thought about putting it in Sometimes they put them in a wooden box and let them recover.

[00:02:22]Uh We do a lot of work on the trees. And some some years they won't have as much done. Maybe a little bit of pruning, but there are some years where you do a little more intensive work. And so if they've been in a shallow pot like this, they need to be upsized and and, you know, let to rest for a few years.

[00:02:39]But you're you're trying to get the color to go with the foliage or maybe the flower.

[00:02:45]Usually with conifers, they they tend to use unglazed pots, but there's still different colors of clay, gray, kind of a yellowish color, dark reds, brick reds.

[00:02:57]The the deciduous are usually blue, cream. They have all sorts of really interesting glazes that they, you know, mix together to get these really neat colors.

[00:03:08]But they they need to be a little more subdued. So, we don't want to take away from the tree visually.

[00:03:15]The pot just needs to act as part of the frame to to hold the tree. So, it's it's not too distracting.

[00:03:22]Soil is key. Obviously, this is not regular potting soil. So, what do you put in these pots?

[00:03:29]It's a mixture of lava, pumice, and a clay called akadama clay that comes out of Japan. A lot of people think that you need to have biological components or what would you call it natural components organics that are part of the soil mixture. We don't want any of that. We want to be able to introduce that as the tree needs it.

[00:03:49]So, people look at these and they say, "Your pot's full of gravel." Well, essentially it is. It's full of gravel, but it's very selected very tried and tested components that go in there. Free draining. Free draining, yeah. The There are people that use soils with organics, but they almost always sift out the the fine material.

[00:04:09]So, it's more free draining.

[00:04:12]That's the biggest thing. So, part of the artwork is the pruning of your tree.

[00:04:19]Talk about how you prune the tree. What do you think about it? Absolutely has a a structure. Sure. Um I'll just show right here. So, this this tree this year, it's about as big as I want the canopy to be. If it gets much bigger, it's not going to look in scale.

[00:04:37]So, if I put my hand under here, you can kind of see it a little bit better. So, if I want to shorten this tree and I want my profile to be right around in here, I might cut back and let this be the new leader and wire this into place.

[00:04:50]And when I when I cut here, I'm pushing this energy back in here and I'll get more back budding. And then those branches I'll shape. So, it's it's really just cutting back the leaders and using the buds that are growing on the interior to replace them.

[00:05:05]And you take off the ones usually growth that's growing straight down or straight up, it's either wired or taken off.

[00:05:13]It can get a lot more in-depth depending on the species and This is a flowering crabapple. So, there are some of these interior branches that are just spurs.

[00:05:22]They will never really be a vegetative growth. You know, so that's something else you need to take into consideration. But it's mostly just cutting back and letting new interior branches take over. The ultimate goal I don't mean to interrupt. The ultimate goal is to get this form.

[00:05:39]And and there's a lot of artistry that goes into getting this triangle form to the tree. And the techniques that Aaron was just talking about have to do with how to reduce the tree, but still keep that full branching and create what we call cloud layers that allow for the tree to form what like what would look like an old tree out in the natural environment, but in a smaller form. And it has to do with the negative space between the branching. We want to imagine a bird could fly right in there and land on the on the branch.

[00:06:10]But it's that's all part of the art form and some trees have it, some don't, some are developing. It just takes time. So, what are we doing here with this kind of wiring? So, this is a guy wire that's tied to the wires that are actually holding the tree into the pot. And the purpose for for these is to take a a limb that would normally be angled at a position more vertical or a young limb and bring it down. And by bringing it down, we create a visual age to the tree.

[00:06:39]Over time, what will happen is as the tree pushes the lignans out through this branch, those lignans will harden and retain that form and I can take this wire off. Same thing goes for the wiring that's on these fine branches. They They're used to do what Aaron was talking about. You trim them back and then you bend the wire. He was talking about removing a piece over here and creating a new lead branch out. We bend that wire into place to to move the branch as the new lead. And then as it hardens into place, we can take that wire off. Now, these trees are dormant on purpose. Like we want to see these trees now cuz that's when you're going to prune them, correct? Yes. A lot of the work will come now. There's There are a lot of things that we will wait and do in the maybe midsummer.

[00:07:25]But a lot of tasks. This is a really busy time for bonsai right now.

[00:07:28]Training, pruning, wiring, repotting.

[00:07:33]And and a lot of that work is species dependent.

[00:07:37]There a lot of maples, for example, a Japanese maple.

[00:07:42]If you go in and and you cut a thick branch like this, their sap flow is really heavy right now and they'll they'll bleed all over. And you can do more damage than good pruning right now. So, we'll wait till the tree has grown a little bit and maybe late May, early June, is you can go in and cut them without the fear of the tree bleeding too heavily. Right. You can choose so many different kinds of trees. How do people decide what kind of tree that they want?

[00:08:11]I You know, everybody wants trees that are traditionally used in Japan, but it it's becoming more common in America to to use native species and trees that are hardy to your area.

[00:08:25]Like uh Here in Utah, you wouldn't want to use a crepe myrtle. But back east, those are really really popular because they they do well there. But here in Utah, we need hardy species and there's still thousands of trees that we can that we can choose from. Are these meant to be indoor? No. They Indoor?

[00:08:44]So, that's a huge misconception. And a lot of a lot of trees sold as bonsai in the nurseries are tropical trees and they can go outside during the summer, but they can't handle our our winter cold. But all of the trees that I have are all outdoor trees. They're displayed around my garden on stands. And in the winter, you can put them in a garage, in a shed. A greenhouse works, but a greenhouse can warm up too much in the spring.

[00:09:12]I just took this out of the garage yesterday.

[00:09:15]And put it outside.

[00:09:17]It started to the buds started to burst and I I looked at the temperature, the overnight lows that we're going to be having. They were all above freezing and I said, "It's time."

[00:09:26]They call it the dance right now. You'll be It's true. There'll be some nights where it freezes and we'll take them all in.

[00:09:33]We really are stewards over them. It's really So, what special environment do people need to think about if they want to put these in their yards? What kind of special things are going to need to do for watering or shading or that type of thing?

[00:09:46]Uh The watering is you water the tree when it needs it.

[00:09:50]This is if you look under there, you can kind of see how it's It's color. So, it's okay for now, but if it was this lighter color, um you know, 1/2 in or so, then it's it's time to water. And it could use some water right now. This is wet. You can see how wet that is.

[00:10:09]It's as needed. Is that what you're telling me? Yeah, as needed. Because some trees are in pots this big and some trees are in pots this big.

[00:10:17]Everybody's like, well, is it once a week? You know, do I say every Sunday I water? And that the answer is no. Know your tree.

[00:10:23]Water when the tree needs So, then it's hard to set that up a a sprinkler system around that, right?

[00:10:30]some people when they go out of town will have drip lines, you know, with a little ring around the tree attached to it, but that's only for when they're going out of town.

[00:10:39]I would not rely on that as a as my full-time watering.

[00:10:45]Other things in your yard is afternoon shade.

[00:10:50]My trees exist entirely on the north-facing side of my house.

[00:10:54]I have a structure built there that I set them all out on. They get plenty of reflective light off of my neighbor's white vinyl fence.

[00:11:01]And they do fine there.

[00:11:02]So, not too much sun. Well, mine a lot Depends on the species.

[00:11:05]Yeah, the junipers and pines, they need quite a bit of sun. So, they're they're getting as much morning sun as I can give them, but in the afternoon, they're shaded. Otherwise, they'll get burned.

[00:11:16]These pots, the dark color of that pot, if it's in the sun for too long, the soil temperature can get well over 100°. So, sometimes times in the summer if the pot is exposed, we'll put something over the top, maybe a piece of shade cloth, even a wet rag or something would work.

[00:11:33]Or I've seen people put wood in front of it so the sun doesn't shine directly on the pot. Okay, well, both of you, I want to know why you do this. Obviously, these trees take a lot of care. Rusty, maybe you. Why do you do this?

[00:11:46]Uh and that's that's a major reward for me.

[00:11:53]Um I I suffer from anxiety.

[00:11:57]Um So, yeah, why go on the radio and talk about this stuff?

[00:12:02]Uh but for me, it's therapeutic.

[00:12:04]I I get to come home from a busy day working, a busy day with whatever may be bombarding my brain and causing me to to overrun my mind with things I don't need to, and I can I can go out into my bonsai garden and sit and work with one tree.

[00:12:20]And it takes all of that mental clutter and it dissipates. And I I start looking at fine details of my tree and thinking, okay, 6 weeks from now, what do I need to do? Right now, what do I need to do?

[00:12:32]And just making decisions that are just one thing at a time. So, for me, it's a therapy.

[00:12:38]That's not to say that I don't get great pleasure out of other things in my life, but this is one thing that I can really center in on and take my time with and study to the to my heart's content. You know, I I don't know a quarter of what I should know, but I am getting results, and for me, that drives the drives the progress. All right, Aaron, how about you? I I'm going to second the therapy, but I also like to create.

[00:13:07]I it It makes me feel good to to know that I I made something that's that beautiful.

[00:13:14]It really it makes me feel good.

[00:13:17]I love to be able to go walk out into my garden in the morning and have my coffee and you know, look at my trees and it's a it's a fantastic thing. Steve, what have I got over here in the front?

[00:13:29]What is this rock formation? So, this is a portion of the artistic side of bonsai. It's a it's an art form called suiseki.

[00:13:37]And what suiseki is is a stone, a viewing stone that is a representation of what you would find in nature. The history behind bonsai is that in ancient Japan, a lot of the people who lived in villages could not go out and travel.

[00:13:57]And so, they would bring the trees into their homes, and they they wouldn't be able to go up into the mountains, so they would find a representation of the mountains and bring it into their homes and display them display them there.

[00:14:08]They're highly prized. Bonsai used to be treated as currency sometimes, but the suiseki is just another aspect of bonsai.

[00:14:17]I grew up rock climbing, so I'm naturally drawn to to the suiseki side of things. I I actually look at these I I have one displayed on my desk at work, I stare at it, and I think of different routes that might be be up there.

[00:14:31]I look at other suiseki that look like mountain ranges. There's some amazing pieces out there. There are other suiseki that take on the form of animals. I've seen some that look like an elephant. It's just a stone that was collected from the wild, displayed on a pedestal, and it looks like an elephant.

[00:14:50]And and and with also with bonsai, when we display our trees, um traditionally, you use either a suiseki or what they call an accent plant or a scroll or a combination of a few different things, but it's it's to try to take you to some place. So, this tree looks like a rugged tree from the mountains. So, you wouldn't want a suiseki that's uh a more rolling hill. You want a suiseki that's a jagged cliff. And then maybe the accent plant is the type of herbaceous plants that are growing in the mountains with this species of juniper. So, you're creating a scene in the mountains. Do you Do you understand what I mean?

[00:15:33]Yeah. And then there's a whole art form that goes with how far you space each one of those away from the bonsai itself. And then what you use as a backdrop. And that's where it really starts to get technical and and And fun.

[00:15:46]And fun. Yeah, the art form is it That's another thing that draws me to it. I've always had a knack for art. And and this is living art, and it's never the same year to year.

[00:15:56]Constantly evolving. Thank you so much for sharing this different type of gardening with our greenhouse listeners and viewers.

[00:16:05]People can figure out how to do all this stuff with you if they'd like. The Bonsai Club of Utah. How do they find out more about you? Um we meet every fourth Wednesday at the Sugarhouse Garden Center. It's just off of 2100 South at the northeast corner of Sugarhouse Park at 7:00. And we have two shows a year at Red Butte Gardens, and that's always a really fun time for people who maybe want to go kind of see what the club is is trying to achieve without going to a meeting. And you can contact us through our Facebook page as well, but to actually learn the art of bonsai and and do well at it, the the bonsai club is the best place in the state by far.

[00:16:47]Cuz you do it together. Yes, we do it together. All right. Lots of knowledge.

[00:16:51]All right. Thanks for joining us. Join us again for the Greenhouse Show and get more information.

[00:16:56]Saturday mornings, 8:00 to 11:00, or on podcast, the KSL Newsradio app.