Tag: Bonsai

Bonsai in Fall, 2025

November 12, 2025

Dear Liza,

Well, it’s November, so it must be time for the annual Hundred Acre Wood Check-in.

This is what my bonsai forest of three looked like last year at this time.

The juniper, being evergreen doesn’t change much. But the larch’s thin needles go yellow and drop, and the Japanese maple goes bright red.

It’s a wonderful study in contrasts.

During the year, of course, everything is green. I did some weight-training (I know that’s not the proper term) on the Larch to get it out of its straight habit. It was mildly successful.

And after a year’s growth, the Japanese maple (whom I call Mr. Toranaga-sama) has gained quite a bit of height. See him there? As tall as the larch!

And now fall has rolled around again, and the colors play out as they should.

I plan on scissor-training the maple this winter, cutting it short at a growth node to encourage sideways branching. This should help fill out the understory nicely.

And over the winter, I can look back at these lovely colors and be inspired.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Changes in the Bonsai

Dear Liza,

Our nighttime temperatures are heading toward freezing, and the Hundred Acre Wood is finally changing color.

The lanky larch is getting yellow and losing its needles.The evergreen juniper stays green, of course. And the Japanese maple, Toranaga-sama, is getting red on his lower leaves.

Because the nights are so cold, we have brought all the plants up by the house. The acacia’s red blooms look so pretty with the red leaves!

And when you lean over and see them from above, it’s even better. The moss sure looks happy, right?

Sometime this winter I will scissor train the maple and the larch, and trim up the juniper. I can’t wait until spring when it all starts over again.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fall in the Hundred Acre Wood

Dear Liza,

My little bonsai forest, which I call The Hundred Acre Wood, is always changing. This last spring I removed my first transplant, Mr. Naito, after I realized he was not a Japanese Maple. I found a seedling that IS, named it Toranaga-sama, and planted it.

Here is the Wood on October 6, 2024.

Toranaga’s three layers of leaves show good health, and come spring, I will begin what is called Scissor Training. This involves lopping the top third of the tiny tree off, so as to encourage the growth of side branches and give it a more horizontal growth habit. This also encourages a thicker trunk, which gives the pleasantly aged effect of a bonsai.

The juniper, an evergreen, is getting taller all the time. I trim it often, dividing and shaping it into two uneven crowns.

I’m not sure what to do with the larch. Its natural habit is tall and straight, which is not what I am wanting for this forest. Two springs ago I wired it into a curvy shape, and now I have hung a weight (several coins in a mesh bag) from the top to give it a real bend, and we will see how it develops over the next few years.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Springtime in the Hundred Acre Wood

Dear Liza,

Last summer, I transplanted a Japanese maple seedling from a local flower bed into my bonsai forest, which I call the Hundred Acre Wood. I named it Mr. Naito after a local businessman.

I have been wondering how this tiny tree had made it through the winter. Even with getting protective draping during the coldest nights, baby trees have a lot to deal with. Would he make it to see a second summer?

The rest of the bonsai is doing well. The juniper is bushy and the larch has little Muppet-like tufts popping out. Mr. Naito seemed late.

But one bright morning, after five days of warm temperatures, he has woken up! See? The tiny bud at his top is showing a bit of green and looking promising.

I will keep you posted as to his progress.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Autumn for the Bonsai

Dear Liza,

This last May, I added a tiny new transplant to my bonsai, which I call The Hundred Acre Wood. I had carefully uprooted it, brought it home, and tucked it in.

Mr. Naito, so named because ( I believe) it is a Japanese Maple and Mr. Naito was an important Japanese American here in Portland, has had a successful summer. He has stayed green and gotten stronger. He has even bent the way I encouraged him to, to give him some style.

And now it is Autumn and Mr. Naito and the newly-shaped Larch are changing, getting ready to lose their leaves and rest for the winter. The bunchy juniper is an evergreen.

I will keep an eye on the Wood during the winter, making sure it is covered during freezing weather and kept damp, and hope for new green leaves come spring!

Love,

Grandma Judy

All the Gardens

Dear Liza,

I started the other day in the vegetable garden, giving everything a water, writing in my new Journal and reading “A Year in Provence.” The temperature was predicted to be in the 90s, so I got started early.

Later, after watching some how-to videos for courage and direction, I wired and trimmed my larch in the Hundred Acre Wood. It was getting too lanky and needed some shape. Bonsai are always a slow work in progress, it helps me exercise my patience.

I had a rest and got up to make dinner, and then Auntie Bridgett and I headed out for a bike ride! The weather is pleasant in the evening, with the sun filtered through the trees. We rode to Ladd’s Addition, where I helped Auntie Katie plant her new Rhododendron.

He is a ‘Tall Timber’ Rhododendron and she has named him Barney because he’s going to be six feet tall and purple.

Life gets very full in the summer! I’ll keep you posted on all the adventures.

Love,

Grandma Judy

The Bonsai in Fall

Dear Liza,

My newest planting of The Hundred Acre Wood is starting to feel the effects of Autumn.

March

In the spring when they were new, the trees were pretty spindly, but they plumped up nicely in summer. The freaky cotoneaster got even freakier! But I’ll wait until winter to trim her.

August

Two of the trees, the tall larch and the cotoneaster, lose their leaves, so are doing the most changing. The larch, especially, is looking unwell, but that’s seasonal. The chubby evergreen juniper is just happy and green.

November

I love seeing all this change happening on my own balcony!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Hundred Acre Wood Progress

Dear Liza,

We got some rain this weekend, so we had a mostly indoor time, and not much to tell about. I thought I’d share the progress of my new-baby bonsai, The Hundred Acre Wood.

The Hundred Acre Wood in March

This is what it looked like back in early March, when Auntie Bridgett and I found these tiny plants at the Portland Nursery. Left to right, they are a bushy little cypress, a tall larch, and a wonky cotoneaster. In their new home, they looked a little frail.

…. and now! Looking good!

But a month and a half in, with nice shade and plenty of water, they are thriving. The cypress is bushier, the larch has sent out fabulous fern-like leaves, and the cotoneaster has gotten even wonkier. This winter, once it’s in dormancy, I will prune it so it has even more lean over the edge of the pot.

I love having the time to focus on these long term projects that don’t HAVE to be done ‘right now’, but need consistent care to progress. They are good for my brain.

Love,
Grandma Judy

The New Hundred Acre Wood

Dear Liza,

I am sad to say that my bonsai forest, the Hundred Acre Wood, has died. The smoke from forest fires last summer threw off the trees’ seasonal cycle, and they didn’t survive the winter.

Hundred Acre Wood, before the fire
Hundred Acre Wood and unfortunate peasants, in the snow

So this weekend I replanted it with three new trees we got at Portland Nursery.

Cypress, cotoneaster, and larch

Replanting is always an exciting thing! It has the promise of new life and new beginnings. In doing a bonsai, it is creating a miniature world that I can visit right out on the balcony. I can imagine I am in a spinney in Wales or just up in Forest Park.

The New Hundred Acre Wood

Even in regular times, I spend a lot of time in my imagination. But this past year’s restrictions have given me even more reasons to walk around the backwoods of my mind, and it’s nice to have new trees, even tiny ones, to walk under.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Back to the Nursery

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett and I had a busy day on Friday, heading back to the Portland Nursery for more spring things. In just three short weeks, the place has gone from winter to spring! Bedding plants are out, with signs that say “Protect from frost”, because we can have frost as late as April. All sorts of plants are on display, enjoying the sunshine.

And it wasn’t just for my garden plot! Bridgett has become obsessed with houseplants. Her latest Art-O-Rama zine is all about them, and she is letting her own green thumb blossom. To see this zine and all her others, you can go to b.spicer.art@gmail.com. She got a potted coffee plant and twenty pounds of potting soil. We spent quite a bit of time looking at pots and indoor plants.

From Bridgett Spicer’s latest Art-O-Rama zine

We also got the last seeds and plants we will need for the allotment. Nasturtiums and marigolds will make the garden pretty and keep the bad bugs away and the bees happy. A “Thumbelina” English lavender will smell nice and stay small. Tomatoes and basil will be yummy, come July.

And, with my birthday coming up, I got presents! This process was emotional, choosing three trees to plant in my Hundred Acre Wood bonsai forest. The fires last summer put so much smoke in the air that the Wood lost its leaves and went into dormancy, only to ‘wake up’ mid-December, putting on new leaves that didn’t survive the winter. I have had this tiny forest since my first summer in Portland, and am sad that it has died away. But spring is all about renewal.

So Bridgett and I picked out a small bunchy cypress, and a wonky, leaning cotoneaster and an upright latch to re-forest my forest. This was my project for Saturday, gardening that is a little easier on the back.

Spring was always my Momma’s favorite time of year. New beginnings, helping the earth wake up and come to life after the cold winter is healing for all of us. I think I will get out Francis Hodgeson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden” for my reading this week.

Love,

Grandma Judy