1 Day A Year Bonsai Trees

It’s a beautiful early spring day and the sun is shining here at Kaizen Bonsai world headquarters. Just finished watering my trees for the first time this year and the garden is ablaze with the beautiful and welcome sight of spring flowers everywhere. For the first time in months I find it a joy to be alive. It’s been a very long hard winter and I for one am pleased it’s all over (for now at least).

This is the first morning of 2026 that I have had a minute to relax and think about anything other than getting boxes out of the door. Richard can handle todays workload so I thought I would pen a quick note to let ya’ll know i’m still here beavering away. From our first day back in January we have been buried alive with orders for which we are all very grateful. The support of our lovely loyal customers keeps our little family afloat and we are eternally grateful to every one of you!

When I say we have been busy I mean it. On average we have shifted about 5 tons of goods a week (and up to 6 on a couple of occasions, that’s a 5 day week. For an old bloke like me that’s a lot. 60 to 100 boxes a day, every day. All we seem to do is lug huge volumes of materials and goods from daylight to dark. It’s back breaking work for all of us, even Catherine moves several tons a day whilst labelling all your orders.

This year has been unusually difficult, particularly in relation to keeping soil products flowing. As Britain continues to crumble before our eyes just the simple task of ordering new raw materials has become a living nightmare. Not a single supplier, transport company or freight agent can be trusted to do what they promise any more. Suppliers and manufacturers do not hold stock and they increasingly push us to take entire trailer loads of material rather than the few pallets we prefer. The stress of all this has made me question wether I even want to continue with these products and when we add up the ever increasing cost of warehousing etc’ my motivation to quit increases by the day. However my dad didn’t raise a quitter and so much to the chagrin of my good lady I just press on regardless.

Before I move on there’s something I have to get off my chest, a topical note if you will. Turn on any media in this country today and the only “story” in town is that of oil prices. SO all this chatter about energy prices. I notice on the news broadcast on NHK Japan this morning that their pump fuel is now 190yen per litre so about £0.90p and their government is about to reduce this by a good bit. So why are we taking it up the a** at approaching £2 quid. All the government needs to do is get out of the fucking way and stop stealing our hard earned cash under the auspices of a lie perpetrated by the “media”.

A neighbour up the road was moaning about the price he had to pay for heating oil and apparently this is a bit of a national emergency….they say. So our esteemed leaders have come up with a plan to give these folk millions of OUR pounds to help. Now here’s an idea, rather than spending more of our money why not just cut the taxes on that oil, it makes for grateful and happy (ish) consumers and costs nothing. This relentless need to take all our cash and then expect us to feel grateful for their measly handouts of paltry amounts in ‘personal aid’ makes me feel like some sort of Oliver Twist style begging peasant.

Oil has been up around $140 a barrel in the recent past so currently trading at about $100, i think we will survive but seeing as how half what we pay is tax it strikes me we have been bent over that barrel for quite some time now. Enjoy!

So, moving on what’s been happening other than humping boxes? Excitingly in January we received our first shipment of some very special bonsai pots by Chinese master Shi Ming Zhu. I’m sure this is a name means little to a lot of you but Master Zhu is considered to be the best bonsai pot maker in all of China and there is a great deal of competition for that moniker. I bought these to sell but once they arrived I was so impressed I decided to keep most of the shipment. About time my trees got some good pots I think.

There are a couple of these beautiful pots available on our web site. Bonsai pots by Master Shi Ming Zhu. I know these look expensive but do bear in mind that since January this year the factory gate prices of these stunning pots has literally doubled. The days of cheap bonsai pots are entirely behind us now.

Here is one example I have donated to be raffled off at Bonsai-Fest this weekend.

So, getting back to where I started, 1 Day A Year Bonsai Trees. It strikes me that a lot of folk expect their bonsai trees to be pristine all the time. Go to any show these days and the standard of exhibits is going to be pretty high. However that’s not how bonsai works every day of the week. At an exhibition a tree has likely had anything up to two years of preparation to reach a pinnacle of refinement and is displayed trussed up in it’s Sunday best. Not many folk put their trees up in workday Monday morning garb. Bonsai trees are just that, trees and for their wellbeing they need to be allowed to be trees and once in a while perhaps we can elevate their appearance to an artistic level.

That being the case I find myself happy with trees that do not look their refined best all of the time. Some species particularly do not look amazing very often. Those with big leaves for instance. Broadleaf evergreens are another type of tree that, mostly one either loves or hates. One particular favourite of mine is this elaeagnus. Not common in the UK, this tree came in from Japan a few years ago and I have been messing with it for a while now. It’s an absolute thug, grows like a weed and throughout summer is all but impossible to restrain. However come early spring it needs to be defoliated, this takes typically four hours of intense work. Last night I braved the cold and finished it about midnight and so today it looks good, a true 1 Day A Year Bonsai Tree.

Anyone else got any 1 Day A Year Bonsai Trees?

Graham Potter – March 2026

Elaeagnus prior to leaf pruning.

4 hours later and this beautiful craggy tree is looking it’s best.

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A Bleary Outlook and a Thick Head

Here I am at first light Monday morning with a bleary outlook and a thick head whilst my ears are ringing. 9 hours after getting back from my big weekend out at Bonsai-Fest I have a very great deal to cogitate. Whilst I am doing that I thought I would let you see what I bought home.

Before I get to that I would like to say to everyone who took the trouble to ‘have a word‘ that it has always been and will continue to be an absolute privilege to serve ya’ll in whatever way I can wether that be through Kaizen Bonsai or sharing what I have learned in written word, video or face to face.

I will be eternally grateful for the support given to myself and our little family. Folk, taking the time to express your own appreciation for what we do means way more than the words alone. It spurs me on to do more than ever seeing as it is appreciated so much by so many of you.

I was infinitely amused by the notion that Kevin Willson (my good companion for the weekend) and I are being looked upon (by some) as the grandfathers of modern British bonsai. We are both grandfathers of course but, and I speak personally here, regarding bonsai, after 40 years of absolute dedication to the ‘art’ I feel i am only just getting started so buckle up young’uns!

As I was mooching around the bewildering array of trade stalls someone asked me what it was I was looking for. My response was ‘age‘. What I mean by that is the magic that age brings to bonsai. Age that is genuine, trees that have been in bonsai pots for decades have a presence that is absolutely impossible to fake and it’s very hard to find. Perhaps I can explain that in more detail another time but those of you who know, know.

First up I grabbed this hawthorn. Thorns are definitely not a favourite of mine for reasons i don’t have the energy to go into at this time but as a passionate yamadori guy I figured this would make a good project and the price was very fair. Expect to see this one in a future video.

Not my favourite species but how could I refuse ?

My other purchase was this big privet. I spotted it early on but did not recognise it until I met the vendor who I have been friendly with for over thirty years. During my very first excursions into bonsai club life the guys at our local club were poring over this photo and i got a glimpse over a shoulder and was both awe struck and jealous all at once. At that time I had no clue what I was up to and material like this was just a pipe dream.

Mid-1990’s, recently lifted from an allotment I believe and structural pruning completed.

Fast forward a few years and I had done just that and in the very early 2000s I had the privilege of being able to spend a weekend with the owner where we begun the hollowing process and completed some branch work too.

Over the intervening years I caught a glimpse of the tree from time to time but when I spotted it across a crowded Fest it had changed so much I did not recognise it. Being able to buy this for a very fair sum absolutely made my weekend. To be able to walk out with a great example of bonsai skillage and a little bit of my own history is wonderful. I would like to thank GB for allowing me to buy this tree. You will be seeing a lot more of this one in the future as I refine it’s craggy old appearance. That’s ‘age‘ and just what I was looking for! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Graham Potter – March 2026

First day with my new bonsai 🙂

This picture was taken 20+ years ago just after first carving and some branch work.

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