About

Zelkova broom style, autumn colours. Nov 2020

Hi, and welcome to Blue Sky Bonsai. I’m Dave.

When I tell people that I love bonsai, they usually say,

“I had a bonsai. It died.”

Or they say,

“Bonsai? You mean the dwarf plants from Japan?”

I want to change all that.

Here at Blue Sky, it is my goal to show you the important tips, tricks and techniques, do’s and don’ts, and horticultural essentials so that you can do more than just keeping your trees alive; you can make your bonsai thrive and look truly like the beautiful trees that they are.

If this sounds like it could help you, be sure to join me by:

Q&A with Dave

Q: Why do you do the videos and offer all this advice?

A: I do this hobby to because I love sharing my passion for this horticultural art. It is my heartfelt wish that you get the same deep enjoyment from your hobby and from my bonsai videos and book. Who knows, you might even feel the same relaxing vibe that I get when I do bonsai.

Q: Do you earn any money from your videos?

A: A small amount. Just enough to finance the bonsai products that I purchase.

I don’t earn income from manufacturers of products that I recommend, so my advice and tutorials are 100% unbiased. However, I do recommend that you use certain products that I have bought and find to be useful or essential.

So, the only sponsor for my work is… me!

Q: How long have you been doing bonsai?

A: 20 years as of September 2025. I got my first bonsai in 2005. That means I have been killing bonsai for 20 years (accidentally, of course). But more importantly, I have been keeping them alive for about 19 years.

Q: Why do you like bonsai? What got you into this beautiful hobby?

A: I have always loved trees since I was a kid. We had a massive oak tree in the back which dominated our small back garden, and more old oak trees nearby. When I was older I got into photography and kept finding myself drawn towards photographing beautiful trees. I love the huge fat tree trunks, the massive powerful sweeping branches and the beautiful old craggy bark.

Q: If it’s just a hobby, why do you have so many trees?

A: For several reasons. There are hundreds of viable species that can be successfully and easily grown in pots, and I like so many different features of them. You might get a particular interesting feature on just one type of tree. Amazing flowers on another, and a special fruit on another.

Secondly, as a bonsai artist you are bound to lose a tree or two at sometime, due to some reason such as accidental underwatering or a weather-related accident. It always hurts the heart if you lose a tree, especially one that you’ve worked on and developed for several years. But, having a “bank” of many different trees just softens the impact of losing one of them. The converse, if you develop and maintain just two trees and lose one of them, that’s a big blow: half of your entire collection going to compost.

And thirdly, any collection will naturally grow over many years – between purchases, seedlings, cuttings and layers – it’s virtually impossible to prevent the inevitable! In recent years I have been attempting to reduce my collection size, by selling and gifting some trees, and by resisting the urge to acquire new trees.

Nowadays I only purchase as a direct replacement for trees that died. In the last three years, I have purchased only three – two Chinese juniper pre-bonsais (a Kishu and an Itoigawa) and a Japanese black pine sapling – all three replacements for tree deaths in the drought of summer 2022.