The unusual warm weather has provided a longer than normal colorful autumn display in my bonsai garden. While large deciduous trees growing along the roadsides are bare, many of my bonsai still had foliage. Some of the Rough bark Japanese maples still are bright red.

I’ve been moving the bonsai around so they get maximum sun to promote bright autumn colors. The bonsai in semi shady locations remained green, while those in the bright sunlight were spectacular. Many of the trees were moved from the shady part into the sun to prolong the colorful bonsai. This year has been the brightest and most colorful I’ve seen in my fifty plus years of studying bonsai.

We photographed many more bonsai when they were at their peak color. Dry bark photographs best, so often the trees had to be protected in the garage so bark texture could be seen in the photos…

…or get smaller, to be more accurate.

When we style a juniper, very often the live vein changes in size. It’s normally an adjustment to foliage loss, or branch loss, both of which tend to happen during styling.

Most commonly, the sides of the vein will shrink, so that the vein will become narrower. Except on the very youngest of trees, a vein will never become wider. (This reluctance to cover a wound is why we don’t cut off a large branch cleanly to the trunk, as one might on a pine or maple, expecting it to callus and close up. A juniper won’t do that, so we make a jin).

Although it won’t widen, over time the live vein will grow more bulbous, growing out from the trunk. The top of this juniper shows an old live vein that has a rounded character to it. This is a very…