Pinus thunbergii (Japanese Black Pine)

Everyone finds their firm favourite for bonsai and Ross is no exception and is dedicated to growing and developing an expansive collection of Japanese Black Pines (Pinus thunbergii) as bonsai. He started out in the hobby in around 2003 so has been developing his bonsai knowledge for 14 years.

Ross working on Needle Juniper

He started out trying to locate all the different cultivars of the Japanese Black Pine but found for many reasons he really liked working on the straight Pinus thunbergii and liked its growth rate and needle colouration. Size wise he tends to focus on Shohin size trees and has a mixture of bought trees as well as many he has grown from seed or saplings.

Japanese Black Pine (RA)

Having a love of all things Japanese and Japan got him into the hobby of bonsai and what he likes most about bonsai is wabi-sabi. His first ever bonsai though was a Jade plant which he still has today and his least favourite tree for bonsai is the Larch.

He continues to enjoy the hobby and is inspired by Amelia in his bonsai creations and would like to learn more about grafting and new techniques for working with the Japanese Black Pines.