Bonsai Services by In Vivo Bonsai

Sections:

Workshops - up next: 5/3/25 at Casa Cacao Cafe
Artistic Landscape Tree Pruning, Styling, & Maintenance
Bonsai Club Lectures
Bonsai Lessons / Consultations (Virtual or In-Person)
Unwanted Shrub and Small Tree removal in Columbus, OH area
Bonsai Care and Maintenance Services

I. Bonsai Workshops (more info here)

Up Next:

April 12, 2025 - 4TH Annual Columbus Bonsai Society INVASIVE Alliance / Yamadori Study Group Dig. I am organizing this free event for the 4th year in a row. As I have written about previously, come out and learn your native vs invasive plant ID, get some advice on digging trees and getting them to live, and on turning our home-grown species into successful bonsai. RSVP here by 4/11.
May 3, 2025 - 9am-11am - Bonsai and Coffee. Introduction to Indoor Bonsai Workshop with succulents at Casa Cacao

In addition to receiving a tough prebonsai succulent plant, hand-built Ancient Art Bonsai bonsai pot, soil, loaner tools, and personal instruction on how to care for, prune, style, wire, and propagate your bonsai. Sign up here.

Other workshops available on demand are:

Yew Phoenix grafting ($100/person for a 3-hour workshop). I provide carved juniper deadwood, yew whips, training pots, and bonsai soil for slip-pot. This workshop was first hosted in the spring of 2023 and was well-received by all who attended. Participants should bring their own pruners, pliers, and bonsai wire, but some recycled wire and small loaner pruners are available also.
Beginner repotting and initial styling ($50/person for a 2-hour workshop) where we take young stock (participants receive either tropical/indoor suitable material or stock intended for outdoor growing; inquire about exact species availability as it varies over time), repot them into training pots and perform initial wiring and pruning to set an initial shape. Loaner pruners, soil, and recycled bonsai wire are provided.
Intro to kintsugi repair. If you have a broken pot, inquire here. I'll be happy to source and supply the necessary tools for the 2-in-1 step technique I have written about. I will provide you the epoxy, gold, silver, or copper-colored mica powder, parchment paper, and toothpicks for application. I will show you how to begin sealing the pot together here in person in this 1-hour workshop but for a pot with many pieces broken you will have to let segments dry completely for about 1 day before adding the next piece, so much of it will need to be completed at home which is why I provide the supplies for you to take home. $75/person.
Carving workshop ... my priciest workshop as especially for using power tools, I will need to get liability insurance for this and you will be expected to sign a liability waiver. I am most proficient in mechanical deadwood carving via Dremel and Die Grinder. I have been instructed in both the Dan Robinson and the Will Baddeley styles of carving. I also have limited but expanding experience in Si Dao manual carving techniques, especially with the use of bark scrapers, trunk splitters, and jin pliers, and will be happy to demonstrate all of these methods (these are lower risk, so it could be done without the liability insurance). The main area I do not have experience in is carving via chisels. Contact me if interested.

We can combine this with a privet wiring and styling workshop. I have a few privets left over from my CBS workshop. Again, this workshop was well received by all who attended!

Wiring and Clip and grow workshops for primary branch lines and foliage pad development

For $50 I will provide a 2-hour workshop where you will practice wiring and pruning on honeysuckle bonsai. I have several which I saved with permission from Columbus Parks from our latest invasive removal event in spring 2023. These trees are intended explicitly for beginners to practice bonsai techniques. Participants who take this workshop can take home the tree to continue their long-term practice, just make sure to pick off flowers once they are done blooming in future years to prevent the plant from producing seeds.
Other material is available to teach this subject area if you have a different species preference (price may vary).

II. Artistic Landscape Tree Styling, Pruning, and Maintenance

10% Off your next pruning session if you refer a friend!

For those near Columbus, OH, I offer my experience in styling small landscape trees (<15 ft tall, called Niwaki in Japanese) in the style of bonsai. See the before & after gallery section of my blog to get a better idea of my abilities. A few selected examples of my work are included below for convenience. Contact me if you would like to discuss this option to schedule a free consultation.

Example: Cleanup & Cutback on a Laceleaf Japanese Maple Landscape Tree (Niwaki)

Old Japanese Maples are a pleasure to prune! They just need their regular maintenance, otherwise, it is a much more involved process to reset their structure. This was a tree I pruned for a client. Due to the major reset, further years of monitored growth are needed.

Example: Pruning Japanese Black Pine Landscape Trees (Niwaki)

I have extensive experience in pruning landscape pines as well. All learned from his bonsai teacher Dan Robinson at Elandan Gardens.

III. Bonsai Club Lectures (more info here)

Here are lectures I have given to the Columbus Bonsai Society or other local plant organizations/events to date. If you're interested, I can update one of these to give a lecture to your local bonsai society or we could brainstorm new topics as well. Contact me to inquire on dates and rates. For 2025, weekend dates are most preferred.

Time-Saving Tools to Grow Healthy Bonsai Indoors
Traditional and Modern Takes on Formal Bonsai Displays
Essential Steps to Grow Bonsai From Seed
Science for Successfully Growing Cacti and Succulents Indoors
Introduction to Yamadori (Wild-Bonsai) in Ohio and Beyond
Basics of Growing and Assessing Bonsai
Fundamentals for Outdoor Bonsai Care and Styling
Techniques and Philosophies for Styling Bonsai
Fundamentals for Indoor Bonsai Care and Styling
Experimental Results in Bonsai

Upcoming in 2025 for Columbus Bonsai Society

IV. Private Bonsai Lessons

In the post-Covid age, I now offer both in-person and virtual bonsai consultations. I can help pass on basic horticulture information and formulate design ideas. Those who do not have a bonsai club in your local area may find this especially useful. Contact me if interested.

For those local to Columbus, OH I am also open to in-person lessons for free if you help on my trees/around my nursery. This is how I first learned from my bonsai teacher so it's only fair to pay it forward! Also potentially we could arrange to work on trees side by side sometime at my nursery or at a CBS event if you prefer to work on your own stock.

V. Unwanted shrub and small tree removal in the Columbus, OH area

I often remove small trees and shrubs to salvage them for bonsai when I find such opportunities. I have been doing this for 8 years now and have dug hundreds of trees. This experience including from my bonsai teacher's yamadori experience has given me a strong foundation to salvage unwanted or wanted wild specimen for bonsai. If you have any small trees or shrubs you no longer want and you are in the Columbus, OH area please let me know! You may qualify for free shrub and tree removal if they have desirable qualities for bonsai (invasive species not eligible unless exceptional) and assuming I am allowed to keep most of them for my work and time. You are welcome to shadow the digging process if you'd like to learn it. Contact me if you want to discuss. I can get trees to survive salvage year-round but the odds of success are greatest in the early spring. Also note, I basically have enough trees to take care of right now so I may not be able to get to yours right away.

If you are in a rush or if you prefer to keep the trees after the digging process for yourself (ie for bonsai use or to relocate them on your property, we can discuss rates.

VI. Bonsai Care and Maintenance Services

I offer my bonsai skills in digging trees, repotting, pruning, wiring, unwiring, carving, treating deadwood. watering, fertilizing, etc. See the before & after gallery section of my blog to get a better idea of my abilities. Bonsai boarding is also possible for brief or extended vacations. Contact me if interested.

Example: Decandling Japanese Red Pine

An example of my work as an apprentice at Elandan Gardens. 4 years of decandling pines... it changes you. Luckily all the holes in my hands have now healed!

Example: Thinning Alaska Yellow Cedar

Thinning Alaska Yellow Cedars and related Thujas are very time-consuming tasks. The perfect job for an apprentice! Pruning fronds in this way results in the regeneration of smaller fronds as well as backbudding for ramification.

Bonsai Services