Rocky Mountain Bonsai Trees and Rocks

Welcome to my Colorado Bonsai Page.
This page is a peek into my bonsai journey and natural Colorado inspirations.


May 2022 I have been working with concrete and wire to make bonsai pots/vessels that match my Colorado collected rocks. I just can't put a rock in an ordinary bonsai pot. I am thinking of a literati style yamadori spruce or bristle cone

May 2022
I held my first ever bonsai concrete slab workshop for
Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society members at my studio. All participants learned my technique using sculptors
wire and concrete and made a small piece to take home

painting for sale here

My new bonsai painting was inspired by bonsai master Ryan Neil's and his Sierra Juniper# 8 at Bonsai Mirai.

Here is Ryan Neil's review of the painting. "Linda's interpretation of our work touches on the abstract form in a way other interpretations haven't. We find it inspiring and informative how creative minds further convey the interest of the trees we put our hands on." - Ryan Neil, Bonsai Mirai

This is Ryan Neil's Sierra Juniper#8. Photo courtesy of Bonsai Mirai

Here are some of my favorite bonsai trees from the artists at the 52'nd Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society show at Denver Botanic Garden September 2021

This was my favorite tree of the show. A Rocky Mountain Juniper bonsai by Will Kerns. Truly inspirational and amazing/td>

Love this cascade juniper bonsai too

I am obsessed with the jade bonsai in this volcanic rocks. I will hunt forever for a rock like this

Here is my humble contribution to the RMBS bonsai show. I am just a 1 year rookie , so to be in the same company as these bonsai artists was truly inspiring. My dad cut the cherry wood just 2 days before the show as I entered at the last minute.

AAugust 2021. This is a Tam juniper bonsai ( bought from Home depot) that I pruned, wired and planted into this rock, covering the roots with moss. Tam junipers are excellent bonsai tree for beginners. I have done some extreme things to them and have yet to kill one. You can take a cutting of one stick it in the ground and it will grow roots

another bonsai inspired painting for sale

I love this old bristlecone pine in Pikes Forest Colorado. The twists of the trunk are amazing and the natural jins are inspiring. 07/2021/td>

This ancient bristle cone is a great metaphor for life. He is hanging in there through the harshest conditions possible 07/2021

linda paul with bristlecones pine forest

Here I am at the top of The Crags in Pikes Forest. Lots of Limber Pine up here too. 07/2021

bristlecone pine bonsai tree in training

This is one of my wild bristlecone trees that I collected in fall of 2020. He is still in his training pot. You want to move slow with these guys, one change per per year. He had a stunning 2" of new apical growth this spring.

May 2021 My latest bonsai obsession. I planted this Engelmann spruce yamadori in this pocketed rock. The back shady side of the rock was perfect for some wild ferns. Engelmann spruce make excellent bonsai with their short needles and tolerance for a range of conditions

April 2021 This is Willy the Windswept bonsai! I got him last fall and he spent the winter in my garden, now I put him in a rock that had a nice 2" deep cavity, and I drilled a couple more holes in the bottom. Hopefully he lives. He a is wild pinyon pine yamadori

Nature's bonsai inspiration. This adorable ponderosa pine growing right out of this rock. Boulder, CO

nature's bonsai pine Boulder CO by devils thumb

Bonsai inspiration - Devil's Thumb area, Boulder CO

April 2021 Its that time of the year and time to work on all my plants that I overwintered in Colorado. I made this raft bonsai (he's just in training) from a Home depot Tam juniper that I bought in the fall. I did my cutting and wiring then and then put him in a sterlite container that I drilled with holes and buried him in my garden for winter. I had found this cool wooden tray on Amazon and drilled holes and wired him in. I am going to have to sacrifice one of the lower 2 curved branches at some point, but for now it will help make the trunk grow thicker. The Tam juniper seems like a very tough and fun bonsai for cold winters . Cuttings are amazingly easy from this juniper. I had stuck some in a pot and even left it outside for the Colorado winter and they are happy and alive this spring.

September 2020 Colorado Mountain Inspiration

Went on a trip to southern Colorado to get inspiration and some little trees for bonsai . This very old bristlecone pine at the top of a canyon is great inspiration. I love metaphor for survival in the harshest conditions

Spent days trying to find a rock with a hole in it (not that easy). This one is perfect for my tiny little wild bristlecone pine. His name is Barry the Bristlecone

September 9, 2020 My very first bonsai!

I had a Juniper (juniper procumbens "nana") in one of my succulent pots that has been outside here in Colorado for a year. I watched a bunch of youtube videos (my favorites by Peter Chen and Jason Chan). Then with a pair of garden shears and fine art scissors. I gingerly hacked away. Being a semi-cascade style I know it is in the wrong pot and I have not yet wired the pads, but you gotta start somewhere and I felt I had already tortured it enough for one season. I added some quartz crystals I found at my dads mountain property and some mini hens and chicks to fill out the pot. and so it begins

Welcome to my Colorado Bonsai Page. This page is a peek into my bonsai journey and natural Colorado inspirations.

Welcome to my Colorado Bonsai Page.
This page is a peek into my bonsai journey and natural Colorado inspirations.