My name is Adam Lavigne
I am an artist living in Florida. My main focus right now is bonsai trees.
I also paint and sculpt; I play guitar and I am a cunning linguist (say that last bit out loud).
In bonsai, I give demonstrations, run workshops, and display my art.
I have a growing nursery in my backyard where I am raising trees from seedlings all the way up to very large trunked specimens.
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If you wish to book me for a demo please contact me by email at adamaskwhy@yahoo.com

70 thoughts

  1. great blog! I’ve just sort of become a enthusiast in Bonsai this year. I hope to learn a lot from reading your blog!

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  4. Adam I really enjoyed your demo at the Melbourne Bonsai meeting it was *very* informative. I am often in Orlando to see family and pickup supplies (pottery, I have a clay art gallery) I will make it a point to make arangements to come see your display. Look forward to following your blogs. Cosette

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  5. I do really enjoy reading your blog, I read your whole blog in one night, it’s addictive. My wife woke up around 3 am and I was still there reading. What are you up to she asked, wondering if I was in a no good place on the internet. I showed the picture of your callus hands, and asked her if they are sexy then proceeding with the delicate drawings of trees that came from the same pair of hands; she knew I was in a good place and in good hands.

    You are a true inspiring artist with no string attached, it allows you to express things the way you feel and see it. While I can not speak as a whole, but I think anybody reads your blog probably sense the same of what I am sensing, and that is nothing more than the love of trees and bonsai. I do appreciate the time and efforts you’ve been put in further the knowledge of bonsai.

    I live in St. Pete and been bonsaiing(you said it’s also a verb, and the spell checker does not agree) about a year now; still in a collecting phase and the yard is a total mess, wife and kids still asking where are the bonsai. I hope to meet you sometime in the future, in the mean time my trees thank you for the tips in the bonsai soil mix.

    Cheers,

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    1. Thank you very much! You don’t know how much that means to me. Sometimes I write these articles and it seems like I am speaking into a great abyss and I have no idea if anyone is even hearing me.
      I truly appreciate your time.
      I will be at the Bonsai Society of Florida’s convention this weekend (May 24-27th) as a vendor. Come by and see me. The vendor room and the exhibit are free and open to the public.
      It’s in Lake Mary, the details are on the BSF website.
      Hopefully I’ll see you there
      Thanks again

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  6. Nopes Adam…you are definitely not speaking into an abyss. Am from India and though Bonsais had captured my attention as a kid all I knew till about a year ago was that it requires root and shoot trimming :). I know there is a lot of stuff on the net but your Blog has been like an entry to a different world to me. Came to know a lot of “what to do” along with “why to do” which is generally missing on other sites. Have purchased a few trees, collected a few from wild and stole a few from… err… places. All are my guniea pigs now. My mornings tea session has been converted into a knowledge dumping session on my poor wife where she gets to hear all the stuff I got to know from this blog. Recently came to know that shes been expounding this at her office and gaining popularity without touching a single tree :o.
    Anyways, too much info too soon results in a lot of queries. I have a few trees where I dont know what to do next with them. Would be really grateful if you can enlighten me by sketchin the solution to me (love those sketches!!)

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  7. Great stuff. I randomly started following you on Instagram from the #bonsai feed and finally checked out your website. Very inspiring in many ways! Keep going.

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  9. Adam
    Where did you get the speed control for your die grinder? Have been looking since the workshop but can’t find one with high enough amps.

    Mark

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  10. Great blog Adam – will take my time and go through all your posts.

    It seems that my climate here in Rustenburg, South Africa, is a lot like yours so I can relate to the species you post.

    Good work.

    Lennard

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  11. I was so proud of myself for keeping my tree alive at least for the whole year but after checking your blog now I feel like an idiot.I got a new perspective and I will not look at my plant like it`s just something neat.Thanks for the work you did on it today.

    Great blog,your writing just keeps you going for more.Count on me bugging you with questions in the future.

    And here is the first one:can you bonsai a citrus tree?

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    1. Thank you for your visit today and don’t feel like an idiot. You did what a lot of people can’t do, you kept a tree alive for a year.
      Don’t worry too much about bugging me, I enjoy the questions.
      And to answer your first. Yes you can. But you want to use one with small fruit like a kumquat or such so the tree stays in scale.

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  13. Dude. Yep that about sums up what I am thinking. I love reading this blog! I am starting to dabble with some projects and I’d love your perspective and ideas on a few! I am out here in Oregon so about as far away from you as can be in regards to the US. Keep up the good work! I’ll email some pics of my projects if your ok with that!

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  14. I just got a bonsai tree for my birthday, and i really wanted one and i did some research but where i live there is not many things for the tree. I am pretty sure i have a Ficus microcarpa, but i don’t know for sure. I also just noticed that my tree has little tiny white dots on the leaves. I am not sure if that is bad or normal. I have been misting it every morning and it sits mostly in the light in the morning. I just got it so i just watered today, and it has moss on top of it.

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  15. We first met when you were demonstrating at Citrus County. I belonged to a club but couldn’t even grow the plants so I was too dumb in bonsai to know what questions to ask. I tried watching you up close but you were too fast. So I asked if you had a website. You had just started one, you were right, it didn’t have much, but I checked in often and I was hooked. I learn more from you than I did with my group. Keep up the great work. Hope to see you in Orlando this weekend.

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  16. Hi Adam,
    I really enjoy your website. I live in the Ft. Lauderdale area and recently I have had issues with the dreaded Sri Lankan/ Asian Weevil. Wondering if you have had issues with them up in Orlando and if so how have you been dealing with them.
    I have used Neem oil and Seven but both offer only temporary relief.

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    1. I haven’t had a problem with them here. From what I’m reading a systemic insecticide will work on ornamental trees (don’t use a systemic on anything you’ll eat). Bayer advance has a systemic tree and shrub liquid you can get that is easy to use.
      A systemic works three ways: on contact, residual spray on the leaves and the plant absorbs it and if the bug eats the plant it kills it too.

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  17. I’m a beginner, a newb if you will… it’s only been a little over a year since I got my first tree from a family friend.

    Well, I’ve managed to keep that ficus alive for this long, and have done a decent amount of roadside rescues and snagging from my mother’s flower beds as she decides she doesn’t want things where she has had them for years, and I was very proud of myself for not spending a stupid amount of money at the 50% rack at the local hardware store garden section last week, but I was griping about the whole situation to my buddy Mike (that would be the family friend who got me into this situation to begin with…) and he basically did a “aww-da-poor-widdle-baby” thing and sent me a link to your blog….

    I’m gonna slap him next time I see him… all this inspiration and wonderfulness when he knows DARN WELL that i’m in sit-and-wait-while-it-grows mode and i’m looking in every yard trash pile i see for roots and I need SOMETHING TO DO before i give in and whack the bougainvilla chunk that I wasn’t sure was going to do anything back to absolutely nothing because after looking at some of your stuff i’m thinking it’s too tall and stupid-looking for anything to come of it, and if it’s chopped back to just above where it’s got that rotten hollow spot… but then again, I just have to wait and wait and wait again…

    Impatience, ADD, and bonsai…. what a wonderful combination, right? anyway, the point (yes! i have a point!) is, I’m loving this blog… if it weren’t for the fact that there’s kids and classes to deal with, i think i would have read it all the way through by now… pacing myself, though…. enjoying it…

    Thank you.

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  19. Cool blog! Just happened to bump into it because of a friend’s bonsai passion.
    Feel free to check out his story on my blog: El Morri And The Bonsai Babies.

    (FYI: I am a storyteller. Not a bonsai specialist 🙂 Forgive me my ignorance…. )

    Nele

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  20. Well Adam you’ve gone and done it. I’ve lived years without commenting on someone’s work but now I must. You’re funny, slightly irreverent, borderline crude and I love it. Although I’ve dabbled in Bonsai for 25 or more years I’ve learned more reading your blogs than all the books, lectures, etc. I’ve seen or heard. Don’t let this give you the big head and please don’t ever change. Thank You. Bob

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  21. Great blog, I really admire how you know to do nice tree from average-bad material. Thank you, for sharing

    Ondrej

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  23. Adam, Adam, Adam
    I got to say 2 green thumbs up! Bravo my friend!!!
    You sir are the only individual I have found that does this for the
    true love of what this art is. I use it as therapy for my bipolar.
    It really gives back ! “to me that is”
    I have been attempting bonsai for a year now…. I say it that way
    because not one single tree I have worked with is alive. I have 3
    plants in lil pots, 2 aralias and a dwarf schefflera. They are nice and
    easy plants to work with…….but Just not the same as a tree. I have green thumbs,
    but not one single tree has lived whit me trying to grow it bonsai.
    I harvest mine, I figure why pay for something if it is gona die.
    I have a crap load of lil Red Cedars popping up in my yard.
    There is one I have been cutting back for 2 years in the general direction it will
    Be taking me. I really want to start the nebari, but IM not going to pull it from the ground
    until i can make them happy.
    I wash my hands, Im as gentle as i can get, i keep the roots wet when working
    with it. i just don’t get it.
    Any suggestions ?
    I live in central Virginia. I cant find any bonsai clubs within 200 miles. There is a dude
    that sells trees from a white van, but he wont talk to me about anything other than
    selling me his trees.
    I emailed and asked some “true indoor bonsai” dude from Hawaii and got back a
    VERY rude and disrespectful reply. So so f$#k that dude. IT was also in the propose of
    buying a bunch of shit, but he screwed himself on that.
    I value your work, and wish i had the opportunity to meet you. My brain
    is in the same realm as yours…. Its scary…… THANK YOU !! for your time and
    web site !!!
    Kelly Bell ……. (FYI im a dude, lmao)
    420cable@gmail.com
    “THANK YOU TO ALL ACTIVE AND MILITARY VETERANS”

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    1. Wow, thank you for reading, I’m glad you’ve gotten south from my blog.
      If you’re going to collect the red cedars, it’s best to do it from about December until maybe February. They are a type of juniper so the same techniques apply with them.
      Good luck!

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  24. I have just started attempting to learn to grow in the bonsai tradition. I feel so fortunate to have come across your blog, Thank you! There may be hope yet for my pretty little trees!

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  25. Adam,

    Your blogs are a scream! I love what you do with ficus. I just got a 3 year old ficus ( not sure of species or subspecies), and was totally bummed looking at the Google gallery of S shape bonsai. Your pics and comments cheered me up, and I’m inspired by your work. I’m going to wait a while to do anything with my tree; I have to move soon from the Midwest to NM in a couple of months. I pray for the best; either way I’ll dig your blog. Best of luck!

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  26. Thank you for the education, plus the dirty chuckles here and there.. Tripping all over your blog today during a search on jasmine murraya. I am a newbie in plants and bonsai, skewed towards mame bonsai due to lack of space and the weakness for cute things… My first experiment in September was to grow a tiny curry tree, I also managed to make a raft forest. Yesterday evening I just uprooted (yes stole) 2 murrayas from a road divider in Kuala Lumpur and potted them into 6″ shallow pots – the earth was like a guessing game – I mixed some random ratio of perlite, sand, cocopeat and vermicompost. After thinning down the foliages, I also got rid off intermediate branches that I did not care for. Not exactly sure what to do next, so I am just reading up all over the internet. I find the idea of training a bonsai challenging but am so intrigued that I am starting with 2″ pots of moss, which I am under the impression that it is easier since it is smaller and trained over a shorter time? Is it true?

    The murraya is my first attempt to do bonsai.

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  27. Attempting humor in prose is not often successful. It generally makes me uncomfortable. Not the case with your writing….you’re killing it! Well done. Also, I am very appreciative of your sketches that show the anticipated outcome of the tree. That really brings it all together and is a great teaching tool. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks Chris, I try. There are many who think that bonsai is a serious matter and “must’ be handled humorlessly. All I can say to them is, “My trunk is bigger than yours!”

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  29. I found this blog and was immediately impressed. Went through and started looking at all previous posts . Love this blog

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  30. Hi Adam,

    My name is Anuj Agarwal. I’m Founder of Feedspot.

    I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Adam’s Art and Bonsai has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 75 Bonsai Blogs on the web.

    http://blog.feedspot.com/bonsai_blogs/

    I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 75 Bonsai Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!

    Also, you have the honor of displaying the badge on your blog.

    Best,
    Anuj

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  32. Hi Adam .. I’ve watched all your YouTube vids and love your website(first of all I wanted to say how sorry I am about the damage to your trees and home from Irma..my dad actually lives in Cape Coral and it was terrifying watching the news in another country (let alone to go threw it, I couldn’t imagine) y’all are a tough family!! Anyways I’ve been following you for a long time and your an amazing bonsai artist, and a good musician to boot!! I love way up in Canada here in a little city called Sault Ste. Marie and up here they don’t sell Bonsai or soil(I’ve ordered my current 13 bonsais from tropical expressions.ca and I also ordered soil from them as well(I believe the soil is taking way to long to dry out, it’s not very gritty and I also can’t find and turface, pumice or crushed granite or anything to make a gritty soil to save my trees.. the 2 trees in question are 2 ficus solisifolias…I’ve had them now for 2 mos..and they both started to get yellow leaves that fall off and some are still green when they fall..at first it was just a few leaves and now it’s been like a month and this morning I went to tend to them and the one is almost all yellow(I transplanted when I got it so I know it’s not potbound, i keep it 70% humidity in my home and make sure to let the soil dry out(not to much tho) between watering a… I also have a 4 foot t5 grow light with three bulbs in it and some daylight clamp bulbs pointing to the sides..it is obviously September now so could that be why the one has really started to loose its leaves(I have a feeling the other isn’t far behind..what do you think I can do for my tree(should I defoliate..or just leave it be?) also do you sell soil by any chance..I’d pay for shipping and for the soil ahead of time? Anyways it would kill me to loose thease trees as they’re my favourite (also they’re in 6 inch training pots but I also feel that the soil underneath isn’t drying out fast enough at all.. what do you think Adam, what should I do( is my system ok to last the winter and what would u change, honestly ( I know your the expert in all bonsai but I see you working with this species quite often so I figured you might be able to take the time to email me to help me(your like my bonsai idol lol it would mean the world to me if I could get some advice from you. Thank you for taking the time to read my email (any other questions that I havnt answered please email me and ask..god bless u and your gorgeous family..p.s I’m hoping this email gets to you 🙂

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    1. Hi Sara
      There should be an outlet for pumice and lava, there are mines up there for them.
      The leaves on a willow leaf will sometimes drop all at once, especially as the light changes. As long as you have good green growing tips, they should be fine.
      And I can’t ship soil over the border I’m afraid, I’m sorry.

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  33. My wife hates you. Apparently I spend all my time reading your blog and not enough time talking to her! Keep up the good work and keep a couch open for me just in case I get kicked out of the house! (just kidding, she doesn’t hate you)

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  34. Fantastic article on the Portulacaria bonsai. I’ve been growing (barely) Crassula ovatas for a while, but I’m a complete beginner with bonsai. I have some new P. plants, so I hope you’ll still be going in 10 years and I can get back to you to let you know how it’s going.

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  35. I’ve been following your blogs for quite a while. I am a physician in India and will be doing my residency in US soon. I’ll try to visit you.
    Until then, have a good time with your trees bro.

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  36. Hey Adam! Love this blog; it’s educational, inspirational, and contains just the right blend of art, science and humour for me to come back regularly! Not a huge fan of the current theme, however – having only titles to go on isn’t quite enough. Maybe switch to something that shows excerpts and a featured image…? Would make it easier to choose what to read when browsing. But of course in the end it’s your show, and that’s how we like it 🙂 Keep up the good work!

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      1. I hear ya! It’s a jungle out there. I’ve set up a fair number of WP blogs tho – if you tell me what you’re looking for in a theme, I may have a suggestion or two. Might even help you set things up if you want 🙂

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  37. Love your blog, been following for years. I was wondering how your 10 year JBP project was developing? Also since you’re in Florida I was wondering how many flushes you can get out of your pines? Might make for a interesting post and update in the near future.

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    1. Thanks Nathan, I’m sorry to say I just handed that jbp to my friend David down in Miami. He has Ed Trout helping him develop it with some input from me. But after I got sick, I lost too many years working it.
      We get two flushes here in Orlando and I believe it’s the same with Miami. You can follow its progress by looking up Literati Grove on Facebook. That’s his page.

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  38. Hi Adam, had a question for you. I know you use systemic grains for your trees. I’m trying to figure out how much i need to spread over the tops of the soil. Most of my pots are between 6-9 inches if that helps. Thanks for the help!

    -Paul

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    1. Hi Paul, generally you follow the label directions for pot size, but a good rule of thumb is to put about as much on as though it’s a normal person putting pepper on a plate of food.

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  39. If you are ever passing by Atlanta, GA please let me know, would be interested in turning a boulevard cypress my neighbor gave me into a bonsai. The cypress browned a lot but I think it could still be turned into something beautiful. Also, we always have good beer!

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  40. Hey, I just wanted to say how awesome ur blog is, I mean truely great. I’m very amateur at this art, been messing with mostly ficus and other tropicals for like five years. Whenever I need inspiration, more in depth explanations, just knowledge in general, I hit up this blog. Thanks for doing this, this blog is perhaps the best bonsai resource on the web,imo, the humorous explanations, the large amount of pics showing the step by steps…looks like alot of work and that must come from alot of passion and from wanting to impart your knowledge to others. Just realized I’ve been reading your blog for a long time and wanted to say thanks for all that u do! I’ll buy a shirt and something else, too!

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  41. Pingback: How to crush lava rock for your bonsai soil. – liijoh

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