Leaf defoliation does shorten internodes but it should only be done sparingly as this does take away momentum from growth and will weaken the growth that does take place if it is done to excess. Every other year is a good rule of thumb when doing drastic manipulations. The problem with Acer sacharum and Acer sacharinum is that they do not reduce their leaf size much using this method. But this should not discourage you from using these species of trees. If you are looking to make effect bonsai art with either of these species you should consider pursuing larger examples to work with so that the leaves are more in scale with the over all composition. -G

Violet, your plate is beautiful. The marking appears to be Chinese, not Japanese. The sight listed below is quite interesting. I found a mark that may identify your charger (the name for a large round platter) as Qing dynasty which was from 1644 to 1908. It will be fun for you to research this. Go to the bottom of the page for Sample selection of Chinese marks. You can go back and click on (see China history timeline). Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese markings

I am so disappointed with the quality, customer service and how they go radio silent about the problems. Everything they do is bad business practice. I purchased windows in December 2020 in Portland, OR. They were supposed to install them in March but they came in May 30 which I understood and said OK. Then they told me that the prices we agreed will hike due to increasing material costs. I understand that, too. What i cannot accept is that they installed broken and unpainted windows with many other chips and quality issues and let me know after the fact. Who decides it is OK to put a broken window on a customer house especially when they know it is broken? Why are you passing a bad product to me and charging my credit card $6k without notifying me? Why should i accept touch ups for brand new windows? Even if you have no quality control in your manufacturing site, the installer knows and still installs because he doesn’t want to deal with it and they can charge. All they do is to prioritize their workload instead of the customer satisfaction. It is too disappointing that American made product is this bad quality with extremely rushed installation. It feels I can rip the whole thing with my fingers. It’s been over a month since installation and i still don’t know when they will or if they will fix all soon. No communication whatsoever. I strongly recommend anyone considering them to avoid this company and Insignia windows at all cost. Do your research, see other houses and don’t make the mistake i made.

Their a small family run upholstery company and yes like most other furniture manufacturers recently their frames are stapled together plywood. But their still using the same old image for their construction methods. And your right to question this, I would not recommend a 8-way tied coil seating in a plywood frame. Plywoods strength is in one direction only, solid hardwood strength is in all directions. Stretching the polypropylene with metal bands to support the coil springs puts a ton of pressure on a plywood frame, too much actually.