Bonsai Basics
The subject of bonsai is a complex one but still is based upon rather simple principles.
We'll walk you through it.
With proper bonsai tending, you could be certain of the continuing development and health of your little tree.
An old Chinese practice of digging up trees from the wilderness and potting them was called "pun sai" which means "tree in a pot" and the japanese word Bonsai emerged when the idea of miniaturizing trees emigrated into japan about five hundred years ago. There it became an art form in itself.
Until early in the twentieth century, the West regarded bonsai as something funny, it now has been adopted as a sober horticultural form of art.
A bonsai can be created from any plant that has the ability to produce a wooden trunk, as most bushes, trees and vines can.
A common misunderstanding is that the bonsai tree is dwarfed by nature.
Your bonsai needs to be kept in the open air just like their wild siblings do. If not produced from tropical or subtropical plant material, then they need to be kept indoors. Although subtropical plants might need some rest for a period every year, so they should be kept cold but above freezing temperatures. If you already own a bonsai, always check to see what that particular species need in terms of care and temperatures.
Your outdoor bonsai could possibly survive for some weeks inside but just merely, and it will not flourish. Long-lasting interior climate for your outdoor bonsai will ensue death.
Bonsai stays tiny by regular trimming and without proper cutting back of buds and branches it will keep developing until it no more looks like a bonsai but a commonplace shrub.
The roots must be cut back every year on younger bonsai so it fits in an appropriately sized pot and if kept unpruned will suffer such root density that they won't be able to take up water and nutrition. It will then become unhealthy and sooner or later die.
Bonsai is meant to resemble a picture of an old natural and wild tree.
A bonsai ought to produce the sense of an old tree, thereby keeping it interesting although the rules of bonsai design are best viewed as rules of thumb.
An old Chinese practice of digging up trees from the wilderness and potting them was called "pun sai" which means "tree in a pot" and the japanese word Bonsai emerged when the idea of miniaturizing trees emigrated into japan about five hundred years ago. There it became an art form in itself.
Until early in the twentieth century, the West regarded bonsai as something funny, it now has been adopted as a sober horticultural form of art.
A bonsai can be created from any plant that has the ability to produce a wooden trunk, as most bushes, trees and vines can.
A common misunderstanding is that the bonsai tree is dwarfed by nature.
Your bonsai needs to be kept in the open air just like their wild siblings do. If not produced from tropical or subtropical plant material, then they need to be kept indoors. Although subtropical plants might need some rest for a period every year, so they should be kept cold but above freezing temperatures. If you already own a bonsai, always check to see what that particular species need in terms of care and temperatures.
Your outdoor bonsai could possibly survive for some weeks inside but just merely, and it will not flourish. Long-lasting interior climate for your outdoor bonsai will ensue death.
Bonsai stays tiny by regular trimming and without proper cutting back of buds and branches it will keep developing until it no more looks like a bonsai but a commonplace shrub.
The roots must be cut back every year on younger bonsai so it fits in an appropriately sized pot and if kept unpruned will suffer such root density that they won't be able to take up water and nutrition. It will then become unhealthy and sooner or later die.
Bonsai is meant to resemble a picture of an old natural and wild tree.
A bonsai ought to produce the sense of an old tree, thereby keeping it interesting although the rules of bonsai design are best viewed as rules of thumb.
Basics, Reading:
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