All About the Bonsai Tree

The word bonsai is a combination of the Japanese bon (tray) and sai (plant). Bonsai is both an art and horticulture. They can be developed from seeds or cuttings from young trees or from naturally occurring stunted trees that have been transplanted into containers.

Bonsai are created from nearly any tree or shrub species. They range from five centimeters (2 inches) to one meter (3.33 feet). Bonsai's are kept small and trained by pruning branches and roots, by periodic reporting, by pinching off new growth and by wiring the branches and trunk until the desired image is achieved.

Tradition holds that there are three basic virtues necessary to create a bonsai. Shin-zen-bi, standing for truth, goodness and beauty. Given proper care, bonsai's can live for hundreds of years.

Bonsai are regular, ordinary trees and plants, they are not special hybrid dwarfs. Small leafed varieties are most suitable, but really any plant can be used, regardless of the size it grows to in the wild.

In Japan varieties of Pine, Azalea, Camellia, Bamboo and Plum are used most often. Grown in special containers, bonsai are mainly kept outdoors, with the exception of some plants suited, trained and grown indoors. Once you have trained or started to train a bonsai into a chosen style, it is vital to keep the plant growing well.

Many consider the two basic types of bonsai style's to be Windswept (Fukinagashi) and Literati (Bunjin). The Windswept style gives the effect of sustained exposure to strong winds. Each of the branches appear to be "Swept" to one side. The Literati style is the most conventional style of them all. They often have long thin trunks which curve back around toward the front at the top. This style imitates trees in nature that have been forced to contort themselves to survive.

The five main bonsai styles are Formal Upright (Chokkan), Informal Upright (Moyogi), Slanting (Shakan)), Cascade (Kengai) and Semi-Cascade (Han-Kengai).