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    Bonsai: The Beginners Guide
    Bonsai: The Beginners Guide
    Bonsai: The Beginners Guide
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    Bonsai: The Beginners Guide

    By Bonsai Empire

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    About this ebook

    How often do I need to water my Bonsai tree? 
    Should I prune my tree?

    Although caring for a Bonsai tree is not nearly as difficult as most people believe, you need to learn about some basic techniques in order to keep your tree thriving. Our beginners guide contains all the essential information you need in order to succeed. It covers the basic techniques, well illustrated with over two hundred images, and explains everything you need to know in an understandable way.

    The book includes:
    - Over 200 stunning images
    - Over 100 pages
    - Explanations of the basic techniques and tools
    - Care guides on the 10 most popular tree species
    - Background on the history, definition and styles

    Bonsai Empire is the world's most visited Bonsai website and has provided beginners with quality information for over a decade. We have developed this guide to help you get a taste of this fascinating and living art, and hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do!

    Walter Pall:
    "Now here is the ultimate book to lead beginners. I am happy to have been able to contribute to this"
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBonsai Empire
    Release dateMar 3, 2018
    ISBN9788892502826
    Bonsai: The Beginners Guide

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    Book preview

    Bonsai - Bonsai Empire

    Contents

    1. INTRODUCTION

    2. DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND INSPIRATION

    3. THE HISTORY OF BONSAI

    4. BONSAI STYLES

    5. SELECTING YOUR BONSAI

    6. CARE GUIDES

    7. TECHNIQUES

    8. START NOW

    9. CONCLUDING REMARKS

    1. INTRODUCTION

    Introduction to Bonsai

    Bonsai trees are small, potted trees that are well-known parts of the Japanese culture. The living art of Bonsai represents peace and tranquility, as well as long-lasting determination and patience.

    A bon is a flat tray or shallow pot, and sai means plant or planting. Originally from China, Bonsai trees date back hundreds of years and are well known for their miniature appearance. Bonsai trees can come in an array of types and can be grown in a variety of ways. They require daily grooming, but aren't high maintenance.

    In this book, you'll learn more about the art of Bonsai and the history behind it, as well as tips for caring for your own Bonsai tree.

    2. DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND INSPIRATION

    Introduction to Design Principles

    The ultimate goal of growing a Bonsai is to create a miniaturized but realistic representation of nature in the form of a tree. Bonsai are not genetically dwarfed plants, in fact, any tree species can be used to grow one. The best Bonsai - whether a single tree or a multi-plant or rock landscape composition - touch us, make us take notice, stop us as they catch our experience and imaginations to show us something new.

    Thick trunks, textured bark, an interplay of twisting live wood and deadwood, surface roots, fine branch and twig ramification, foliage pads, relatively small leaves or needles, a complementary and relatively shallow container, tiny fruit or cones or flowers - these are just a few of the features that can be used to help portray a miniature landscape.

    They are not all needed or possible in any one given composition, and they cannot simply be included just because. A true master artisan knows, feels what is needed. And his or her creation touches us, also. Those true masterpieces are the ones which, when you first look at them, can momentarily take your breath away and raise a smile.

    Bonsai-in-training (also known as potensai, potential Bonsai) should point to a future, more mature creation, in which the artist has somewhat in mind. And because these are made with living, growing things, those future pieces are never complete or finished. They will be presented within certain biological parameters, subject to health issues or remodeling by the tree with the caretakers' assistance.

    The oldest and longest-containerized Bonsai because of natural changes can undergo several different styles throughout their long lives. These trees can, in fact, live longer than their full-size counterparts because of our increased attention to their health, water and nutritional needs, protection from weather extremes, injuries needing care, or pest infestations requiring containment or removal.

    Techniques such as pinching buds, pruning and wiring branches, and carefully restricting but not abandoning fertilizers are used to limit and redirect healthy growth. Most commonly kept under four feet (or about a meter) in height, Bonsai are not genetically dwarfed plants.

    However, plants with smaller leaves do make these compositions easier to design. In fact, any plant species that has a woody stem or trunk, grows true branches, can be successfully grown in a container to restrict its roots/food storage capability, and has smaller or reducible-leaves can be used to create a Bonsai.

    Look around at your trees, bushes, hedges, the copses in your yard or park, plants in the nursery or wild landscape - essentially any of those can be starter material.

    Carefully collected during the appropriate growing or dormant season with proper permission, your composition is begun.

    Bonsai Size Classification

    The ultimate goal of Bonsai is to create a realistic depiction of nature. As a Bonsai gets smaller (even down to a few inches/centimeters) it increasingly becomes abstract, as opposed to resembling nature in a more precise way.

    Several classifications of Bonsai have been put forward, and although the exact size classifications are disputed, they help to gain understanding of the aesthetic and botanical aspects of Bonsai. The classifications are originally based on the number of men needed to lift the actual tree.

    Related arts

    While Bonsai specifically refers to dwarf potted trees based on the Japanese model, it is also used as a generic term for related art forms in other countries, which include but are not limited to the following:

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