What is a bonsai ?

 

Bonsai is a Japanese and East Asian art of growing and training miniature trees in containers. It is derived from the traditional Chinese art form of penjing, which attempts to display "wilder," more naturalistic scenes, often representing landscapes, including elements such as water, rocks, or figurines. Bonsai and penjing differ in that the former is more focused on the tree itself and its shape, while the latter is more focused on the overall scene. The word "bonsai" means "planted in a container" in Japanese. Bonsai trees are normal plants that are propagated like any other, but trained using sophisticated techniques to keep them miniature. The styling of these miniature trees involves heavy crown pruning, root pruning, and root confinement in shallow containers. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. 

Cultivating bonsai is a very artistic hobby as well as a traditional Japanese art. It requires a much bigger commitment physically and emotionally than growing potted flowers. Bonsai can challenge one's own gardening skills, artistic aesthetics and design capabilities, time and monetary investment, and storage and display parameters. Keeping a bonsai tree alive is not a difficult task, but there are a few things to be aware of, such as watering and fertilizing regularly, providing plenty of light, and pruning the tree to maintain its shape. 

There are different methods to propagate trees, such as growing a tree from seed or buying a tree in a nursery. Pine trees are popular as bonsai because they are hardy and trainable, and can be shaped into almost every known bonsai style. Other species that are particularly good for bonsai include Japanese black pine, mountain pine, Scots pine, Japanese white pine, and tricolor beech tree.