Growing Bonsai takes patience and care. Bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant. Rather, it is any tree or shrub species actively growing but kept small by crown and root pruning.
In theory, any species could be used, though ones with attributes like small leaves and twigs will generally make better bonsai plants, helping to create the illusion of a larger tree in a miniature stature.
A properly maintained bonsai can have a lifespan that might be able to approach that of their full-sized counterparts. A great deal of care is required and improperly maintained trees may not survive.
In the art of tree growth a sense of aesthetics, care, and patience all come together. The plant, the shaping and surface of the soil and the selected container come together to express "heaven and earth in one container" as a Japanese cliché has it. Three forces come together in a good bonsai: shin-zen-bi or truth, essence and beauty.
Some traditional subjects include pine, maple, flowering apricot, japanese wisteria, juniper, flowering cherry, and larch. The plants are usually grown outdoors and brought in to the tokonoma for special occasions when they most evoke the current season.
 The Japanese bonsai are supposed to evoke the essential spirit of the plant being grown: in all cases, they must look natural and never show the intervention of human hands. Although, Chinese penjing may more literally depict images such as dragons or even be guided to resemble highly intricate Chinese characters, such as 壽, "longevity".
Styles
Bonsai styles include formal upright, informal upright, cascade, semi-cascade, raft and literati.
The formal upright is just as the name suggests. It is characterized by a tapering trunk and balanced branches.
The informal upright is like the formal, but may bend and curve slightly.For aesthetic qualities, the tree should never lean away from the viewer.
Raft style bonsai are those that are planted on their side, and can include many other styles such as sinuous, straight-line, and group planting styles. These give the illusion of a group of trees, but are really the branches of a tree planted on its side.
The literati style is the hardest to define, but is seen very often. The word literati is used in place of the Japanese bunjin which is a translation of the Chinese word wenjen meaning "scholars practiced in the arts". This style is usually characterized by a small number of branches usually placed higher up on a long, contorted trunk. Their style is usually inspired by the Chinese paintings of pine trees that grew in harsh climates, each struggling to reach the light of the sun.
Cascade and semi-cascade are generally modeled after trees that grow over water or on the sides of mountains, however semi-cascades do not lean downward as far as the cascade style.
Bonsai are also classed by size. There are a number of specific techniques and styles associated with mame and shito sizes, the smallest bonsai. Amazingly, these are often small enough to be grown in thimble-sized pots, and due to their miniscule size require special care and adhere to different design conventions.
 Techniques
Shaping and dwarfing are accomplished through a few basic but exacting techniques.
The small size of the tree and the dwarfing of foliage are maintained through a constant regimen of pruning of both the leaves and roots. Various methods are employed, as each species of tree exhibits different flowering and budding behavior.
When growing bonsai, some pruning must be also done seasonally, as most trees require a dormancy period and do not grow roots or leaves during that time and improper pruning can weaken or kill the tree.
Most species suitable for bonsai can be shaped by wiring. Copper or aluminium wire is most common and is wrapped around branches and trunks, holding the branch in place or shape until it ultimiately lignifies and maintains the desired shape - then the wire should be removed.
Some species do not lignify strongly, or are already too stiff/brittle to be shaped and are thus not conducive to wiring, in which case shaping must be accomplished primarily through pruning. . | |
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