Bonsai

Watching bonsai grow and shaping them into beautiful living works of art is a fascinating and very rewarding pastime. Growing bonsai is not an expensive hobby with only a few tools required, but a magnificant bonsai tree can be much more of a centrepiece in your home than many ornaments can. A bonsai tree is a living ornament.

Bonsai Trees are pot planted plants or trees that are grown to be a miniature of of its full sized plant. Bonsai trees can be grown from almost any perennial wood stemmed trees or shrubs that grow branches and can grow small through container confinement with the assistance of crown and root trimming.

Bonsai trees can be developed from seeds, from young shoots lifted from the countryside, (please have regard for any local laws in respect of removing wild plants in your area), or can be bought as mature planted bonsai trees. Obviously growing bonsai trees from seed is the slowest method, but you do then have total control of how your bonsai will develop.

Bonsai trees are planted in pots that restrict the development of the roots but also enhance the look of your bonsai tree. Specialist soil mixtures are available that provide the ideal environment for your bonsai tree to grow in.

Many techniques are employed to sculpt and give unique character to your bonsai tree including leaf trimming, wiring branches, grafting on other plants, short term dwarfing and deadwood, (aging and adding personality to the bark). Few special tools are needed to shape bonsai, and these are readily available very cheaply. All that you need to get started can easily be bought from a specialist bonsai nursery.

Bonsai trees are available as indoor and outdoor varieties, some bonsai are improved if they are left outdoors during warmer summer months and then brought inside in the winter months.

And for anyone that likes the idea, you can even purchase artificial bonsai.

If you are considering if growing bonsai is for you, I would say give it a try, bonsai trees are simple to grow, and take very little of your time, each and every bonsai tree is unique, and who doesn’t admire a bonsai every time they see one.