If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Learning How to Identify a Bonsai Tree
The Bonsai is a very unique and particular type of tree, and the overall artistic affect is of really great significance in terms of growing the trees. This means that everything must be proportionate, including the size of the tree overall, its leaves or needles, its flowers or fruit, and even the container that you put it in to grow.
The process of learning how to identify a bonsai is one that certainly does not have to be difficult. There are actually various different qualities about the Bonsai species that give it away.
One of the most important things to understand when you are learning how to identify a bonsai involves its size. By definition, a bonsai is a type of tree that is kept small enough to be kept in a container the entire time while grown. The bonsai trees are actually classified according to size and name and are ideally less than 10 cm tall while some grow typically to about 25 cm tall.
Another issue to consider when learning how to identify a bonsai is in regards to the plant’s lignification. This is a term that basically refers to the woodiness of the plant, particularly of the trunk and branches, and typically the surface is encouraged to become rough and brown.
Learn more about identifying Bonsai Here
Sometimes it is nice just to sit back and enjoy the artistry of Bonsai and what you can create with a little love and attention…not to mention the right tools and techniques!
There are a few examples here from www.easybonsaigarden.com students who have used the Bonsai Mastery Course to literally transform themselves into Bonsai Masters, and create stunning award winning Bonsai!
Enjoy:-)
As you view a bonsai tree, notice three aspects: the tree itself, an accent item like a stone, and the stand or dish. These form a triangle, with the highest point at the top of the bonsai tree. The accent item will be either left or right, to form the farthest point. The bonsai tree will seem to be a single triangle or set of triangle features. The apex of the bonsai tree triangle is the apex of the bonsai tree and the right and left points are the first and second branches, closest to the ground.
Other features to notice are visible, sturdy roots, gentle movement and tapering of the trunk, a visible apex, and good branches/foliage. Branches are larger at the bottom, decreasing in size as they near the top, in many styles. The distance between the branches should also become smaller as they reach the top and there should be open spaces between the branches. A bonsai tree may even have areas of dead wood, implying age.
Bonsai trees are the centerpiece of the 30th Anniversary Mid-America Bonsai Exhibit & Sale of the Midwest Bonsai Society, Aug. 17 – 19, 2007. This yearly bonsai tree show is the top Midwest exhibit and one of the top three in America. Well over 200 specimens of bonsai trees will be shown and Bonsai Master Susumu Nakamura of Yokohama, Japan, will be the keynoter and main judge of the exhibits. Bonsai tree workshops will be presented at all levels for enthusiasts and even children.
The Midwest Bonsai Society was founded in 1967 and has 250 members, most from Northern Illinois. The Mid-America Bonsai Exhibit & Sale is part of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s American Flower Show Series, including 25 major floral events throughout 2007. The Malott Japanese Garden Festival will be held at the bonsai tree exhibit and sale on Aug. 18 and 19.
This Top Hat dwarf blueberry bonsai tree offers good-tasting blueberries as well as an attractive bonsai tree. The berries have a very sweet flavor and a crisp texture good for eating, jams, and baking. The Top Hat dwarf blueberry as a bonsai tree requires minimal maintenance. It produces delicate white flowers in the middle of spring and glossy bluish-green foliage during the summer. Autumn brings a beautiful red foliage, with red branches in the winter. This is a year-round bonsai tree for your outdoor enjoyment, on patios and in an ornamental landscape. These bonsai trees can be set around the perimeter of a patio or porch for elegance and beauty, as well as fresh fruit. These fruit bonsai trees are inexpensive, as well as easy to grow and enjoy during all four seasons of the year.
There are traditionally two fundamental styles of bonsai tree cultivation and care: the classic koten style and the informal, “comic” bunjin style, which is more whimsical. In koten, the trunk of the bonsai tree is wider at the base and tapers towards the top. The bunjin is wider at the top and tapers toward the base, so they are opposites.
Today there are 5 basic bonsai tree styles recognized by certain bonsai masters. These include the following categories and bonsai trees:
Formal Upright: Larches, junipers, pines, spruces, and maples;
Informal Upright: Japanese maple, trident maple, beech, most conifers, and ornamental trees like crab apple and pomegranate;
Windswept (Slanting): Conifers are extraordinary in this style and many other trees that can be adapted to it well. It is graceful and interesting;
Semi-Cascade: Any tree that does not stand strongly upright works well in this style;
Cascade: Flowering cherry, cedars, and junipers are very good for this style, and other bonsai trees that do not stand too upright can be trained nicely for this.
Land and Water Penjing is a 3000-year-old Chinese bonsai tree tradition of miniature landscapes: bonsai tree and small rocks in a shallow tray or dish. Its features include:
Combining opposites. Large and small, dark and light, wide and narrow, tall and short. These complimentary aspects balance the bonsai tree penjing landscape. A pine becomes soft as its trunk learns to curves and a soft willow can learn to stand tall.
The Implicit. What remains unexpressed is vital in an arrangement of bonsai tree and empty spaces. Emptiness represents water.
Movement. Energy is felt from the bonsai trees and other elements by the viewer.
Void and substance. Empty spaces in the bonsai tree penjing awake the imagination. “Void” and “substance” both create energy.
Interconnectedness. No bonsai tree is left isolated. There is an organic connectedness and interdependence. The slant of bonsai tree branches and rock grain patterns flow together.
Balance and harmony. Bonsai tree penjings balance opposites and contrasts for power in harmony.
The bonsai trees, spaces, and rocks are assembled on a low tray or dish, traditionally of white marble. The “land” of bonsai trees and rocks is offset by the empty spaces representing water for balance and energy flow.
To complete the overall image of your bonsai, it is important to choose a pot that will complement your bonsai plant and create a sense of harmony that enhances the basic form and characteristics of your tree. Although there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing your pot, like every other aspect of bonsai gardening, there are however, a few guidelines bonsai enthusiasts must follow to help you choose the best pot for your bonsai plant.
More on Bonsai Gardening: Choosing the Perfect Pot for Your Bonsai Plant
Sometimes it’s just nice to sit back and enjoy the beauty of Bonsai trees like the ones here in this video, no Bonsai tips or lessons today, just take some time out to ejoy the fruits of Mastering The Art of Bonsai. Who know’s it might just inspire you to grow some more challenging Bonsai.
I am often asked which type of bonsai should I start with, by many a beginner. There are typically three species that are ideally suited, so here is one of my top three.
The Juniper
Scientifically known as Juniperus, junipers is a non-flowering, hardy and evergreen specie of conifers that are easy to plant and grow. This tree is deemed throughout Japan It tends to thrive best on hillsides and dry forests from around the world and generally is noted for its trailing and elongated branches. and the world as one of the three most popular genera trained as bonsai, along with Japanese maples and pines.
What makes junipers perfect for bonsai is that the tree responds well to all the wiring and reshaping processes involved in tray planting. Also, its long branches allow you to form the tree easily into almost all styles of bonsai, except broom. Perhaps the main problem you may encounter along the way is that most junipers have stiff trunks and branches that make it a bit harder for you to shape your plant into something you really like.
This is an important point for beginners to choose a easy to grow hardy tree, this is well covered in the new Bonsai Mastery Course available for download right here!
