Bonsai Tree Basics

Most of my noesis of Bonsai trees has been garner from the overbold words of Mr Miyagi in that smashing 1984 classic , The Karate Kid . Ralph Maccio and Pat Morita at their magnetic respectable and who can blank out the cavernous dimple in the chin of Martin Kove ( sensei of the Cobra Kai ) or the floppy forelock of blonde baddie Johnny ( William Zabka ) ?

This may not be the soundest source of horticultural noesis but it was a start . This was then augment a span of years ago when I interview a chap from Yorkshire who had a phenomenal collection of bonsai trees . If I am to be honest – and , now we know each other better oh abide by readers of o.k. horticulture I feel that we can be all candid with each other – I thought that the artistry of bonsai was just another word for tree diagram torture . or else of spring up tall and truthful in the forest they were subjected to the vicious whim of the bonsai captain .

I was very wrong , it is much cleverer than just hack away at a tree . The basic premise is to reduce the size of it of the tree diagram while still hold the flesh of the mature specimen . I always think that you did this by training and educating a unseasoned Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree for many , many years . Actually it is mere to dig up a larger tree and slow reduce its size and sculpt its branches until it ’s roots fit into a shallow dish . The results come slightly quicker .

The most remarkable story I heard ( although I am sure there are many others ) was of a Formosan juniper five foot tall and twelve metrical foot wide growing in too small a patch of an overcrowded garden . Over a menstruum of eld it was dug up , pruned and replanted until it fitted into a pot the size of it of a lunchbox . The whole mental process took about a quarter of a century and is far from over .

The prowess began about four thousand years ago in China ( where it was known as Penjing ) . in the first place it was much more exotic : Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree shapes were based on coiled serpent and raging firedrake . The Japanese took it further : beginning as something ghostly bound to temples by the eighteenth century it had become more far-flung . Today there are thousands of enthusiast all over the world face after majestic specimens some of which are worth many thousands of dollars .

Any Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree can become a bonsai – except palm tree because they have no branches . It is not a complicated hobby : mysticism , foreign tools and exotic outfits are strictly optional . Just call back that you are dealing with miniature Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree not houseplants : like Tree they need cold winters , line , pee and sunshine to expand .

Most area will have a Bonsai club stuffed full of enthusiast eager to partake their knowledge , assay the American Bonsai Society for detail .

However , if you are an raring gardener , do n’t bother .

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