Bonsai – Scenery In A Pot A brief look into a living art
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By Angela Chiu  | Published April 2008

Lately, I have taken an interest to bonsais, and because of this, a month ago my dad bought me a Banyan bonsai as a gift. The plant right now isn’t more than a trunk with a couple small branches and leaves but as it grows, I plan to prune it into shape.

Bonsai is a Japanese word that literally means, “potted tree” but it comes from a Chinese word and idea: “potted scenery”. The idea of the bonsai can be dated back to at least the Han Dynasty but it became very popular around the Ching Dynasty.

Usually, the bonsai plants are Evergreen trees like cedar and pine trees. They are the most common because they are hardy and have rough bark that can be shaped using wire. Because these trees are Evergreens, there is no change in the color of the tree or the leaves. These bonsais are usually set outdoors.

Other trees, like maples and elms for example, are also typical trees for bonsais. People like these trees because their leaves change with the seasons. These trees are also very hardy and are usually grown outdoors.

Finally, people also use flowering and fruit bearing trees. These offer more color into bonsai scenery and the plants also change with the seasons. Common trees include cherry, kumquat, and plum.

You can buy pre-potted bonsais like my dad did for me or you can grow a bonsai from a young sapling or a cut-ling. Now that bonsais are more popular, many nurseries may be able to order saplings for them for you. There have been elaborate bonsais with miniture grass, flowers, and figurines as well as those that have small ponds.

To grow a healthy, beautiful bonsai you need to choose the right sized container/pot. There are different sized bonsais, not all are very tiny. It mostly depends on the type of tree you use. The container needs to have good drainage as well. Too much water and the bonsai could grow “root rot”. Not enough water and the bonsai could die from drought. One should water the plant thoroughly once and allow the water to drain. The two ways to shape a bonsai is by either shaping with wire or shaping by pruning with special tools.

Some trees are not fit to be shaped by wire and can only be shaped by pruning.

These are the 10 basic shapes of bonsais:

The formal upright style is characterized by a straight, upright, tapering trunk. The trunk and branches of the informal upright style may incorporate bends and curves, but the informal upright is always located directly over where the trunk begins at the soil line.

Slant-style bonsai has straight trunks like those of bonsai grown in the formal upright style. However, the slant style trunk emerges from the soil at an angle, and the bonsai will be tilted from the left or right.

Cascade-style bonsai are modeled after trees which grow over water or on the sides of mountains. The tip of the tree in the Semi-cascade-style bonsai extends just at or beneath the lip of the bonsai pot; the tip of the full cascade style falls below the base of the pot.

Raft-style bonsai mimic a natural phenomenon that occurs when a tree topples onto its side and branches along the exposed side of the trunk.

The literati style is characterized by a generally bare trunk line, with branches reduced to a minimum, and typically placed higher up on a long, often contorted trunk. It shows the struggle of the tree trying to grow.

The group or forest style comprises a planting of more than one tree in one pot. The trees are usually the same species, with a variety of heights employed to add visual interest.

The root-over-rock style is a style in which the roots of a tree (typically a fig tree) are wrapped around a rock. The rock is at the base of the trunk, with the roots exposed to varying degrees.

The broom style is employed for trees with extensive, fine branching, often with species like elms. The trunk is straight and upright. The branches and leaves form a ball-shaped crown.

The multi-trunk style has all the trunks growing out of one root system, and it actually is one single tree. All the trunks form one crown of leaves.

The growing-in-a-rock means the roots of the tree are growing in the cracks and holes of the rock. There is not much room for the roots to develop and take up nutrients. These trees are designed to visually represent that the tree has to struggle to survive.

When my dad was younger and he still lived in Taiwan he had several different bonsais but he wasn’t able to take any with him when he moved to the US. The one that my dad bought for me will be the first of many. Currently, my bonsai has no shape yet; however, that’s fine because I plan to have it for many years.

Asia Trend would hear your input of bonsais or maybe even see a picture of your own bonsai plant. Feel free to send me an email and thanks for reading!