Bonsai

226 Pages·2014·54.76 MB·English

by  Peter Warren

bonsai
techniques • styles • display ideas

bonsai

bonsai
Peter Warren
Contents
LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH,
MELBOURNE, DELHI
The art of bonsai 8
Senior Editor • Helen Fewster
Senior Art Editor • Sonia Moore
Project Art Editor • Vicky Read Bonsai basics
Managing Editor • Penny Warren How trees work 16
Jacket Designer • Ria Holland
How bonsai works 18
Senior Jacket Creative • Nicola Powling
Bonsai styles 20
DK Picture Library • Claire Cordier
Pre-production Producer • Andy Hilliard Styles from around the world 24
Senior Producer • Ché Creasey Choosing pots 26
Art Director • Jane Bull
Displaying your trees 34
Publisher • Mary Ling
Basic equipment 36
Photography • Will Heap
Basic care 42
Artworks • Lizzie Harper
Seasonal tasks 44

DK Publishing Occasional tasks 46
North American Consultant • William N. Valavanis Troubleshooting 48
Editor • Kate Johnsen
Senior Editor • Shannon Beatty
Top trees for bonsai
This edition first published in 2014 by Choosing suitable trees 52
DK Publishing, 4th floor, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014 Easy to grow 56
14 15 16 17 18 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Evergreen stars 62
001—192790—Jul/2014
Seasonal beauties 68
Copyright © 2014 Dorling Kindersley Limited
All rights reserved Local heroes 84
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved
Dramatic effects 94
above, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), Creating your own bonsai
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book. Looking after your first bonsai 102
Published in Great Britain by Designing a deciduous tree 106
Dorling Kindersley Limited.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library Wiring explained 110
of Congress
Styling a young juniper 114
ISBN 978-1-4654-1958-3
Styling an upright maple 118
DK books are available at special discounts when
purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums,
fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK
Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street, New York,
New York 10014 or [email protected].
Color reproduction by Altaimage
Printed and bound in China by
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Refining an azalea 122 Making two trees from one 186
Making a broom-style bonsai 126 Bonsai from the very beginning 192
Repotting your tree 129 Wild collected trees 196
Making a twin-trunk bonsai 134
Creating a clump-style maple 140 Plant care directory 200
Creating a forest 144
Creating a rock planting 148 Index 218
Creating a penjing-style planting 154 Resources 223
Making a root-over-rock bonsai 160 Acknowledgments 224
Keshiki cotoneaster 164
Rescuing a half-dead tree 168
Making a juniper cascade 172
Creating twisted deadwood juniper 178
Refining a windswept pine 182

The art
of
Bonsai
Beautiful, timeless, and awe-inspiring, the
art of bonsai has captivated enthusiasts
for centuries. This is the story of how
it evolved and spread around the world.
8 The art of bonsai
The art of bonsai
For many, bonsai conjures up images of Asia and ideas of an obscure practice
that takes a lifetime to master. The reality is very different: bonsai is a truly
international art form that is open to everyone—a challenging combination of
technique, artistry, and horticultural ability that allows you to create living
works of art that will potentially last longer than your own time on earth.
It is generally accepted that bonsai originated in lies something deep and fascinating: an art form
China, and there is evidence of plants cultivated fused with horticulture, taking in aspects of design,
in containers in Babylonian times. However here culture, religion, craftsmanship, and discipline.
an important definition needs to be made: any plant
grown in a pot cannot be considered a bonsai. Before The definition of bonsai can be understood from the
delving into the history of bonsai, we should first etymology of the word itself. In Japanese “bonsai” is
look at what is a bonsai in the modern age. written as two words or characters: the first, “bon,”
means tray or container; the second, “sai,” means
What is bonsai? planting. So a plant in a pot could be termed a bonsai—
Bonsai professionals like myself ask themselves this but there is a great difference between a young
question every day. Throughout my apprenticeship, houseplant in a plastic pot and a six-hundred-year-old
working late into the night, the same question was pine tree, growing in a four-hundred-year-old antique
asked many times. It is very subjective and personal: Chinese container.
many see bonsai as an Asian art form, some see it as
an extreme form of gardening. Others think it is a The key difference between a pot plant and a bonsai
path to spiritual enlightenment, while for some it is is the artistic influence of man. Bonsai is created,
a simple hobby. It is all of these things and shaped, and maintained to represent an ideal of
more. To the question of what bonsai nature. Horticultural
is, the simplest, most profound ability alone
answer I could come up with will not
was “It is a small tree in a make a
pot.” Within that statement
Azalea Crabapple Chinese juniper