The Essential Bonsai Book

Introduction

A few years ago, a student who was moving to another country asked if I could create a guide to help him grow bonsai in a different climate. It was an interesting request. I knew I wouldn’t always be available to help when questions came up, so I wanted to provide a way for him to work independently and learn from any failures or successes. The resulting conversations became the core of this book.

Who This Book Is For

The Essential Bonsai Book is for enthusiasts who are taking steps to improve their collections. Whether you’ve found a teacher to work with or are learning on your own, The Essential Bonsai Book provides the essentials you need to get started so you can avoid common traps that slow development.

Unlike other bonsai books, The Essential Bonsai Book doesn’t just tell you what to do. Instead, it will help you set goals for your collection and provide the information you need to reach them.

When someone tells you what to do with your trees, think twice: what works for them may not work for you. You know more about your garden than anyone else. You know what soil your trees grow in and how often they receive water and fertilizer. You know the climate your trees grow in and what your goals are for their development. The Essential Bonsai Book will help you leverage this experience so you can build a better collection, feel better about the work you do on your trees, and get more enjoyment out of this wonderful hobby.

About Me

I started growing bonsai more than thirty years ago when I met Boon Manakitivipart (see profile on page 195). Within a few months, I had a small collection of trees and a batch of young pines. Boon had encouraged me to start the pines from seed as he knew I liked the species but had trouble finding good material to work with. This proved to be a great way to learn the ins and outs of the species and understand how to work with bonsai at different stages of development.

In time, I started sharing my experiences on the Bonsai Tonight blog, and in 2020, I wrote The Little Book of Bonsai, a guide that introduces readers to bonsai and helps them get started with the hobby.

From the beginning, my goal for teaching and writing about bonsai has been to help as many people as possible appreciate the beauty of bonsai. Toward this end, I began working with bonsai full time in 2015, and in 2022 I cofounded, with Eric Schrader, the Pacific Bonsai Expo, a biennial exhibit featuring outstanding trees from across the United States.

How This Book Is Organized

The Essential Bonsai Book provides an overview of the work that goes into creating a beautiful bonsai collection.

The first three chapters offer a framework for building your collection. Chapter 1 provides tips for expanding (or refining) your collection and for selecting trees that are well-suited to the bonsai work you like best. Chapter 2 focuses on bonsai design to help you create trees that look the way you want them to look. Chapter 3 helps you set goals for your trees and identify techniques that are appropriate for different stages of development. The next three chapters provide how-to guides for working on your trees. Chapter 4 describes the fundamental techniques of pruning and wiring. Chapter 5 describes more advanced training techniques such as pinching and defoliating that can help you create beautiful branch structures. Chapter 6 offers an in-depth overview of how, when, and why we repot bonsai.

Chapters 7 and 8 focus on bonsai care. Chapter 7 helps you identify trees that grow well in your climate and offers strategies for keeping bonsai healthy through summer heat and winter cold. Chapter 8 focuses on watering and fertilizing to help you water effectively and provide your trees with the nutrients they need to produce new growth and maintain health.

The last two chapters feature case studies. Chapter 9 provides case studies to help you identify when to apply given techniques to your trees and shows you what the work looks like. Chapter 10 is an in-depth case study that breaks down the complete styling of a shimpaku juniper over the course of one year.

At the end of selected chapters, you’ll find tips from good friends who are respected bonsai professionals. I’ve learned a lot from this group over the years, and these vignettes showcase the insights I’ve found most helpful.

Finally, in terms of the kinds of trees covered in The Essential Bonsai Book, I’ve included a mix of popular bonsai species such as junipers, pines, and maples, as well as less-commonly grown species like cryptomeria and coast redwood. I chose this mix because they’re species with which I’m familiar and because they allow me to demonstrate a greater diversity of techniques that may prove helpful as you experiment with species that grow well where you live.