Bonsai: The Art of Growing and Keeping Miniature Trees

For everyone from beginners to masters, an essential full-color guide to growing, grooming, and caring for your bonsai tree.

Bonsai is the ancient craft of carefully regulating the growth and shape of trees in order to produce miniature versions of mature trees. Dating back over one thousand years to ancient Japan, bonsai trees are some of the most beautiful and meticulously looked-after plants in the world, and in recent years bonsai have exploded in popularity in the Western world.

Bonsai, written by world-renowned bonsai expert Peter Chan, is the essential compendium for anyone interested in trying out bonsai for the first time or adding more bonsai to their existing collections, detailing everything you need to know about buying and maintaining a magnificent bonsai tree, including:

• How to pick the right bonsai for you
• Tools and supplies to ensure your bonsai prospers
• How to shape your bonsai into different styles
• How different pots affect the growth of your bonsai
• And much more

With hundreds of color photographs and easy-to-read directions and explanations on a variety of subjects, Bonsai is the only book you'll ever need to successfully start and maintain your own beautiful bonsai tree collection.

"Bonsai is simply the art and science of growing miniature trees and shrubs in decorative pots. And yet, there is so much mystique surrounding its practice that many people, including those with green fingers, are put off by what appears to be a very complicated and lengthy process. However, if one were to take the trouble to delve a little deeper one would soon discover that ordinary horticultural principles are involved, and that bonsai is really no more than an extension of everyday gardening. The only difference is that the trees and pots have a particular aesthetic quality about them both as individuals in their own right and as ensembles."

Peter Chan has been awarded twenty-one Chelsea Flower Show gold medals, a record among bonsai specialists. He is the author of eight bestselling books on bonsai and gardening, and his books have been translated into many languages. Chan lives in the United Kingdom, where he owns and operates a bonsai nursery.