Why Another Book About Bonsai

This book began as a monthly work calendar and article series that I wrote for our local bonsai club newsletter. The articles answered questions from club members, addressed various growing and styling challenges that came up in club meetings, or sprang out of simple curiosity. Over time the collection of articles grew into a good-sized body of knowledge about growing and maintaining bonsai in our area.

I live in the Piedmont region of North Carolina next to the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains. This is a challenging place to grow bonsai trees. We sit right on the border between USDA Hardiness Zones 7b and 8, which is the boundary between cool- and warm-adapted trees. North Carolina also is one of North America’s biodiversity hotspots for fungi, including disease- causing kinds We are inside both the southerly range for many cool-weather pathogens, and the northerly boundary for warm-weather pathogens, so have to be doubly vigilant.

We also have extremely variable seasons. Some years our winters resemble southern Pennsylvania, while other years are as mild as coastal Georgia. Summers are no less variable, ranging from mild and moist to withering heat and drought. Trees and shrubs that thrive elsewhere struggle in our summer heat and unrelenting humidity, or succumb because of unevenly cold winters.

Our climate influences what species I have in my own collection, and what I recommend for others. For example, I have seen many wonderful examples of fir (Abies) tree bonsai created by stylists in the NC mountains. Yet I do not own nor recommend them to novices here. Firs struggle in the Piedmont because it does not get consistently cold enough here to maintain winter dormancy, and it is hard to keep the roots cool enough in summer. I think our mountains are the southern limit for this species as a bonsai. Like much of this book though, that is my personal opinion.

Who Is the Bonsai Botanist?

Readers should know who I am and what biases I bring to this project.

I am a biologist by training but I am neither a professional botanist nor horticulturalist. I point this out because it is partly why I am always looking for the reasons behind bonsai practices. Sometimes my curiosity showed me the logic and wisdom behind traditional practices. Other times it helped me see how traditional methods that work in another part of the world might need to be adjusted for our area. Several chapters describe what I uncovered in what might seem like painful detail, but that is so readers can decide for themselves whether or not they agree with me.

I also am a college professor who is always looking for ways to make complicated ideas understandable for my students. This comes out in how I talk about bonsai too. When I first started out in bonsai, I learned a lot of lessons through trial and error. As I gained experience I discovered that a lot of bonsai practices make much more sense when we think about them in light of basic principles of plant growth and anatomy that I teach my students. I think that growers and stylists who understand some basic horticultural and botanical principles can make much more informed decisions about their trees.

Why An Open Online Book?

After two decades of working with trees I have learned a great deal (often the hard way) about growing and styling bonsai here in the Piedmont. I want to share what I’ve learned with others who are interested in bonsai as a hobby. Hopefully they can learn from my mistakes, just as I learned so much from other growers and artists I’ve met.

At the same time I still consider myself a novice. If what I say is useful, add it to your personal store of knowledge, but do not take it as gospel. Please send your suggestions, recommendations, alternative solutions to challenges I describe, and even disagreements (but let’s keep it friendly!) I will update pages as new info comes in. I especially hope anyone with experience growing species I’ve not included will write a new guide page to fill in that gap in our local knowledge.

How Things Are Arranged

The chapters are arranged into these Sections. If you get lost, the Table of Contents is always on the left side of the screen.

• The Annual Bonsai Calendar. A typical year’s work schedule, month by month.
• Introduction to Bonsai. What is bonsai and where did it come from? How can you get started?
• Essentials First. What do all trees (not just bonsai) need to grow and thrive?
• Tree Anatomy & Physiology. How trees are put together, how they work, and how they respond to training.
• Collecting and Cultivating Trees. How to make your own bonsai soil, collect trees, and manage growing conditions like the professionals do.
• Basic Methods. How to pick a tree, choose a style, and develop the structure.
• Managing Trees. Keeping your trees healthy.
• Pests & Pest Management. What to do when something wants to eat your trees.
• Aesthetics and Display. Bonsai do not spend their entire life ready to show. How do artists get their trees ready for display?
• Housekeeping, Tools, Materials, & Resources.
• Species Guides. I’ve included guides for 60+ species, almost all of which I have either attempted to grow or have in my personal collection. Each guide has growing information, styling tips, and a bit of history.

Giving Credit Where Due

Over the years I have read innumerable books, articles, and web stories, and talked with lots of people. I have tried to provide sources for ideas and expecially for any text that is not my own, but sources get muddled sometimes. If I have included material written by others and not given them due credit, I apologize in advance; it was not intentional. Please let me know and I will revise or correct any such errors.

This book is published under the terms of a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).

You can reuse, adapt, and build upon this book non-commercially, as long as you credit this book as your source, and you offer any new materials you create from it to others under the same terms. Please do not use any part of this book for commercial purposes.

Acknowledgements

There are many people I want to thank for helping me along the way. First are the members of the Piedmont NC Bonsai Association. You are the reason I started writing this guide. Thank you for sharing your expertise when I was getting started, and for bringing up so many great questions.

I also want to thank Arthur Joura, Director of the Bonsai Collection for the NC Arboretum in Asheville. His annual visits to our club are always enlightening and entertaining. More than that, he introduced me to thinking about bonsai as a view into nature. His talks inspired me to find ways to encourage others to try bonsai, and help other people understand this art form.

Speaking of Asheville, I have to thank all of the clubs and artists who presented their trees and displays at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Expo each year. Seeing your trees helped me learn to be more critical of my own, and push myself to improve.

Many thanks go to all of the growers and nursery managers I have met along the way, who freely shared their experiences and expertise.

Most of all I want to thank my wife Bev, who nicknamed my piece of our back yard “the agricultural research station.” She never complains about my annual spring “repotting frenzy” or our summer water bills. She has gracefully put up with my obsession with trees almost as long as we have been together.