WANT TO TRY BONSAI? HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

CHOOSING SUITABLE PLANTS

There is a huge range of trees and shrubs that can be turned into bonsai. Before you decide, consider these points.

• Will it be inside or out? For outside, choose according to your climate.

• The shape of bonsai you want (see The shape of things to come, left).

• If you want flowers – apricot, azalea, bougainvillea, cherry, cotoneaster, crepe myrtle, gardenia, jacaranda, plum.

• If you want your tree to lose its leaves and expose its form – Chinese elm, Japanese maple.

CARE FOR YOUR BONSAI TREE

WATER Because bonsai are in shallow pots, the potting mix dries out quickly, so water frequently, but not so much it causes root rot. Food Feed once a week in the growing season, although a shallow pot may require less food more often. SOIL Use bonsai potting mix that allows good drainage and aeration. REPOT Every two years so roots don’t get pot bound and they can be trimmed.

PICK YOUR POTS

Traditionally, bonsai pots are shallow, round, oval or rectangular, and made of clay or porcelain. But there are variations, depending on the balance sought between the pot and the eventual shape of your tree. The shallow depth helps restrict growth, but the pot needs to be deep enough for the growing medium to cover its roots. Deeper pots, even fancy shaped ones, are fine in a non-japanesestyled environment.

EQUIPMENT YOU NEED

There are a few specific tools you need that you’ll find in nurseries or online. These are bonsai pruning shears and snips, concave cutters for thick branches, bonsai wire and wire cutters, soil, fertilisers and appropriate pots.

3 SO BERRY GOOD Small-leafed cotoneaster makes brilliant bonsai because it’s able to be pruned very hard yet still produces volumes of beautiful flowers and berries. 4 IT’S A STRIPTEASE By choosing a Japanese maple, you get the beauty of autumn leaves that drop to expose the gorgeously gnarled trunk. You can see faces in it! 5 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST How about combining sweetest-scented daphne with the rugged textures of an irregular-shaped pot – the balance is absolutely perfect! 6 HOT RIGHT NOW You can call this banyan fig your pot-bellied bonsai – the fat, semiexposed roots are an intriguing feature. 7 CAUSE A FLURRY Enjoy snow in spring when the blossoms of your cherry bonsai burst out. 8 MOD SQUAD Go punk with the spikily eyecatching needles of a pine tree.