Bonsai Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide To Growing, Training & General Care

by Christian Pessey, Remy Samson

This simple guide for first-time bonsai growers, with easy instructions and more than 200 full-color photos and drawings, covers selecting a hardy specimen; the essentials of pruning, wiring, and aging; and keeping your bonsai healthy. Learn the many styles of bonsai shaping, important tree forms, forest groupings, and more.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1993

Reviews

[Dot · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting and helpful read - I gained a much better understanding of what bonsai are and how they're trained. Gives heaps of good pointers and lots of photographs to help describe instructions. Perfect for beginners as it goes through basic tree botany, history of bonsai and the main techniques of growing an training bonsai (including seeding your tree) plus calendar descriptions for bonsai care. A wonderful reference for anyone too, that's easy to read and simple to follow. Really recommend this book if you're interested in getting into the art of bonsais.

[David Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bonsai Basics provides a wide range of instructions for beginning, nurturing, tending, and growing a bonsai. It may inevitably provide to wide a berth of information for most growers, but insightful information all the same. Even for those enthusiasts already experienced with growing bonsai for a few years, the book provides some helpful techniques and advice. Ultimately, it pushes the reader toward more advanced topics and techniques which will likely surpass most readers' appreciation.

[Michal Paszkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring introduction to bonsai, including pretty much all the information needed to get started and some great photographs to go along with it

[Jack Purcell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay introduction to bonsai. Seemed strange some of the topics highlighted that took up much of the conversation (like finding your own bonsai in nature, for example) but it did give a decent overview of the art form. Not quite what I was looking for, but at least a start.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems like a good comprehensive collection of an overview of the basics. The book is full of color pictures and diagrams to help you grasp the concept or technique, and it illustrates multiple options for each topic. It's smart and succinct, and definitely written for beginners, but the authors' intention wasn't to write a book for dummies. They lay out instructions for each bit but leave it to the reader to put all the pieces together. Lots of caution against guaranteed results, which I thought was responsible since, really, what in life is guaranteed? And what reminds of that more than trying to manipulate nature?

[Samuel Saul Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent introduction, but also decently outdated (1993) as to the purchasing of bonsai because now it's mostly online (seeing as how there doesn't seem to be many nurseries in MS). Will probably be used as a reference guide.

[Sammi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful book with great explanations for multiple stages of bonsai tree training.
I guess it should be obvious this book is written for people that already know things about plants and planting (not me). But still very interesting and encouraging!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, but only for those interested in the proper care and general info, those who want specialized info should look elsewhere!

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one gave some history on the Bonsai.......and the care of the bonsai wasn't overwhelming like in other books!!!

[Jason]

Somewhat incomplete, I felt. Overall useful, however.

[Olivia Karim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating. But don’t go in as a novice gardener. Definitely needed to Google a lot of things to understand what they were talking about.

[David Kerschner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent intro book, covering all aspects of bonsai.

[Sachin27588]

dgv

[Joel]

I learned I definitely do not have the time or patience to grow bonsai. Very interesting though.