Happy Bonsai: Choose It, Shape It, Love It

by Michael Tran

Overview

Begin your lifelong love affair with the mindful art of bonsai.

Do you know your shari from your nebari? Can you tell literati styling from informal upright? Want to know how to create that gnarled and twisted look?

Let Happy Bonsai guide you along the path to enlightenment, with care and display profiles for 40 top trees and fully illustrated step-by-steps of more than 20 bonsai techniques and styles.

Find your perfect tree and discover how to prune, shape, and tend to its needs to create a beautiful living sculpture. Fall in love with this most meditative of garden crafts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465491428
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	615,262
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Michael Tran owns and runs his own bonsai nursery in Germany, where he specializes in European bonsai species. Born in 1982, he began his bonsai training with Mr. Udo Fischer and had the chance to meet and learn from Japanese masters while under his wing. After two years he became self-taught, and his mastery of bonsai at a young age led him to be called a prodigy. Today he is honored to have some of Europe's oldest, prize-winning masterpieces in his care, which have been passed down to him from the first generation of European bonsai practitioners. Michael has published many articles in bonsai magazines and gives lectures, workshops, and demonstrations all over Europe.

Table of Contents

The Basics 8

Bonsai today 10

How your tree grows 12

Obtaining a bonsai tree 14

Where to grow 16

Choosing a pot 18

Design principles 20

Classical styles 22

Modern styles 24

Essential toolkit 26

Potting up 28

General care 30

Pruning to shape 32

Wiring to shape 36

Starting a young tree 38

Make a cascade 40

Make a rock planting 42

Make a root-over-rock 44

Creating jin and shari 46

Maintenance pruning 48

Pests and diseases 50

Tree Profiles 30

With all the essential information needed to grow, prune, and repot 40 elegant bonsai species.

Bonsai displays:

Tokonoma display pp. 70-71

Three point display pp.88-89

Shohin display pp. 106-107

Outdoor display pp-124-125

Index 142

Acknowledgments 144

Editorial Reviews

04/20/2020

Tran, a nursery owner and longtime bonsai grower, earnestly approaches his craft in this overly abbreviated how-to guide. He encapsulates the form as an “idealized representation of nature in miniature” and briefly touches on obtaining a specimen (buying or collecting one from nature), where to grow them (“most will only flourish outside”), choosing a container and tools, potting, maintenance, and pruning, but will leave serious bonsai students wanting more. On aesthetics, he contrasts the classical Japanese style with the approach developed by modern American practitioners, which is to “accept the natural growth habit of trees, often making them older and wilder in appearance.” He also profiles 40 specimens, including the Japanese maple and Chinese juniper, accompanied by beautiful color photographs, with information about origins, growing habits, watering, feeding, pruning, and repotting, along with suggestions for both traditional Japanese and contemporary displays. However, since Tran maintains that “the art of creating and maintaining a beautiful tree in a small pot requires care and skill,” readers may feel a more comprehensive look at process is warranted. This skimpy guide doesn’t give enough room for Tran’s expertise to fully express itself, and seems intended for couch admirers rather than serious practitioners. (May)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2020

Does nurturing and shaping a tree on a tabletop sound appealing? Do you have three years (or your entire lifetime) to devote to this hobby? Bonsai prodigy Tran not only shapes bonsai on his own but also cares for older bonsai entrusted to him by European masters. Beginning chapters cover the basics of plant types, shape, containers, and masculine and feminine attributes of plants and display. Two-page spreads, festooned with large photos, show remarkable specimens, with tips for watering, feeding, wiring, pruning, and repotting along with plant origin, special care, and more. VERDICT A strong choice to attract readers more comfortable with tweezers and tooth brush-size tools than axes or rakes. The beautiful, intricate photos will satisfy many readers, whether or not they choose to pursue the hobby of bonsai trimming on their own.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley Sch., Fort Worth, TX

Library Journal