---
title: Bonsai
description: Bonsai is the practice of growing miniature trees in containers. You will learn species selection, pruning and wiring, repotting and root work, watering and seasonal care, and the design principles behind traditional bonsai styles.
category: trades-crafts
subcategory: specialty-crafts
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/bonsai
---

# Bonsai

Bonsai is the practice of growing miniature trees in containers. You will learn species selection, pruning and wiring, repotting and root work, watering and seasonal care, and the design principles behind traditional bonsai styles.

## Available Resources

3 Books • 2 Websites

## Books

### 1. Principles of Bonsai Design

**Author:** David De Groot

David De Groot's illustrated treatment of bonsai design, with more than 500 photos and drawings. It covers art principles, traditional Japanese and Chinese styles, naturalistic styles, branch structure, deadwood, first styling, choosing containers, refinement and display. It covers the 'design principles behind traditional styles' part of the topic in more depth than any free source. Unlike the general care books, it deals only with design.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0985299819?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** bonsai-design, bonsai-styles, branch-structure, deadwood, bonsai-display

### 2. Bonsai Heresy: 56 Myths Exposed Using Science and Tradition

**Author:** Michael Hagedorn

It is the best book for moving past beginner folklore about tree health, and it is backed by evidence instead of repeated tradition. Michael Hagedorn checks 56 common bonsai rules against horticultural research and Japanese professional practice. The rules cover pot size, fertilizing, wiring, watering, dormancy and winter protection. A reference chapter gives root and top hardiness for about 70 species.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/098010940X?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** bonsai-horticulture, bonsai-myths, tree-health, winter-protection, repotting

### 3. The Little Book of Bonsai: An Easy Guide to Caring for Your Bonsai Tree

**Author:** Jonas Dupuich

A short introduction to keeping a bonsai alive and improving it, illustrated with photographs. It covers choosing trees that suit your climate, where to place them, watering, fertilizing, pruning, wiring, repotting and fixing common problems.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399582592?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** bonsai-basics, bonsai-care, watering, wiring, repotting

## Youtubes

### 1. Eisei-en Bonsai (Bjorn Bjorholm)

**Author:** Bjorn Bjorholm

This is the strongest free video source for traditional Japanese technique, and seeing wiring and styling done matters a lot in this craft. Free YouTube channel of Bjorn Bjorholm, a professional who trained for six years at Kouka-en in Osaka. Its tutorials and full demonstrations cover wiring, pruning, repotting, seasonal care, and styling pines, junipers and deciduous trees.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@EiseienBonsai

**Tags:** japanese-bonsai, wiring, pruning, repotting, bonsai-styling

## Websites

### 1. Bonsai4Me Species Guides

**Author:** Harry Harrington

Harry Harrington's free care guides for about 100 tree species commonly grown as bonsai. Each covers placement, watering, feeding, pruning, wiring, when to repot, propagation and pests. The site also has basic and advanced technique articles.  It is a reference to look things up in, not something to read straight through.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://bonsai4me.com/species-guides/

**Tags:** bonsai-species, bonsai-care, watering, pruning, repotting

### 2. Bonsai Tonight Guides (including the Beginner Series)

**Author:** Jonas Dupuich

Jonas Dupuich's free, indexed how-to articles. They include a ten-part beginner series on environment, watering, fertilizing, tools, wiring and anchoring trees in pots, plus guides to repotting, soil, winter care, propagation and decandling black pines. The guides page puts the beginner series and the topic collections (watering, repotting, soil) in order, so it works as a curriculum instead of a feed.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://bonsaitonight.com/guides/

**Tags:** bonsai-basics, bonsai-care, repotting, bonsai-soil, black-pine

---

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