What is Bonsai?
Bonsai is a living art of miniaturizing trees. The word Bonsai is made of two Japanese words Bon & Sai. Bon means pot & Sai means small tree. It is a true replica of a real tree. It originated in Ancient India for medical emergency by Ayurvedic physicians, developed in China & was refined in Japan, thus it is called a Japanese Art.
What do we require to practice this art?
1. Trees- A tree species preferably of small leaves, long life span, interesting feature etc.
2. Pots- The pot for a finished bonsai is of ceramic or stone or cement or fibre which are shallow but for training the plant teracota, plastic or cement pots which are deep are used. Bonsai pots are in different shapes round, square, rectangle, oval hexagonal, which are shallow for most of the styles and deep pots for cascade and semi cascade styles.
3. Tools- Basic tools used are leaf cutter, concave cutter, wire cutter, poker.
4. Soil- Bonsai soil should be rich in manure, porous so that the bonsai grows healthy as they are in small pots. Composition of soil is half soil and half manure.
5. Accessories- Wire &wire mesh. Wires used are of aluminum. Different grades of wire are used for different thickness of trunk or branches. Wire mesh is used to cover the hole of the pot so that soil will not drain out with water. Sphagnum moss is used to cover the top soil when plants are repotted
6. Artifacts- Rocks, marble chips artifacts etc is used in saikei rock planting etc
