Pop Culture

• The Karate Kid movies, a trilogy of John G. Avildsen films released in 1984-1989 starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, popularized bonsai in the West.
• Mambonsai, miniature plant scenes are supplemented with fanciful or kitschy art.
• Popbonsai, a technique pioneered by Lisa Tajima involving colorful pots with animal-shaped feet.
• Bonsly, a character in the Pokemon franchise, resembles a bonsai.
• In an episode of the TV series Saved by the Bell, Screech Powers kills Mr. Belding's bonsai tree.
• The character Jet Black from the animated show Cowboy Bebop is often rendered pruning his bonsai collection during stressful moments.
• In the Japanese dub of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Knights Who Say Ni demand bonsai (rather than a shrubbery).
• Slash, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lived with a bonsai tree before he was mutated and was obsessed with them there after.

Bonsai tourism

Bonsai collections are open for public viewing in many cities around the world. For example:

• Australia: Admission is free at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, where the Bonsai House displays hundreds of trees, some 80 years old. [1].
• Belgium: The Belgian Bonsai Museum hosted by the Bonsai Centre Gingko at Laarne organizes international competitions and workshops [2].
• Canada: The Montreal Botanical Garden has an amazing indoor bonsai facility that can be viewed year round [3].
• China: View the bonsai at the Botanical Gardens in Beijing [4], Shanghai [5] and Suzhou [6].
• Germany: The Grugapark in Essen has a permanent bonsai exhibition [7].
• Indonesia: Pluit Bonsai Centre in Jakarta is an enormous sales and trading centre for growers and collectors [8].
• Italy: The firm Crespi Bonsai hosts an international competition, the Crespi Cup, every year at the Bonsai Museum in Milan [9].
• Japan: Near Tokyo, the city of Omiya has an artisanal village of bonsai growers and stylists grow and maintain their stock. In Omiya Bonsai Village, more than a half dozen large bonsai nurseries allow visitors to view trees most days during growing season. By one estimate, more than 10,000 trees of world-class quality can be seen in a single day [10].
• Singapore: Thousands on bonsai are on display at the Chinese and Japanese Gardens on two islands in Jurong Lake [11].
• Spain: Visitors to Marbella can enjoy the collection at the Museo de Bonsai [12].
• Taiwan:Taiwan is part of the Chinese culture. And yet, bonsai from Taiwan look different from the ones we see in Chinese penjing books.[13] [14] [15]
• United Kingdom: The Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Glasshouses hosts a rotating collection of about 25 trees at a time, and occasionally gives bonsai care workshops [16]. Heron's Bonsai Nursery in Surrey amasses 7 acres of a wide range of bonsai trees. Also on show are examples from the owners personal collection alongside Japanese gardens. Regular bonsai classes are available, with a bonsai clinic on the first Sunday of every month [17].
• United States: The National Arboretum in Washington, DC contains the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, an impressive collection of trees, some of them gifts from the Nation of Japan or foreign heads of state [18]. The Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts is home to the Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection. On the West Coast the Weyerhaeuser Corporation [19] maintains a collection open to the public at its headquarters near Seattle. In California, the Golden State Bonsai Federation [20] has two collections: the Collection North in Oakland, and the Collection South Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. Lastly, the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, NC also has an excellent display of Bonsai[21]. The C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden houses a famous collection of indoor and temperate or outdoor bonsai plants and are exhibited in a Japanese-style architectural setting. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's bonsai collection is considered one of the finest in the world and is the second largest on public display outside Japan, featuring as many as 100 specimens at any given time. Some of the trees in the collection are well over a century old. A stylized verandah complete with tokonoma, or alcove, looks out onto the entire exhibit. Text panels introduce the history of bonsai and explain culture and care.

Saikei, bonseki and bonkei

Saikei:
Group and rock plantings can be taken a step further by adding small underplantings of alpine
plants and tiny shrubs. Rocks can be embedded into the soil and small streams suggested by the use of white sand. Such a planting is generally calledsaikei, and small figurines and bridges are sometimes added to the landscape. See example picture above.

Bonseki:
Using a shallow tray of almost any composition, you can create a meditativebonseki composition. This generally consists of a group of rocks or stones placed in raked sand, which gives the impressions of small islands in the sea. As there are no living plants in bonseki, it doesn't require any care and can be kept indefinitely. Children love bonseki!

Bonkei:
Bonkei is another type of tray landscape which attempts to replicate natural or imaginary scenes. Every type of material available can be used, including artificial or real plants, figurines,
false rocks, and paint. The finished effect, however, should again mimic nature and retain a natural elegance.

Group Plantings

Whether planting a small copse of three trees, or a more ambitious miniature forest, the composition should first be planned out on paper. A shallow but wide container should be used, and the trees selected should be of the same variety, but of various heights. They should always be planted in odd numbers, not only because the Japanese dislike even numbers (especially 4),
but because it will be found in practice that a balanced composition is easier to create with odd
numbers.
The soil mixture required would be that which is normally used for the type of tree being grown.

To Begin:

- Always start by planting the largest tree first. This focal point is normally set to the right or
left of center.

- The second largest tree is then planted to compliment the first... and so on with the remaining trees.

- Be sure to check and see how the planting is looking, not only from the front, but from the back and sides as you are trying to maintain an even balance.

- Do not tie down the trees until the exact position of each has been determined.

- After planting, thin out any inward growing branches, except for those trees planted around the outer edge.

Rock Plantings

The idea of planting trees on or over rocks has come from nature herself in the picture of a gnarled pine clinging to the protection of an outcropping of rock, or of a small, twisted tree growing on a cliff face.

In rock plantings, the tree can either be planted in or on the rock itself, or it can be trained over
the rock, with the roots buried in the soil of the container.

Rocks used for such plantings should be fairly hard, since soft rocks tend to rot after prolonged
exposure to the elements. They should not be too smooth, and should be pitted with plenty of
small crevices and small pockets where the roots can grab hold. Rocks with a saddle-shaped
depression or a large, deep pocket are ideal for planting directly onto the rock. Just make sure
that the drainage is correct, as if the water doesnﾁt run off and instead pools in the pocket, the
roots could rot; while if the water runs off straight away, the tree would get no moisture.
Relatively small trees with small leaves, such as Cotoneaster are ideal for planting on rock.

Special Bonsai Plantings

The exquisite beauty of a bonsai tree well trained in a simple style, and growing vibrantly in a pot of suitable size and shape, can be the focus of many happy hours of contemplation. For some people, such simplicity is all that is necessary. Others, however, may prefer the more complex drama of a tree trained to cling to a rock, or the grandeur of a bonsai group planting.

Such scenes are more complicated to create, but the basic rule of all bonsai still applies: the finished planting should evoke a natural theme.

Display Stands & Winter Shelter

Display Stands:
Keeping your collection of bonsai trees on a stand makes them easier to work with and to see, and gives protection from extremes of weather. The large designon the leftis simple to build from wood, having a shade of timber battens and a slatted bench-top.
There is a shelf for miniature bonsai at the back and a tool drawer under the bench. In severe weather, the trees can be placed under the bench and enclosed with heavy-gauge clear plastic sheeting (shown rolled).
The smaller example is based on a stand illustrated in an early Japanese bonsai book, and uses bamboo for shading.

Building A Display Stand:
The number of trees in your bonsai collection will determine the size of the stand. When calculating the dimensions, be sure to allow each tree plenty of space, and remember that small as they are, they do grow.
To allow for easier working, the stand should be made a little higher than an indoor table. It should be made of good quality wood, treated with a preservative, or it could have a metal frame with a wooden top. The trees can be placed on a gravel bed, as this cuts down on the need to water; but in this case they should be lifted every now and then to make sure the roots are not growing into the gravel.

Above the stand, around the sides and at the back, a weather-shade of thin timber laths or canes should be made. Each strip should be secured an inch apart. This will help protect the trees from all extremes: hot sunlight, heavy rain, high winds, and even a certain amount of frost.
For harder winter conditions the bottom of the stand can be enclosed and the trees placed inside.


Winter Care
Container plantings of any kind are more subject to damage from cold than plants growing in the
ground. Containers just don't hold enough soil to insulate plant roots.
Where winter temperatures are frost free or relatively mild (above 20F or -7C) you can leave a
bonsai outside if its normal display area is protected from wind. Spreading straw or mulch around the pots also helps insulate the soil.
An unheated greenhouse is ideal as a winter shelter since the plants receive good light, are somewhat protected from the cold, and with a door ajar or vents opened slightly, get plenty of air.
You can devise a polyethylene plastic and wood greenhouse by extending a lean-to from under house eaves. Leave all or part of one end open, unless winters are severe.

Building A Cold Frame:
With just a bit more effort you can build a simple cold frame - essentially a low greenhouse with a translucent hinged top. Placed against a south-facing wall and recessed into the ground it will
keep plants dormant but not frozen (unless you live in the colder regions of Canada, for example).
Dig a rectangle about 6 -8 inches deep beside the wall. Using scrap lumber or plywood, build a
frame with sides the slope down toward the front; a 6 inch slope is sufficient. Make sure the front is high enough (about 18 inches) to accommodate your shortest bonsai. Then set the frame
againt the wall and spread 3 - 4 inches of gravel in the bottom.
Traditionally, old window sashes formed the tops of cold frames, but you can also use clear plastic, fiberglass, or polyethylene plastic sheeting. In snowy areas, first cover the fame with fine
mesh chicken wire or hardware cloth.
Place the bonsai on the gravel base and surround and cover the pots lightly with straw. Close the
lid for protection from extreme cold, opening it slightly for ventilation when the temperature is
above freezing.



Winter Watering:
During freezing weather, water your bonsai (if they need it) in the morning. This allows excess
water to drain out before the temperature drops. Water-soaked soil expands as it freezes, which can cause containers to crack.