Bonsai

Bonsai is the art of growing miniature trees in pots.

Their size is classified by the number of hands required to lift the pot: One, two or four hands, so they can range from tiny trees of 10 cm to more than 1 meter.

The word literally means plant in pot, but the common meaning only includes trees, and with the aim of creating something that looks just like a tree in nature, reproducedin miniature.
Bonsai can become very old, but their true age isn't as important as how old they look.A tree weathered to look old is considered more beautiful than one that looks young.

• The basic shapes
• Other WWW sites where you can learn more and find pictures of beautiful trees

Related to bonsai is

• Bonkei, landscapes in pots
• Suiseki, the appreciation of rocks
• Miniature trees growing in the ground, which are shaped according the the same rules as bonsai

Most content last updated 1995, content of this document last modified 1999 Mar 29, content of most of them reviewed 2000 July 18 by Urban Fredriksson