Page 12 - Tài liệu cây cảnh Bonsai4me Bonsai Basics

Some trees can remind us of lost memories of forgotten times and places as these
Fagus/Beech in the Chiltern hills do.
One important concept a beginner has to understand when undertaking the

art of Bonsai, is that the plant retains its small stature through regular pruning,
without which it will simply continue to grow until it no longer resembles a
bonsai but an ordinary garden plant or tree. Though the roots of a bonsai are
annually pruned, this is not to ‘dwarf’ it. Root pruning produces a small densely
packed rootball that enables the plant to be planted in a suitably scaled container.
Without root pruning the plant becomes pot-bound and loses its health and
vigour. By the process of removing around 1/3 of the roots each year new soil
can be introduced to the pot and room is given to allow new roots to grow.
Bonsai can vary in height from a few centimetres to a metre. There is no
strict height limit. It is simply that the tree is cultivated in a pot and creates an
image of an ancient tree in nature. A bonsai containing an Oak a metre high may
seem large for a ‘miniature’ tree until you consider that Oaks will regularly
reach 50 meters when left unpruned!