Bonsai science is a website that helps you understand bonsai through the lens of plant biology. Most bonsai sites and books focus on the art and not the science of bonsai – this isn’t surprising when you consider that bonsai has been around for centuries, and DNA wasn’t even discovered until 1953ref.
Hopefully it won’t be too disappointing to bonsai newbies to learn that bonsai trees aren’t special biologically, they are just normal trees constrained to a small pot. It’s the bonsai artist who styles them to look like miniature versions and helps them thrive even in a small amount of soil. They do this by careful pruning, shaping and repotting, with an artistic vision in mind.
To get started using this site you can check out the three main sections: How Trees Grow, Keeping Bonsai Healthy or Shaping Bonsai, search using one of the site tags or check out some of the following posts which I think are most useful:
- Bonsai Tree Growth Stages
- Buds
- Leaves
- Nutrients for Trees
- Old Trees
- Plant Growth Regulators (or Phytohormones)
- Pruning
- Ramification of Branches and Foliage
- Repotting Tips
- Roots
- Shoots
- The Microbiome and Symbiotic Microbes
For updates you can follow me on Twitter, or on Facebook. If you find anything wrong on this site or want to provide feedback, you can email me at info@bonsai-science.com or on the FAQ page discussion box. For information about my sources and how I reference articles and images, please look here.
My latest posts are:
- What does frost do to bonsai trees?
Living in London means that even though spring has blossomed forth, there is still a chance of frost all the way through […] Read more… > - Male Tree Flowers
Spring has sprung (finally) in the UK and now is the time that many trees flower, so they can pollinate the next […] Read more… > - Bonsai Pinetum Species List
Below is a shopping list if you’re wanting to create a bonsai pinetum. You may want to explore alternative species to include, […] Read more… > - Creating a Bonsai Pinetum
A pinetum is an arboretum, or collection of trees, dedicated to conifers. There is a fabulous pinetum at RHS Wisley in the […] Read more… > - Pathogens – nasty tree microbes
A pathogen is a microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, oomycete (water mould) or fungus which causes disease and/or death.ref Examples you […] Read more… > - Conifer flat leaves
Flat leaves are found across the conifer families including Taxus, Cephalotaxus, and even in Pinus (check out Pinus krempfii) as well as […] Read more… >