If you are redesigning the landscape of your yard and considering adding a garden to your home, make sure that your list of options includes building a bonsai garden. A bonsai garden is a unique design in many ways, and having it will make you the envy of your neighborhood.

Tips on Building Your Own Bonsai Garden

Size - Unlike other types of gardens, size isn't a consideration if you're intent on building a bonsai garden. If you don't have much space to work with, you can just as easily choose to grow all your bonsai from pots alone. Of course, you can let bonsai grow from the ground if you so wish. As long as all growing conditions are best, bonsai plants can grow just as huge and strong as any other tree.

Indoor or Outdoor - It depends on you whether you wish to have an indoor or outdoor bonsai garden. Indoor gardens are easier to design and maintain, but they will have to occupy a part or one whole room in your house. Outdoor gardens can be small or big, but you'll definitely have to work harder in taking care of your bonsai plants because you've to contend with the usual natural factors that hinder plant growth.

Giving Shape - The art of slicing bonsai plants and molding them into the shape you desire requires patient effort. Although it's possible to learn by self-study, it's still ideal to enroll in a bonsai slicing workshop to ensure that you don't cause accidental harm to your plants. When giving bonsai plants as gifts to your guests, you can ask them ahead of time what shape they desire for their plants.

Choices, Choices - If you have given much thought to the idea and you have decided that an indoor bonsai garden will suit your home beautifully, here are a few bonsai plants that'll adapt to indoor living: sacred bamboo, Chinese elm, fig tree, and Buddhist pine.

Warning - Many shops deliberately deceive people by mislabeling plants and passing them off as genuine bonsai plants. Make sure that you purchase bonsai plants only from people you know or trust and from legitimate shops in malls.

Bonsai plants age beautifully, and as such your bonsai garden can be an inheritance for your children and grandchildren. You can give them pot by pot or acre by acre, but make sure that your descendants understand the special kind of love that bonsais need. Take good care of your plants!

The term bonsai came from the Chinese word which means a plant in pot. It was the Chinese who introduced the miniature ornamental trees in the period of the second century B.C. This was the period of perfecting the landscape and trees where planted in specific containers.

Bonsai are plants that measures around 2 inches up to 3 feet in height which grew from seeds and as well as from cuttings. This plant is usually grown in pots or containers which are kept small by pruning the branches and roots to serve as decorations. There are times that the trees are wired on its branch and trunk to attain a desired shape.

Bonsais live for many years and some families think about as prized possessions. Bonsai have many varieties such as the gardenia, azalea, bamboo, camellia, pine and even plum. There are so many styles that you can do with bonsai. You can have it informal upright, formal upright, cascade, semi-cascade and slanting style.

Professionals with bonsai use specialized tools to mold and create bonsai into different forms such as the pliers, concave branch cutters, root trimmers and shears. If you want to create your own form of bonsai, there are 12 steps that you can follow.

You must choose first a petite shrub from common varieties of garden such as the azalea, camellia, boxwood, gardenia, cotoneaster, or even hibiscus. Trim the plant with the use of bypass pruners until a structure is seen. After that you need to remove the bonsai from its pot and place the root of the bonsai in water.

Decrease the amount of soil around its roots in order for the root ball to fit the said container. Trim the roots to until two-thirds of the original size are reduced. The next thing that you will need to do is to place a plastic window or a piece of gauze over the drainage hole of the pot.

Then add an inch of blended potting soil on it then the root ball while spreading gently its roots over the soil. Put additional soil again to cover the roots but make sure that there's a one inch allowance on top for watering purposes. Prune the plant on your desired structure.

The last thing that you'll do is to water it until the soil is soaked then covers it with aquarium gravel. Place the plant on a location wherein it can receive a adequate amount of sunlight.

Let's face it. Not all of us have a green thumb and not everyone has the luxury of time either. Other than that, we are not all born with the patience of a saint or a bonsai grower either.

If you have always wanted to grow bonsai but haven't got one for one reason or another, you have a choice: buy an artificial bonsai. They don't require any watering, pruning or pesticides and they'll last as long as the real thing. Here are some tips on how to get ones that are as good, or even better:

Choose the style or species.
There are dozens of bonsai species to choose from, such as pine trees and flowering trees and all of them look decidedly real. They also come in different styles - single-trunk, double-trunk, cascade, rock - and you can select one or two that'll blend with your home's overall design scheme.

Good ones to try: artificial Japanese pine bonsai, Chinese elm, maple or juniper. For artificial flowering bonsai, get the crabapple, jasmine, camellia, flowering plum or gardenia bonsai.

Seeing is believing
If the artificial can fool your eyes, it can fool others' as well. Look at the artificial bonsai from afar and then up close. Look at the trunk, the branches, the leaves and the flowers. The trunk shouldn't look painted on and the branches should blend well with the main trunk.

There should be a continuing, seamless line from the base of the artificial bonsai to the tip of the branches. If you see the joints, you might want to move to the next one. If it still looks like the real thing from six inches away, then it's top quality artificial bonsai.

Touch to test
The true test of a good quality artificial bonsai is its touch. The trunk should feel rough like the bark of a real tree and shouldn't feel plastic to the touch - slippery and smooth. Another test for quality artificial bonsai is its leaves. The leaves shouldn't be too thin or too fabric-like and avoid ones that unravel when pulled. They should be smooth with a partial sheen to mimic real leaves.

Flex to form
Another thing to look for is flexibility. Even though many artificial bonsai are shaped in various ways, there are some that let you manipulate their 'growth' by bending them anyway you like. If you're the kind who likes to work with your bonsai a tiny bit, pick ones that are made with flexible materials such as luna clay. These artificial bonsai let you bend and twist to create a plant that is all your own.

Black pine is an excellent candidate for bonsai because it is a sturdy, beautiful tree. It is also one of the most common bonsai plants among bonsai growers and if taken care of properly, it can mature into a well-balanced plant for years to come.

Soil
When choosing soil for your black pine bonsai, make sure it's a good 50% akadama and 50% pumice mix. If it's a younger tree, you might want to use more grit. These materials help the black pine bonsai grow healthy roots because they drain water well.

Water
Black pine bonsai will do well with soil that's evenly moist, so take care not to water too much. They've the capability to manage a little dryness and with soil that is free-draining, overwatering will not be a problem.

Try to water your black pine bonsai with tap water that has a pH balance range of 5.5 to 6.5. Water two or three times to thoroughly wet the soil.

Sun
Black pines love to soak up the sun, but be careful with them during hot months. Keep them in the shade if temperatures run towards 100 degrees Fahrenheit, as this will turn the plant's leaves yellow. Best keep them in a partial shade or place them under a shade cloth for protection.

Pruning
Prune the leaves of your black pine bonsai during the fall or winter. These are the best months when the cutting won't cause too much bleeding. In the spring, prune the bigger branches. Use a putty paste for plants to seal the cut.

Take care not to cut too much. Once a branch has been cut off, you can't put it back and the replacement will take a long time to appear. Try to reduce your black pine slowly over the years.

Repotting
Black pine bonsai will do well with repotting each other year when they're younger, while older ones will do well with repotting each three years. However, you might want to try to repot your new bonsai each year; just to check on the roots since you'll need to prune them as well.

Cut only minor roots if you've to, but be careful not to cut too much, especially the small feeder roots that lead to the large lower branch. After you have repotted your black pine bonsai, place it in bright shade for a few weeks and be mindful of sudden temperature changes.

Pests
Check your black pine bonsai each week for pests such as aphids, spider mites and mealy bugs. If you find any of these bugs, you can either use water to spray them off, or eradicate them absolutely with a good pesticide.