You can find trees trained in different styles meticulously cared for and yet they do not look like their species. Sometimes trees are forced into styles that are contrary to the way that the trees grow naturally. A lot of this has to do with the essence of bonsai, and this is the most important part of bonsai. A bonsai is not a tree trained out of its configuration.

We start doing bonsai with the basic rules, a branch to each side at different levels and some in back. This is to get you into the idea of having rules to guide you. This is not necessarily how trees grow, but it gives you a start.

But after five years or so you will begin to get the idea of how trees “look”. This is not to say that you forget the basics, but you begin to get the idea that trees are more relaxed and so more natural than the rules might suggest. They suddenly take on the appearance of “bonsai”. This is just the beginning though.

Now it is time to let “time” take its effect. Keep up the basic trimming and pinching, feeding and watering. Not to get impatient, but let another five years or so go by (you will be working on other trees in the meantime). So you have a tree that is about 15 to 20 years old or more, the more the better. You can now see the effect of time. Better bark, better refinement, better surface roots and more subtle effects as well.

Now with all that good stuff out of the way, you have weather to contend with. This is something you cannot control, and it will greatly affect the tree. If spring is very long the new growth can get totally out of control and be very coarse. If the spring is too short and summer comes too soon, back budding may not be very good because there was not time for energy to build up to cause it.

Then we can have a period that is too wet, or too overcast, too dry and windy, or too hot. All these things affect the growth of the tree. If for example, two years in a row are like this the tree may be set back several years in development. Now there is the problem of getting the tree back to where you want it. Sometimes this is not feasible, and so the tree must be restyled, perhaps drastically. With luck you may wind up with a better tree, shorter or leaner and better shaped to become a more exciting tree with a different front and perhaps slant too. If however all this does not happen you might toss the tree out. This is the heartbreak of bonsai.

So do the best you can and watch the weather and shelter the tree or give it more water, or cover the surface of the soil to prevent over watering from the rain. Place it in a sunnier position or more shade.

It is important to grow the trees that do well in your location. This will overcome half the problems that you might encounter. In case you don’t like those kinds of tree, study them and see what you don’t like and change your mind. Maybe a different variety. Maybe a more dramatic look. Maybe a rethinking of style. Above all don’t give up, you will be a better person if you don’t.

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