Product Description

From advice on evaluating and selecting plants, to assessing plant health, and troubleshooting, this comprehensive guide is any readers step-by-step entry into this ancient and beautiful living art. Covers over 50 varieties of plants and trees which can be cultivated into captivating miniatures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71419 in Books
• Published on: 1996-01-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Booklist
Survival is the key word here, for these delicate plants are difficult to care for. Lewis, founder of Bonsai magazine, has written a guide to buying and maintaining a bonsai. There are instructions on shaping, pruning, repotting, and pests and diseases. Lewis lists 50 popular species, with specific information on growing each tree--maple, bamboo, hornbeam, hackberry, quince, cypress, cotoneaster, cedar, beech, ficus, juniper, myrtle, pine, etc. Four-color photographs throughout, primarily for beginners. George Cohen

From the Back Cover
Grow attractive bonsai and keep them healthy with this "one-stop" source of vital information.

From advice on evaluating and selecting plants, to assessing plant health and troubleshooting, the Bonsai Survival Manual provides the comprehensive information every bonsai gardener needs for success.

-- Advice on selecting suitable species, feeding, watering, and providing the proper temperature

-- Step-by-step guidance on keeping your miniature tree in shape and avoiding common bonsai ailments

-- Detailed horticultural profiles of 50 popular commercial varieties, with at-a-glance information on their specific requirements

About the Author
Colin Lewis is a contributor for the following Storey Books Title: Bonsai Survival Manual

Customer Reviews

Excellent Primer - Basics but lacks detail
This is an excellent basics book and would rate it 5 stars if that is what you are looking for. I give it 4 stars because it gives one enough information to be dangerous but not enough to certain . Example: Using fungicides and pesticides. Certain trees Maples for instance, are very sensitive and be harmed using chemicals they recommend are safe for most trees. Define most!! An excellent starter basics book just not the only book one should use in my view.

Learn about your bonsai specie
This is a very good book to learn about individual species. This book has profiles 50 species of bonsais. It includes out door bonsais and indoor bonsais. Each profile is two pages. It includes one or two pictures, an older bonsai and a younger bonsai. It gives a description of the bonsai, which includes the history and where it is grown, along with a lot of helpful information on growing and caring for each bonsai. It has a chart for each bonsai with includes light, water, temperature, soil and a few other things. The information about each bonsai is very interesting and helpful. Many bonsai books don't give you much information on individual species and their needs. It is very important to know what a bonsai needs before you decide on a bonsai. You need to know if you can meet the needs of a bonsai.

At the beginning of the book there is general information on bonsais, buying, care, plus trimming, pruning, repotting, root pruning, shaping with wire etc. This is good information and the pictures are detail, but it is not exceptional. There are better books on the care and training of bonsais. But the book is well worth getting for the information it gives you on the individual bonsais.

Excellent information on individual species
The book is mainly geared for somebody who purchased a Bonsai and is wanting to maintain it and maybe make it a little better. It doesn't have much information on how to train and style a bonsai. The information on how to care for all the different kinds of trees is more than worth the price of the book. I find myself referring back to this book frequently.