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Summary: Learn what a bonsai tree is and how it is formed, in this free video.
Mike Hansen, owner of Midwest Bonsai, has been growing, caring, selling, and instructing others in bonsai care for years. Mike is an expert bonsai master.read more
"What is a bonsai and what differentiates a bonsai from a bush. I think what we’re looking at here today is a prime example of the same species of tree. This is the bush, it has grown as nature has let it grow. This is a bonsai tree that was made from a bush very very similar to this, about the same size even. This bonsai tree, not long ago, was shaped from a bush similar to this one. The essence of the bonsai art is to capture, in miniature, in living form a tree that is miniature of its larger counterpart in nature. We do that by taking a larger, starting with a larger tree, and pruning and shaping the tree over time, putting it in a decorative pot, an appropriate pot, and this then becomes the bonsai art. Anything other than this is not bonsai, it’s a shrub in a pot. "
eHow Article: What is a Bonsai Tree and How is it Formed?