This book is among the coffee table sized books in my collection. It was originally written in German in 1991 and was translated and released in the USA and Canada in 1994. I remember that I was initially attracted to this book by the photograph of a flowering bougainvillea on its cover. Indeed one of the attractive features of this book is its numerous full-page color plates, many of trees in flower.

As with several other books, Bonsai in Your Home is organized into a history-horticultural section, and then a section devoted to the care of individual species. The care section covers about 100 species, some that I have not seen in other bonsai books. These include; jade, Monterey Cypress, gardenia, fuchsia, Crepe Myrtle, Lantana, and Schefflera. Each of the entries in this section begins with a paragraph telling about where the plant is from, its natural growth habit, and then its general care and bonsai use. Under this the major entries are: Location; Watering; Feeding; Transplanting; Soil; Pruning; Wiring; and Propagation. I noticed that the introductory paragraph for Lantana mentions that it is a favorite of the whitefly.

The first section of the book also has some interesting inclusions. One is a list of bonsai and their lighting requirements in lumens. Ficus benjamina and serrisa are listed at 1000, and schefflera at 800. Lantana is listed at 2000. The author supports immersing a plant in water, something that I used to do when I only had 15 trees. The first section also has several landscapes, which include a water garden for indoors.

Since many of us want to have bonsai “in our homes” this book is on my list of ones to check out. The Club does have it, as do some of the local libraries.