review by Ken Schultz

I purchased this book at the Half Price Book Store on Bethel late in 1997. This book was translated in 1991 and was originally published in 1984 as Bonsai no shiki. In the past I have stated that bonsai books fall into three general categories; general instructions on how to, identifcation and care; and coffee table books of beautiful trees. While not as larger as most coffee table books, Four Seasons of Bonsai falls into this last category.

The twist on this book, which caught my eye, is that it is organized into the four seasons. Its chapters are titled; Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Next as you leaf through the pages you notice that a good number of the trees have flowers or fruit. Also there are a number of pages devoted to flowering accent plants. Each page has text that first identifies the plant and then gives a couple sentences on caring for the plant. An example is “Terihano-ibara (a type of wild rose) The test advises that this plant is managed differently from other wild roses, in that all new shoots from the base are removed, leaving only the old trunks. This rose needs cross-pollination. If there are wild roses in the vicinity, bees will pollinate it, but if –there are not you must provide at least one other plant and cross-pollinate them manually. Then there is a photo caption telling the month age and size of the plant. The one with the rose says, mid-October, 30 years, 7 inches.

As I have paged through this book, I learn something new each time, though there is not a lot of text to read. I also marvel at the quality of the photo compositions; the balance of the tree and the pot. Other times it’s the peak flowering or fruiting captured by the photo. This includes some unusual accent plants such as a tray of Lily of the Valley that have been potted for 20 years or a Skullcap that has been potted for 7 years. There are also some unusual trees, such as a Mountain Ash and a Sumac grove.

Then there are those trees that are pictured in different chapters or have a smaller photo on the same page, to show their beauty in different seasons. I did notice that the note on the flowering cherry said it was blooming in late February, I figure its not Ohio. If you decide to add this book to your collection, look for a very red Japanese maple pictured on its cover.