Given the number of bonsai books that I have collected over the years, I was surprised at how much “new” information this book provided. As you might suspect, some of the more prolific authors tend to repeat portions of their text. While there’ nothing wrong with that, I find myself skimming the text rather then trying to memorize tidbits of information. bonsai life histories (yes the title on the cover uses all small case) was published in 2002 by Firefly Books Ltd and has a suggested retail of $22.95 (I found it at a discount book store that gave 10% off). The book is 144 pages long, soft covered and is 9.5” by 8.75”, so if you’re looking for it you’ll have some idea. Almost every page has at least one color photo on it.

Martin Treasure is a British artist who has been practicing bonsai for only 15 years What excites me about this book are the fifty detailed case studies with color photographs showing where he started and where the tree’s development is at the time the book went to press. Life histories cover pages 46-128. The introductory chapters are; “getting started, and care and training. Getting started covers; bonsai sources, what makes good bonsai, what to avoid, and bonsai styles. Care and training covers; watering, feeding, site selection, pruning trimming, wiring, choosing pots, root pruning and repotting.

The chapter on life histories is delightful. Martin Treasure talks about finding the stock at a nursery or digging it up and rescuing some hedges from a road widening, and then he tells what he did to get it going as a bonsai, from its first styling to re-styling. In one he now has the original back as the front. It is through these case histories that you learn along with the author about techniques such as air layering, grove plantings, literati and clump styling. With some species where he purchases or rescued several plants of the same species you get to see how the same material can end up being used differently. He tells how he grew a Japanese maple in a pot for four years, and then placed it in the ground for two years before finally moving it to a bonsai pot.

In the book’s final chapter, Martin Treasure presents display. He breaks this into, displaying bonsai in your home, displaying bonsai at exhibitions, accent plantings, and displaying bonsai in your garden. Boy, I loved the koi pond he built. Through out the book there are shaded boxes that contain different tips. One was that using water that a willow was rooted in will result in easier rooting of other specimen cuttings.

If you are curious now, then here are some case histories that use plant material I saw in our show. Hedge maple, boxwood, false cypress, hinoki cypress, ginkgo, juniper, scotch pine, and wisteria. And Doc, he has a case history using a weeping willow too!