t may be that I’ve reported on this book before, but maybe not. I have had it on my bonsai bookshelf for some time. It has a 1995 copyright date. While the title states that this book covers native trees and shrubs, don’t be misled, Busch is from Germany and the trees in the back half of the book are from Europe, not North America. Busch explains that bonsai is not cruel to the plants; rather they are plants in containers kept under optimum conditions. He explains that bonsai techniques mimic the rigors of growing in the wild. He says that bonsai satisfies the need for; responsibility, creativity, communication, the desire to work with nature, and the desire to work with others.

Busch says that the height of the tree is based on the relationship between the thickness of the trunk and the size of the gap between branches. If you remember last month’s book report, Jeker states in Bonsai Aesthetics that a part of the composition is the negative space. I think this is another way of making this point. He goes on to state that good bonsai needs to stand sturdily and believably to appear natural. The composition is a sum of the branches, leaves and negative areas. Then he wisely points out, “but before working on the creative effects, you will have to learn cultivation and care.”

Cultivation is sun, watering, soil, repotting, fertilization and pruning. Busch goes through the basics of each. He suggests that lava granules can replace sand in your soil mix. I’ve added these to my soil mix when I can find them small enough; but they are not easy to find. In this book, Busch covers over wintering. He says the “best” way to over-winter hardy trees is to remove them from their pots and to mulch them up to their first branch. I personally do not know anyone who has said they do this. However, I suspect it does away with the watering issue. In the section on watering Busch warns that rain may not reach the pot as it can be deflected by the tree’s leaves. When starting a bonsai he suggests planting in the ground or in a large tub to achieve the trunk thickness you desire. He says that a young tree needs new soil every two years, but in a tub you need to only replace half the soil. When repotting, protect the tree from the wind and sun for two weeks and do not feed it.

I found it interesting that Busch says deciduous seedlings should not be pruned until their second year and then just once; and conifers should not be pruned until their third year. Remember that the bud closest to the point pruned will develop first. Top growth will weaken the lower branches. With deciduous trees, large branch removal should be done during the peak growth period; with pines and spruces winter or spring is OK. But larches need to be treated as deciduous. Feeding also begins when shoots begin to show. He suggests rapeseed pellets to start, then cactus fertilizer in August, ending with a low nitrogen fertilizer in the fall. Busch explains what each fertilizer element does and why balanced fertilization is needed it ensure a healthy tree. He even covers a number of trace elements. This section on fertilization is followed by a section on how the tree grows. Root development finishes midsummer. Growth ends in the fall with fruit development.

The book has a chapter called “Elements of Bonsai”; its first section is “What Makes a Good Bonsai”. The part on root systems is thorough; it even shows how to get surface roots to develop. The next chapter is “Shaping Techniques”, followed by “Month by Month Care in the Bonsai year”. In this care chapter, Busch warns that plants fertilized in the fall will produce large leaves in the spring.

The final chapter before getting into the book’s individual species guide is “Starting a Bonsai”. He covers growing from seed, nursery stock and collecting from the wild. He notes nursery stock can usually be planted immediately into a training box, but collected material, which can only be collected in early spring, may take years to accumulate.

In the tree section Busch covers sixteen deciduous trees, eight conifers, and six shrubs. I found it strange with the limited species presented that he included ash, sycamore and walnut trees and weeping willow was included as a shrub. Each species included has a physical description, a bonsai description, cultivation, wiring, pruning, propagation, pests and fungal diseases.

While this book was not what I had expected, it does provide good information, warranting its addition to any bonsai library. ~ Ken Schultz