Understanding Bonsai Styles: How Natural Growth Patterns Guide Artistic Shaping

Many horticultural and aesthetic decisions go into achieving the true goal of bonsai: nurturing and training a tree in a container to appear as it would in nature.

One such decision—and one that encompasses both horticultural and aesthetic considerations—is determining which style a bonsai should follow.

In nature, trees grow in a variety of styles—consider the upright style of a redwood tree versus the cascading foliage of a willow tree, for example.

The way in which a tree grows is often determined by their environment, and as a bonsai artist, I look to honor that environment, and the way in which that tree would grow in nature, when determining how to shape and style a bonsai.