Wisteria makes an excellent alternative to the more traditional bonsai. A native of Korea, Japan, and China, they can reach 30 feet in the wild. Forming them into a bonsai is an interesting challenge, because they don't conform to any of the usual styles.

The Wisteria flowers are both beautiful and aromatic and come in a variety of colors, including white, blue, purple, and pink.  Flowering in the Spring, they need lots of water with sufficient drainage and they do well in partial shade to full sun.  Just before they flower in the spring, you should provide them with ample fertilizer, and once again in late summer before they drop their leaves.

If you love fragrant flowers, an excellent alternative is Orange Jasmine which produces a bright red fruit and fragrant white blossoms, bringing both delight to the nose and beauty to the eye.

Orange Jasmine should be fed every three to four weeks beginning in early spring and continuing through mid-autumn. Light watering is adequate for most of the year, with slightly more in the hotter season.

Since they do better in filtered sun and moderate shade, they are one of the few bonsai that can, and probably should, be raised indoors.

Mimosa, or silk trees as they are occasionally called owing to their long silky filaments, are as fragrant as either of the two choices above. Their lacy foliage and puffy flowers are also just as lovely.

Moderate water should be given to the Mimosa during the blooming season which is from late April to early July.  However, care should be taken to avoid getting water on the flowers themselves, since the flowers will rapidly deteriorate when wet, much like a number of other flowering plants.

If you choose to cultivate a Mimosa, it will be one of the larger bonsai in your collection since they have large leaves, grow rapidly, and are difficult to maintain at a very small size.  So be sure to give then adequate room in your display area.

An additional exotic bonsai is the Desert Rose which can turn an ordinary bonsai collection into an exciting full color display.  The Desert Rose is a native of East Africa where it grows up to 10 feet tall and produces large, pink, trumpet-bowl flowers.

Very bushy, it makes an excellent design complement to the many trees in a standard bonsai set. They need lots of fresh air and ample sunshine, so keep them outside most of the year.

Since they are sensitive to cold, they need to be moved indoors during periods of cold weather below 50F (10C).  They will lie dormant but healthy when temperatures are in the range of 50F-60F (10C-15C) and will require very little water at this time.

You should try your hand at some of these exotic beautiful and fragrant flowering plants to expand your horizon and further develop your bonsai gardening skills. They provide a nice contrast when placed among some of the more standard evergreens, such as, pines, firs, and junipers.  Additionally, as they drop their leaves in the fall and bloom in the spring, you'll have an interesting ever-changing display.

George Dodge enjoys gardening and landscaping as a hobby.  Bonsai gardening offers hours of enjoyment producing exquisit miniture trees and shrubs as an art form. His Bonsai Tree Gardening site provides tips for the beginning bonsai gardener.  Experiment with exotic bonsai choices to extend your collection.

Literati: The most common shape of bonsai tree is the literati style, and this is what most people visualize when they think of a bonsai. The literati shape consists of a bare trunk and hardly any branches. In this style, all the branches are located at the top of the tree. The lower part of the trunk, which is bare, is usually elegantly twisted.

Informal and Formal Upright: Both of these styles are also well known among the various bonsai shapes. Trees in these forms are guided into an erect, upright position with a tapered trunk. The familiar bends and curves of the informal style differentiate it from the formal shaping technique.

Slanting: There are similarities between the slanting style and the formal upright bonsai in regards to the straight trunk. The only difference is that the trunk slants at an angle, either to the right or left of the base.

Forest: An advanced form of bonsai gardening is the forest style, which consists of artistically grouping several bonsais in one container. The trees are of varying heights, which gives the perception of depth. Most often, there are at least three trees that make up the forest style, and it's usually an odd number of plants. However, four trees are never used in one pot, as the number four has implications in Japan.

Cascade: This is one of the most distinctive shapes among bonsai plants. This style resembles a tree growing on the mountain or gracefully dipping its branches over the water. The top of the tree flows to one side and grows to the foot of its container or just beneath it.

Although these shapes are the most frequently used for styling a bonsai tree, you may discover a new fashion that you prefer. But you should always start off with a basic style if you don't have experience in shaping bonsais. When you become skilled at this, you can start adding some distinctive touches of your own. Remember, bonsai care and shaping is an art.

Bonsai trees or plants are small miniature versions of some of the trees in the world.  There are many different trees that can be made into bonsai trees. Among these are tropical trees and coniferous trees and many more. There are many types of shrubs and trees that can be made into a bonsai plant.

Why are bonsai trees so popular? Well two aspects are the syle and shape that they can be formed in. There are many different styles of bonsai including formal upright, informal upright, cascading and more. The popularity of these trees is big in the United States and Asia.

Different Bonsai Tools

There are certain tools needed to maintain and train your bonsai. One important tool is the concave pruner. It makes the cut through the branch in a way that allows the healing process to be more accelerated than would be the case using good old fashion gardening scissors. Concave pruners are necessary bonsai tools for precision cutting and maintaining the beauty the tree.

Buds scissors are bonsai tools used to trim buds, leaves and small branches. Small blades mean that trimming can be precise and can be well controlled. The wire cutters that are made just for bonsai are a lot sharper and more precise a tool than standard wire cutters. The provide a cleaner better cut near branches. The blades can avoid cutting into the limbs or branches being wired through the smaller nipping mouth of the wire cutter.

Additional Bonsai Tools

Other bonsai tools are the knob cutter and the root hook. Protruding stubs are cut away by using a knob cutter which better shapes the surface of the branch or trunk. It can also be used to shape the roots and other calloused parts of the tree to make it more presentable. The root hook on the other hand is used to untangle roots when repotting the bonsai. Such types of tools for your bonsai save a mega amount of hassle when needed.

The root cutters and saw are other bonsai tools necessary to cut and prune the roots and to shape the tree into whatever for you wish. Using bonsai tools will make the job of developing a great looking tree easier in the longer term. Sometimes you might want to use ordinary tools, which can also be used for other repairs or maintenance work to save money. This is understandable and all you have to be is careful since bonsai tools are smaller more capable of precision cuts compared to the bigger tools.

For more free aticles on bonsai tool kits, bonsai tree tools for Japanese bonsai and tools for your minuature tree please visit The Bonsai Tree Guru.

Grown from seeds or cuttings, Bonsai trees usually grow in height from two inches to three feet.  Through pruning both roots and branches bonsai trees are kept miniture in size.  They’re also repotted periodically, and new growth is often pinched off. 

Growing and cultivating bonsai trees is actually as much about art as it is about horticulture.  Bonsai trees are not only kept miniture, they are also formed into pleasing shapes.  They frequently follow a number of different patterns of growth, from simple triangles to waterfall shapes cascading down over their pots.  The shapes are usually a product of both the pruning of the tree and by the wrapping the trunk and branches with wire, shaping the tree into its desired form.  The pots themselves are part of the art as well, chosen to compliment the shape and color of the tree itself.  Rocks and mosses are frequently added to the base for aesthetic appeal. 

Taking care of a bonsai tree is more complicated than taking care of most houseplants.  Since the bonsai has has a smaller root system than most plants, it needs fertilizer and water more often than the majority of garden-variety houseplants.  Pruining is also essential occasionally, since the bonsai tree would grow into just a normal big tree without pruning.  Also, if wire is used to help mold and form the tree, it is important to take care that the wire doesn’t dig into the bark of the tree, scarring the branches permanently.  Depending on the type of bonsai tree and your climate, you may be able to keep some bonsai trees outside year round, while others will need to be kept inside for at least part of the year.  Since moisture in the soil, branches, and leaves of the bonsai is important, they need to be misted occasionally if they are to develop healthily.