I guess the Juniper Bonsai Tree is the most famous of all bonsai. This is the one people will see in their head when they hear someone talk about bonsai. The Chinese Juniper tree (Juniperus Chinensis) is native to northeast Asia, Mongolia, China, Japan and Korea. In real life it can reach a height of 20 meters.

The Juniper bonsai can be grown as an indoor bonsai tree as well as an outdoor bonsai, though it prefers to be outdoors.

A Chinese Juniper in the wild….

As a bonsai it would look something like this. (Aaah… that one!)

A Chinese Juniper as a bonsai…

That’s got Karate kid written all over it!

What about losing leaves?

The Juniper Bonsai tree is an evergreen tree meaning it will not lose any leaves (or needles) during winter time. During its younger years the needles are sharplike and when the tree gets older the sharp needles transform into a more blunt type of needle.

Chinese Juniper foliage in close-up….

The needle-like leaves are light green to blue-green depending on what type of species exactly the tree is, there are over 50 species around. The branches can be easily styled to any sort of bonsai form.

Picking the fruits…

Most Junipers will grow berries, some of which are used is cooking as a spice. Also, the berries are used to flavor gin. In Dutch gin is called ‘genever’ or ‘jenever’, which is derived from… Juniper!

Juniper berries in close-up….

Where to put it?

A juniper bonsai tree needs at least 4 hours of sunlight daily, so when placed indoors make sure it gets enough of this and put it in a place where the sunlight can reach the tree. Poor humidity and not enough light will kill the juniper tree, but over watering it will cause root rotting.

Juniper bonsai trees also need a dormancy period, sort of like hibernation. The tree needs this to get back to strength.

Technorati Tags: Chinese Juniper, juniper bonsai tree, Juniperus Chinensis

An indoor bonsai tree is a plant that is grown and shaped so that it looks like a fully grown tree, just like the ones you would see in a forest. This is actually quite amazing. It’s like a miniature version of a fully grown tree.

Most of the time when people see a bonsai tree for the first time, they will see an ordinary plant in a little pot, but think about it, you’re actually looking at an fully grown tree! One that would have been like 20-30 meters high in a real world situation except now this tree is miniaturized. Some people even make complete forests of bonsai trees. Really cool!

What type of plants are they made form? Well, almost every plant can be grown into cool looking indoor bonsai tree, but some are more preferred than others. Why? Some plants let themselves be maintained better and are better suited for the environments in which bonsai is typically displayed. The Japanese Maple Bonsai, the Chinese Elm and  the Chinese Juniper are some of the well known plants great to be used indoors. More on this later.

This site is mostly focussing on the indoor bonsai tree. What’s the difference with an outdoor bonsai tree you ask? The indoor bonsai are bonsai which have been cultivated for the indoor environment. In tradition bonsai trees are temperate climate trees grown in containers, but kept outdoors (hence the name). If one would take such a tree and place it indoors, the tree will die because of the environment in a home. There are a number of species that will grow indoors and thus are suitable for an indoor bonsai tree. Most of the time an indoor tree will keep its leaves all year round and stay ‘evergreen’. Which of course is nice when you have visitors!

Beginners often choose an indoor tree, but are disappointed when the tree dies. An indoor bonsai tree needs more caring then its outdoor brother. When cared for in a good way is is definitely possible to have great looking trees to your family and friends! Like all hobbies, it takes time and patience to get to know the subject. Eventually it will pay off and the “oohs” and “aahs” will soon follow!

Technorati Tags: Chinese Elm, Chinese Juniper, Indoor Bonsai Tree, Japanese Maple Bonsai, outdoor bonsai