What to give as a gift? This is a question that haunts everyone at some point in the year. Whether you are looking for a unique gift idea as a house warming gift or something that would be of interest to a gardener. It is always hard to come up with something that is new or no one has thought of.

This is where bonsai trees really out perform other gift ideas. Buying one of these tiny trees for someone is a very thoughtful idea, especially as a retirement present for someone that loves to be out in their garden. The winter months are especially hard for these types of people. Bonsai trees give them a artistic way to show their craft throughout the year. You can even buy outdoor bonsai trees.

I really believe you will enjoy giving one of these living ornaments as a gift as much as the person receiving it will enjoy it for many years. For the elderly this is a very good gift idea in that they are not heavy not do they require you to be bending a lot to take car of them. The pruning tools are large enough to fit in anyone’s hands with out casing discomfort.

There are three main species or varieties that most people buy, Juniper bonsai trees, flowering and deciduous for outdoor use.

The learning curve for pruning and shaping bonsai trees is actually quite simple. With the right tools anyone can get expect great results even beginners. These trees can live for over 100 years if properly maintained, which is also a pretty cool idea if you wanted to keep one in the family as a heirloom.

These gifts would go very well in a living room, office or even in the kitchen area as a home accent or accessory to you other home dcor. They are small enough that the pots that you grow them in are just the right size to fit on a coffee or end table. If you wanted to get really into it you can add a bonsai waterfall or place it on a display table that is designed just for this purpose to fit your bonsai pot.

These are also unique gift ideas for someone that is into yoga or meditation principles. You can sit for hours just looking at the intricate design of the branches and leaves. Bonsais have a calming effect when someone is looking at them. If you are fortunate enough to get a flowering tree that also has a fragrance you are lucky.

Another idea is to give one of these as a baby gift for a new mom. In your card you could explain that it is a gift that the child will take with them one day when they move out of the nest. This would let them take a very sentimental gift with them that they would cherish into their adult years, (a memory from mom sort of thing) come on be honest that would bring tears to your eyes wouldn’t it. It’s kind of the same idea as planting a tree in the yard when a child is born, the difference being they get to take it with them when they grow up.

If you are thinking of buying one of these unique gift ideas I would strongly recommend that you buy one from a reputable nurseryman that specializes in growing these trees and one that knows how to ship these with care.

By Bev Dodd 

 
Unique Gift Ideas to Surprise Your Loved Ones
Make a green statement.

Gifts for Valentines
How do you get the perfect Valentine gift?  

Gifts That Bloom ~ Bonsai Tree Garden
Enjoy the ancient Asian art of miniature gardening.

Technorati Tags: bonsai, bonsai for sale, Bonsai Gift, bonsai sale, bonsai supply, bonsai tool set, bonsai tree care instructions, bonsai tree for sale, bonzi tree, buy bonsai tree, Order bonsai, w, wholesale bonsai

History of Bonsai

Bonsai trees have been documented to exist up to 4,000 years ago everywhere from parts of Asia to Africa. The trees were originally grown in China, but then caravans started to export the trees elsewhere such as Egypt where healers would use them to produce medicines. Some were even buried in tombs with royalty.

The original art of bonsai is thought to have started in China, where it was referred to as ‘penzai’ before being adapted by the Japanese. Only royalty and nobility first enjoyed bonsai trees, but then in the Edo period the art form was opened up to people of all social classes.

The Art of Bonsai

Pruning bonsai trees is very difficult and takes many years of practice to perfect. Not only does a gardener have to grow the tree properly but they must also know how to prune the branches and roots to keep the bonsai trees small and healthy. This care is part of the philosophy behind bonsai trees in that they bring together three forces: Truth, essence and beauty, or, in Japanese, ’shin-zen-bi’.

When pruning bonsai trees, the Japanese ideal is to prune them in a way that does not show any kind of intervention from outside forces. The tree must always look as though it grew completely naturally with no help. On the other hand, Chinese pruning tends to be much more artistic, as gardeners grow their trees and cut them into intricate shapes and designs such as into Chinese characters or even images of animals and dragons.

Common Kinds of Bonsai

Bonsai trees come in many different forms and varieties. The formal upright tree is one of the most common, distinguished by its balanced branches and a trunk that tapers. The sister variety is one which bends and curves, leading to more variety in how it can be displayed as pleasing to the eye.

These trees can be found all over now, with growers in every corner of the globe and collections and gardens to visit in many countries including Australia, Belgium, Montral, Canada, China, Germany and many more places in the United States and Asia. If you are interested in learning the fine art of bonsai trees, visit one of these gardens and see the kind of large-scale beauty that can come from such a small creation.

Bonsai Tree Care

Today, bonsai care has become a very popular hobby for some who maintain the spiritual connection with nature. If that sounds like you, here are there are five basic techniques in providing bonsai care.

Water and Bonsai

Bonsai trees are planted in limited amounts of unique bonsai soil. This combination necessitates that bonsai care include a frequency in the number of times watered. There are two methods that can be used to determine the dampness of the soil; one method uses a water meter that will indicate the dampness of the soil and will help to determine whether water needs to be added.

Or, by simply inserting your finger into the soil, up to the first joint, you can feel if the soil is moist or dry. If the soil is dry, add enough water to cause the water to escape from the drainage hole of the pot. Bonsai care also requires an increase in watering during the summer months and less watering during the winter months. It is also important to remember to keep the roots of the tree dry.

Soil Nutrients and Fertilizing

Bonsai care includes the nurturing of the soil in the spring and fall season. This nurturing should include the introduction of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid into the soil. The health of your indoor bonsai tree is also dependent upon fertilization. Bonsai care should include scheduled fertilization twice a month during the spring months. Additionally, fertilization should happen once a month in later fall and through winter.

Sunlight and Bonsai

Depending on the needs of your specific tree, bonsai care requires that the tree receive some direct sunlight. If this is not possible your choice of tree should be based on the limited availability of light, or, alternatively, the bonsai tree can be placed outdoors to receive its daily dose of Vitamin D. One cautionary note regarding sunlight: limit exposure if your tree has been recently placed into new soil or has been trimmed substantially.

Copyright 2006 Michael Saville

How To Grow Bonsai - The 12 Amazing Styles
This is your one stop all for …  

3 Tips On Taking Care Of Bonsai Trees
3 Tips On Taking Care Of A …  

Japanese Wisteria Bonsai Tree
Japanese Wisteria Bonsai

Bonsai Care
What is Bonsai Video

Technorati Tags: bonsai, bonsai for sale, Bonsai Gift, bonsai sale, bonsai supply, bonsai tool set, bonsai tree care instructions, bonsai tree for sale, bonzi tree, buy bonsai tree, Order bonsai, w, wholesale bonsai

You will need a small pair of sharp scissors as well as a larger pair. You will need wire to shape your branches and fine wire cutters. A small set of garden shears and a large set of garden shears just about completes the set however as you throw yourself more and more into Bonsai (once you’ve got the bug there will be no stopping you) you will probably want to consider purchasing slightly more specialist Bonsai tools including miniature Bonsai rakes and root combs. Don’t panic though, the price tag size matches the tool size and most are very affordable.

Where can I get Bonsai supplies?

Bonsai is becoming increasingly popular around the world and no matter where you live there is a good chance that you aren’t too far away from a Bonsai shop. Many garden centres and nurseries now also stock the tools you need and if you’re still struggling or if you like to shop from the comfort of your own home the Internet is literally awash with suppliers of everything you could need from compost to rakes with everything in between.

My best word of advice here is to find out exactly what you want and then shop around. Visit your local stores and have a look on the Internet. Always try to build up a relationship with whomever you are buying from in case you ever need that vital piece of advice that can mean the difference between a small, brown conifer and a beautiful Bonsai masterpiece.

As well as the essential tools and specific Bonsai equipment and compost you can buy decorative figurines, ornate pots and just about any other addition you could possibly imagine. The Internet provides you with the world’s largest marketplace for any items you may want so you aren’t at all restricted to the items you can buy at your local plant store so whether your needs are for manufactured, good quality and affordable equipment to hand thrown pots you will have no problem finding what you are looking for.

By: Andrew Green

Bonsai supplies…make or break?
Using good quality supplies…  

What you need to know about bonsai supplies
When the hobbyist’s has succ…  

Go get your bonsai supplies
Gardening is one hobby that an…  

Technorati Tags: bonsai, bonsai for sale, Bonsai Gift, bonsai sale, bonsai supply, bonsai tool set, bonsai tree care instructions, bonsai tree for sale, bonzi tree, buy bonsai tree, Order bonsai, w, wholesale bonsai

Pruning & Cutting Tools
Pruning and cutting tools are used for any cutting that is too heavy to be performed with scisssors.

Concave Branch Cutter: These are heavy duty cutters designed similar to bolt cutters. They are used to cleanly and smoothly remove fair sized branches.

Spherical Knob Cutters: Are similar to the branch cutter except the cutting piece is spherical. These are designed to cut through heavy knobs or knots.

Folding Pruning Saw: This is a small rough cut saw that with a blade that folds back into the handle similar to a pocket knife. They are used for cutting very heavy branches or when you need to cut down the trunk of your bonsai tree.

Shears: You use shears for many different medium to light cutting jobs.

Woodworking Gouges: Gouges are used for multiple artistic purposes in bonsai. They are frequently used to remove bark or to score the trunk to simulate natural damage to a tree.

Scissors
Scissors are a staple tool for all bonsai enthusiast, they come in various shapes and sizes to handle various jobs.

Leaf Cutting Scissors: Just as the name implies these are used mainly for light work like pruning back or removing leaves. 

Shoot Trimming Scissors: These are a heavier set of scissors designed for cut small to mid-sized shoots or branches.

Heavy Duty Shoot Scissors: These are an even heavier pair of scissors designed for all the shoots that are too large for the regular shoot scissors but too small for a pruner.

Potting Tools
The pot that you keep your bonsai in is very important for both it’s health and proper development. Bonsai need frequent re-potting and root modification. These are the tools most useful for those tasks.

Root Hooks: These are used to seperate the root ball into a more managable form for trimming and pruning. They are a heavy wire bent at one end and usually sharpened to a fair point.

Potting Trowel: This is just a small garden trowl that will be used to dig and manipulate the soil in your bonsai pot.

Soil Scoops: Are small metal or plastic cups with a handle and the open end is cut into a scoop shape. They are used to remove or add soil to the pot.

Brush: Soft brushes are used to lightly clean and maintain the trunk, branches and leaves of the bonsai.

Wire Tools
Wires are frequently used to train the bonsai plant into the proper artistic form. There are a multitude of tools used to work with wire most of these are available at any hardware or automotive store.

Common Wire Snips: These are common wire snips that are frequently used by electricians, they should be heavy enough to handle any of the aluminumum wire used for bonsai.

Heavy Duty Wire Snips : These are just a heavier version of the snips listed above that might be needed if you are working with some heavier than average wire.

Pliers: Common house hold pliers are used for bending and twisting the wire into the proper shape and position.

Needle Nose Pliers: These are pliers that come to a fine point and are useful for working in tight confines around the trunk and branches.

Miscellenous Tools
Some general tools that do not fit in any of the other categories.

Chop Sticks: These are perfect for tamping and working the soil down around the roots of the tree.

Gardeners Knife: This is handy for many of the heavy non-delicate cutting you have to do.

Rake: A small rake just like a garden or yard rake except in miniature is used to clean and maintain the surface of the soil.

Tweezers: Tweezers are often necessary to work around the limited space on many bonsai.

By: Steve W

Bonsai Tools For Beginners
The use of special bonsai t…  

Guide to Bonsai Tools
To practice the art of Bons…  

How to Maintain your Basic Bonsai Tools
You need to use the right b…  

Basic Bonsai Tools And How To Give Proper Care For Them
There are many bonsai tools…   

Technorati Tags: bonsai, bonsai for sale, Bonsai Gift, bonsai sale, bonsai supply, bonsai tool set, bonsai tree care instructions, bonsai tree for sale, bonzi tree, buy bonsai tree, Order bonsai, w, wholesale bonsai

There are a few basic bonsai tools that you need and a pair of scissors is necessary but remember that the scissors used for cutting bonsai branches and roots is different from ordinary one. The pair of scissors is designed carefully to suit the use on bonsai and will not cause damages to the plant even when you are pruning and cutting the branches.

Next on the line is the branch cutter that will be very useful in cutting off small branches. The branch cutter will come in useful when you are developing the bonsai plant from shrubs or an older bonsai plant when the pair of scissors will not suffice.

Other essential bonsai tools in the grooming of healthy and beautiful bonsais are the concave pruner. This sort of tool will result in shearing of branches to heal in double quick time than just an ordinary garden scissors. To aid precision cutting, concave pruner is a relevant bonsai tool.

In the event that you need to trim small branches, buds and leaves, bud scissors is very useful as their blades are small enough to control it and assist in trimming closely. For bonsai wire cutters, the difference between them and those normal one are that it is smaller with pointed edges to shear the branches with precision. The design is done in such a way that the nip of the wire cutters will not remove the branches that are wired as they so small that you can easily trim them.

There are also the root hook and the knob cutter with the knob cutter being use to get rid of outwardly projected stubs or wood in order to shape the trunk the way you like it. Besides that, you can form the root and the roughest parts of the trunk to whatever shapes that you can envision. Root hook is especially useful to untangle roots when repotting. In addition to, the root cutter and saw form an essential part of the bonsai tools kit as they will make the pruning of the roots more easily as well as forming of the bonsai plants.

As bonsai tools will ease the process of cultivating a healthy plant, it is vital that you take care of your bonsai tools so as to prolong their life as well as saving you lots of headaches. When bonsai tools rusted and blunt, you will expend more effort in pruning and shaping the bonsai plant and the end result will not be as good. Therefore proper care is essential so as not to have to replace tools frequently.

Bonsai tools are a necessity in the cultivation of healthy and beautiful bonsai and with lesser effort. Do not scrimp when it comes to choosing the basic bonsai tools that will enable more accurate and precise cutting and shaping of the bonsai trees.

By: Cindy Heller

 
In Search of the Best Gardening Tools
Different kinds of gardens req…  

A Beginners Guide To Bonsai Tools
Buds scissors are bonsai to…  

Why Do You Need To Have Bonsai Tools?
Bonsai trees are the mi…  

Bonsai Tree Tools
One important tool is t… 

Technorati Tags: bonsai, bonsai for sale, Bonsai Gift, bonsai sale, bonsai supply, bonsai tool set, bonsai tree care instructions, bonsai tree for sale, bonzi tree, buy bonsai tree, Order bonsai, w, wholesale bonsai

Please contact me at  admin@orderbonsai.com!

We will reply to all messages as soon as possible.

Technorati Tags: contact us

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and at every point where personally identifiable information may be requested.

Our Commitment To Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our Commitment To Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 18, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 18. Under our Terms of Service, children under 18 are no allowed to access our service.

Collection of Personal Information

On visiting this site, the IP address used to access the site will be logged along with the dates and times of access. This information is purely used to analyse trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Importantly, IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Links to third party websites

We have included links on this site for your reference. We are not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites.

lterations to this Privacy Statement

The content of this statement may be altered at any time.

Have a question? Just contact me at admin@orderbonsai.com!

Technorati Tags: privacy policy

Here you will find helpful reviews, informative information and tips and much more. This site is in the format of a ‘weblog’ so that each time we post new information, it will come to the top of the front page. This means that you can check back here frequently to see new updates to the information found here.

You can navigate through the site by using the menus on the sides of the page. Also don’t hesitate to follow the links you see in bold throughout each post to learn more about the product being spoken about.

We hope you find the information we provide valuable and helpful.

Technorati Tags: about us