Buttonwood Bonsai

 Training A Buttonwood Bonsai Tree

There is a time honored tradition that was once reserved for eastern royalty that has gradually become more and more popular here in the western world over the last hundred years or so. That time honored tradition is called the art of bonsai. Bonsai is the art of taking regular trees and training and pruning them so that they not only stay miniature sized, but also so that they grow into the loveliest of shapes that are as lovely as they are unusual. One of the most popular types of bonsai tree is the buttonwood bonsai. These sweet little evergreen trees are relatively simple to care for once they have been properly trained. It is that training process that we want to cover here.

Getting The Right Supplies

When training a buttonwood bonsai, the most important thing is to make sure that you have all the tools necessary to do so. You will need shears and clippers in several different sizes, wire to hold the branches in place, and at least one pair of needle nosed pliers (although we recommend getting several different sizes before training a buttonwood bonsai). You should also have several different sizes of containers for your buttonwood bonsai readily available, as the tree will need to be transplanted several times as the root ball gets bigger.

Training Your Buttonwood

Training your buttonwood bonsai is the hardest part of bonsai care. Once you have planted your tree in special bonsai soil, you will need to use several different weights of wire to wrap your branches with. This wire can then be twisted to make each branch take on a different shape. If this is your first time training a buttonwood bonsai, you should head to your local library to pick up a few books on bonsai trees so that you can get an idea of what you want your tree to look like.

You will need to carefully prune off any unwanted branches that don’t fit into the overall scheme of the way you want your buttonwood bonsai to look. This is one of the most important parts of training a buttonwood bonsai, as new growth will need to be pruned off daily. This is especially important as it will help your new buttonwood bonsai to keep its shape; and forgetting to prune regularly will result in a tree that looks misshapen.

The buttonwood bonsai is a great tree to have in your home, and will provide you and countless generations of your family with enjoyable beauty if properly cared for. There are many classes available for you to learn the proper techniques for training your buttonwood bonsai if you don’t feel comfortable going it alone. Talk to your local home and garden center to see if they can recommend a good class for you to join.