The Art of Flowering Bonsai

Rating:
Summary: Detail oriented and does a great job of explaining all facts
Review: I have read many books on Bonsai from various sources. This one gave me very detailed explanations on specific trees/plants. Lot of details and pictures. This is not one of those books with a bunch of good pictures and little details. Well worth the purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Great 'how-to'
Review: Put this one in the category of a good 'hands-on' guide to bonsai, almost like having a master looking over your shoulder. The book offeres specific advice on care & pitfalls of ten popular species -- which is great -- but the part I value the most is the author's use of examples in showing how to create and re-design bonsai specimens.

He often begins either with carefully-selected nursery trees or with commercially produced pre-bonsai trees. This way, he tends to start with mature trunks and roots, and some branching. This is probably the best way to go when seeking to create a truly good bonsai specimen within a few years.

If you like this book, you'll probably also like Gustafson's "Bonsai Workshop," which has been particularly helpful to me with conifers, and which uses a similar project-related approach.

I'd put this book on my short list for any bonsai library, and would have given it five stars had it been longer and more detailed with general bonsai information. But fortunately, the information not found in "The Art of Flowering Bonsai" can easily be found elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A very informative book indeed
Review: This is a very comprehensive book - looking very well into flowering bonsai in general and then going fantastically into 10 specific plants - and how to make them and maintain them as bonsai. It analyses the Japanese flowering apricot, satsuki and kurume azaleas, cotoneaster, firethorn (pycanthra), crab apple, white and red hawthorn, deciduous holly, pomegranite, quince and wisteria.