when is too big not a bonsai?

[aussiedamo]

sorry guys i should mention that my pot is actually about 500mm deep!
so once potted in a large drum pot it would probably be about 1.3ish sorry guys......
damo

[SimonL]

Yeah, technically that would be considered a 'dwarf' variety of the species, not a bonsai. But, who cares. If you get the same enjoyment out of it.

[bodhidharma]

This is in Peter Chans book. I guess this is BIG.

[Mitchell]

I guess it is different for everyone, but my brain can only recognise something as bonsai if it has proportionally structure/height to a larger tree. In effect I can still see a reduced tree in massive stock, as long as my brain can cognate a vision of it as a massive tree. I maybe living in a dream world as though my brain can invisage it, as its massive tree equivilant, that sized tree may not even exist.

[Rhiannon]

Personally for me, when a bonsai gets above a meter I start thinking of it as less bonsai and more as a tree. If the tree is as tall as me it looses what I like most in a bonsai - the fact that it looks like a miniature version of the real thing.

But it really would depend on the species of tree, wouldn't it?

A shrub as a 1m bonsai would basically be a tree in a pot to me. But a Euc or pine that grows to 60/70/+ m tall is quite significantly reduced as a 1m tree, isn't it?

[JayP]

not touching this one!!

[chrisatrocky]

A BONSAI: is a tree in a container/pot which has been trained and grown using the art of bonsai. That is the a simple definition of a bonsai. There is no mention of size. every one prosumes a bonsai has to be small because its a tree in a pot and because most bonsai are small.
Why cant you have a 2mtr JBP in a large pot and it be a bonsai or even bigger. its only the logistics which stop the size of bonsai, for 1 you wouldn't be taking it to too many bonsai shows and 2 it would be very hard to repot. every one has heard of 2man bonsai, 4 man bonsai, well what's wrong with a forklift bonsai not laugh I've seen 1 of them.

chris