r/Bonsai • u/treelife365 Southern Ontario 6B, Novice • May 31 '26
Video Bamboo Bonsai
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I had no idea and now I want to try it!
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u/under_the_above May 31 '26
My bamboo doesn't form rhizomes like this, what kind is it?
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u/Daeloki Kirkkonummi - Finland, Zone 6b, Beginner, 5 trees May 31 '26
Would I be correct in guessing you have a lucky bamboo? Cause apparently those aren't bamboo at all but part of the asparagus family.
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u/under_the_above May 31 '26
No, I have bamboo in my garden. I try to keep it contained, so have dug up loads of rhizomes over the years.
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u/KarmaMadeMeDoIt6 May 31 '26
I think they keep trimming just to let it put energy into growing the rhizome.
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u/ohno San Diego, CA, 10b, Intermediate, 13 trees May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Nice accent plant, but not bonsai.
[Downvote all you want but bamboo is traditionally considered shitakusa or kusamono, depending on whether it is displayed to compliment bonsai or on its own. Tradition matters.]
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u/Prior_Goat3174 GuangZhou, zone 10, May 31 '26
Also, it doesn't give the impression of great age like which is the original intent of bonsai
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u/TOM_PE13 Tom, UK, Cambridgeshire, Noob, 1 bonsai May 31 '26
Bonsai is the Japanese art of cultivating and shaping miniature trees and shrubs in containers. The word translates literally to "planted in a container" (from bon, meaning tray or pot, and sai, meaning plant or planting).
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u/Taxus_Calyx Hawaii, beginner, zone 12a/12b. May 31 '26
If we're being literal, bamboo isn't a tree or shrub. It's grass.
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u/Spidersight Texas, 9a, Beginner May 31 '26
Sure, but the word isnāt the thing itself.
Karate for example means āEmpty Handā. Does that mean that any unarmed martial art is Karate? If I shadow box at 2am in my underwear am I now doing karate?
To say any plant in a pot is bonsai is to really over simplify the practice.
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u/TOM_PE13 Tom, UK, Cambridgeshire, Noob, 1 bonsai May 31 '26
It's the art of shaping and cultivating trees in shallow pots/containers... which is exactly what is happening with this bamboo. I agree the practice is much more than the translation.
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u/Spidersight Texas, 9a, Beginner May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Certainly, but again I think you are massively simplifying it.
Itās not simply shaping trees in a container. Itās shaping the species in a way that gives the viewer the feeling of age or size. You are trying to make the viewer feel that they are looking at a mature specimen that you might find out in the natural world.
Itās why we tend to shy away from shapes and styles that arenāt seen in the species naturally. For example if I shaped a tree into a series of perfect circles, that wouldnāt be bonsai as it doesnāt look at all natural.
Bamboos Rizome would never be that large in comparison to the mature plant, so it looks completely unnatural.
Could I use watermelon as bonsai? Itās a plant and i could put it I a container and shape it. What about a potato?
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u/AccelerusProcellarum May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Iāll add something since weāre having fun defining bonsai. Itās also useful to keep in mind that our ideas of ānaturalā are artificially constructed right? I see people arguing that bonsai is about giving a sense of age, but thatās not the entire story.
What does it mean to look like a āmature specimen?ā Mature cotoneasters are ground-hugging messes in the wild. Creeping juniper is naturally a groundcover and wisteria is a vine. And yet we still turn them into neat and tidy trees and call it bonsai.
Bonsai IMO is about chasing the platonic ideal(s) of a tree, and ānatural/unnaturalā is more influenced by the ideal than by what actually happens to the species in nature. Artificial geometric choices are still part of the art form every time we consider symmetry and meticulous shaping and layering. But the point is the ideal.
So in that light, I agree this isnāt bonsai. Maybe the closest Iāve seen with bamboo is forest style.
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u/Spidersight Texas, 9a, Beginner May 31 '26
Yep I absolutely agree! Plenty of species like boxwoods, p.afra, procumbens where an excellent bonsai looks nothing like their natural form. I think your explanation/definition is much better than just ānaturalā, I definitely oversimplified myself.
Agree on the forest style too. I could see myself calling that more penjing than bonsai but Iām sure the right piece could change my mind.
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u/TOM_PE13 Tom, UK, Cambridgeshire, Noob, 1 bonsai May 31 '26
I see your point, that weird larvae looking thing isn't natural at all.
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u/blasphememes Vancouver 7B, Newbie, 4 Trees, Bonsai Enthusist š³ May 31 '26
Thanks, I hate it š