Bonsai involves the use of numerous miniaturization techniques that include:
– Pruning and wiring brunches,
– Pinching buds, and
– Careful restriction of fertilizer (without negatively impacting health and growth).

Typically, a bonsai tree’s height is restricted to under 4 feet (approximately a meter). It is not to mean that bonsai are genetically dwarfed trees. However, plants with smaller leaves make the composition of dwarf plants a tad easier to design.

Any plant can be used to create a bonsai as long it meets the criteria:
– It must have a woody trunk or stem,
– Grow actual branches,
– It can be successfully grown in a container that restricts its roots/food storage capacity and capability, and
– Has reducible or smaller leaves.

Look at the trees, hedges, bushes, and thickets around you, whether at your local park, in your yard, planted in nurseries, or thriving wild. They are all starter materials. When carefully selecting and collecting the plant during appropriate dormant or growing seasons, you can start your composition easily. For native plants, you can grow outdoors. When you choose plants that thrive in tropical climates, you will have to give your bonsai some protection from the elements prevalent in temperate zones.