I know a bigger obstacle, and that’s convincing you air heads this is a bonsai as you clearly are rookies

Finnbonsai wrote: I know a bigger obstacle, and that’s convincing you air heads this is a bonsai as you clearly are rookies

Calling airheads to people here with hundreds of - real - Bonsai in hand and decades spent in this art is quite... well you know what it is.

why do some people find mallsai so attractive lmfao

Finnbonsai wrote: I know a bigger obstacle, and that’s convincing you air heads this is a bonsai as you clearly are rookies

There is no need for the ad hominum here. Have a look at a few of these pictures, all of similar species to yours... and ask yourself if you see a difference.
Beyond that... your tree has a typical s shaped trunk. How many trees have you seen in nature that have similar trunk shape? While we try to make art out of what nature gives us, and some bonsai trunk shapes may not directly be found in nature, the s shape most definitely is not.

I would also suggest looking up the japanese term wabi sabi for reference... as it is one of the governing principles of bonsai art. And while a true artist knows how to break the rules, when it serves an asthetic purpose, he also understands the rules at their core...

sorry about the personal pronoun he in the previous post. I did not mean only men are artists... growing up at a time when that pronoun was used to mean anybody has made me a bit slower to change.

Another analogy: oragami is a japanese art that involves folded paper. but taking any piece of paper an folding it in half or in half twice does not make it art.

One last thought... don't let the fact that your tree is not bonsai discourage you. I have trees that are not bonsai, and will more than likely never be bonsai... but I enjoy trying to make them into better looking trees, and it helps me with the better trees that I have. Have a look at the courses offered here... they may help with pruning etc. I have found them to be great references with repotting and some species.

"Any plant in a pot" is sort of broad. Tomato's in a large pot on the porch? Well, no. A bonsai ought to be woody, something that looks sort of like a tree out in the forest, sort of, and the older looking the better. The smaller the pot the better. Whether you say that the mallsais in some of the pictures here are very poor bonsais or not at all is a matter of taste, I think.

Ivan Mann wrote: The smaller the pot the better. Whether you say that the mallsais in some of the pictures here are very poor bonsais or not at all is a matter of taste, I think.

how is this true? the smaller the pot the better? The pot should somehow fit the tree and it's size... as well as color and shape. Some trees need a larger pot, and some don't.

Just because a plant is woody and in a pot does not make it bonsai, even if the store, bonsai Center, or other such place labels it as such.

So, this Bonsai no good? : ))

Woody is necessary but not sufficient. A three inch maple seedling with no visible roots in a pot two feet across is probably not a bonsai by anybody's definition. Add visible roots structure it still isn't. Shrink the pot an inch at a time, and somewhere before a half inch most would agree it is. It seems we make allowances for flowering species.

Chinese tend to have larger trees, I think. I have a picture somewhere of my wife and daughter-in-law standing under a bougainvillea in a pot about five feet by three on a stand eight feet tall, cascading down, full of flowers. Bonsai? Take your pick on the answer. Would I like to have it in the backyard? Absolutely. Would you reject it because it is too big? Your call.

Well, maybe I would prefer for you to reject it so we wouldn't fight over who gets it......