If you are interested in bonsai, you have a long but enjoyable task ahead of you – to research the best bonsai for you and your home, to acquire it, and to tend it – probably for the rest of your life! Bonsai trees, if properly cared for, can live for hundreds of years. How beautiful it is to hand down a living legacy of beauty from generation to generation.

When you look at bonsai – from the standard “chokkan” or “upright” style to the “fukinagashi” or “windswept” style to the “ishitzuki” or “rock-dweller,” you will see the results of hours upon hours, and indeed years upon years of work.

How can you possibly design such a beautiful tree yourself?

According to the experts, design sense is not “innate.” In other words, you don’t have to be born with the talent. By looking at dozens of bonsai trees – whether in person in Japanese gardens or in the many books on the subject, you will get an idea of what you want to do for yourself.

It is also important to not be too ambitious. Always begin with young trees (unless you’re growing your tree from a seed), and practice, practice, practice.

There are many topics of bonsai that it is necessary to research. Most people in the West merely want a nicely designed tree that is suitable for their climate and has certain leaf colors and flower or fruit specifications. But there is a bit more symbolism in Japanese bonsai. (Just as there is symbolism in western flowers, that most lay people don’t know about.)

Bonsai trees are divided into four types, depending on why they are being grown, aesthetically speaking.

Shohaku – evergreens.
Zouki – deciduous – for the changing of the leaves during the seasons.
Hanamono – for the flowers.
Mimono – for the fruit

Before you decide on the kind of bonsai tree you are going to grow, you have to decide what kind of design you are going to use. Many trees are used in bonsai, but each one is suitable for a different kind of style. If you try to train the wrong kind of tree into an unsuitable shape, you’ll end up killing the tree or growing an unattractive specimen.

Straight trunk – Chokkan style
Trees suitable for this style – perhaps the easiest of all styles – are evergreens such as the Japanese white and the Japanese black pine, juniper, and hemlock. On the deciduous side you can try gingko, beech, or r larch.

Curved trunk – Myogi style
This style is suitable for practically all evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. The most popular include pine, spruce, cherry and azalea.

Slanting – Shakan style
Experts suggest the pines, junipers and larches fity this style well.

Windwswept – Fukinagashi style
Experts suggest pines and junipers for this style.

Cascade and semi-cascade – Kengai and han-kengai

Literati – Bumjin-gi style
Traditionally, juniper, spruce and pine are used in this elegant style.

Broom – Hokidachi style
This style is best suited to deciduous trees such as ginkgos, Japanese gray-bark elms and Japanese maple.

Sinuous or root linked – Netsuranari
Plants suited for this style are five-needle pine, needle juniper, beech and flowering quince.

Raised root – Neagari style
Many plants can grow in the raised root style, including black pine, white pine, and serissa.

There are many different styles of bonsai, I have listed just a few above. But each of these different styles has a different symbolism, as you can tell simply from looking at the bonsai itself.

The straight trunk, for example, is based on the ideal: a healthy tree growing in an open field without crowding. The slanting style, on the other hand, is meant to evoke a natural tree that is leaning or toppling because of strong winds, or a storm. The windswept style is meant to evoke thoughts of a tree on a mountain peak, whipped by strong winds, and so on.

The pot or container in which the bonsai is placed is as important as the design of the tree itself. The containers should always have feet, allowing them to be raised up to make drainage easier. Also, a bonsai tree is never centered in the pot…typically the tree is placed at the rear of the pot. Pots with dull earth colors are usually best, although more colorful pots can serve their purpose. Whatever you do, don’t use a pot that has glazing within, since this can prevent the roots from adhering to the sized of

Bonsai, pronounced bone-sigh, can be defined by breaking the word into two parts – bon, meaning tray, and sai, which means tree. Bonsai is a tree planted in a tray, also called a living miniature tree that increases in beauty and value as it matures over the years. There are many different styles of bonsai, including formal upright, informal upright, cascade, semi-cascade, raft, and literati. Bonsai trees range in size from miniature, small, medium, to average, and can either be small-flowered or small-fruit, but there are only two main types – indoor and outdoor. Even though there are two main types, there are still many different varieties. Having some knowledge about the indoor and outdoor bonsai will hopefully help you in choosing what is best for your lifestyle and enjoyment.

Probably the easiest types of bonsai trees to grow indoors, which requires about the same amount of care of a house plant, would be the tropical and subtropical trees. These trees should be in a location where they can get morning sun and afternoon shade. Some bonsai will survive in full sun, but it is best to use caution if you are uncertain whether your tree will be able to take the full sun or not. The indoor bonsai can also be set outdoors in late spring and summer, then brought back indoors in the fall when nighttime temperatures drop below 55 degrees.

The best type of bonsai trees that can be used indoors include Hawaiian umbrella trees, ficus, and baby jade, just to name a few. These trees are great for the beginner or as a gift to a boss or coworker. Other varieties of indoor bonsai trees, including sago palms, serissa, fukien tea, schefflera, aralias, money tree, brush cherry, bougainvillea, gardenias, and some elms are also easily adapted to most homes. The other types of bonsai trees are the outdoor species, which fall into two categories – evergreen trees such as junipers and pines, and deciduous trees such as maples, ginko, and elms. Evergreen bonsai trees maintain their foliage throughout the seasons. With this type of bonsai trees, you would find junipers, boxwoods, azaleas, and most pines. The Juniper is the most popular bonsai tree because of its good looks and its excellent ability to be trained. Most evergreen bonsai require a winter dormancy period, or rest period in order to maintain their ongoing health. Generally, during this dormancy period the bonsai would show a dull green or yellowish tint to the foliage.

Deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves in the fall and go into a dormant stage, but will re-bud in the springtime. Some of these types of bonsai trees include maple, larch, crabapple, apricot, hornbeam, gingko, and many elm species. One of the more challenging outdoor trees includes the Japanese maple. These types are known for their spring and fall foliage color changes, which typically range from yellow to oranges to deep reds. Keep in mind that deciduous bonsai go dormant in the winter, thereby not being suitable for growing indoors unless they are placed in a garage, near a cool window sill, or even in a shed. They require water every few days and fertilizer every few weeks but not too much sunlight during the winter months.

Some of the more mature and larger bonsai trees include the one of a kind and Aged Specimen, which make excellent gifts for bonsai enthusiasts, Other excellent types of bonsai trees for the outdoors include the Japanese juniper, Chinese elm, Chinese fringe flower, azaleas, Japanese red maple, blue moss cypress, star cypress, soft touch holly, and flowering. Remember that all outdoor bonsai trees must be treated with respect. They should always be properly protected in the winter to guard against freezing. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you use plastic humidity trays with a layer of pebbles kept in water for both interior and exterior bonsai. With this, each type of bonsai tree would be provided the necessary humidity. The beauty and elegance of bonsai trees is quite a work of art. As lives become busier and people have less time to garden, the opportunity to grow and train miniature trees is exciting and satisfying.

Gail Sheehy

I know it’s hard for you
To understand what I’m going through
But now I sit here to remind myself
You’re always dressed to kill
And you feel like you owe it to the world
But you owe it to yourself
And you’re, you’re not here
And I can’t stop pretending
That you’re forever mine…
And I
I can’t dream anymore since you left
I miss you singing me to sleep
I can’t wake anymore in your arms
I miss you singing me to sleep
Cheer up my friends all say
You’re better alone anyways
But you’re always on tour
And you’re never home
I’m always dressed to kill
And I feel like I owe it to the world
But I owe it to myself
And you’re, you’re not here
And I can’t stop pretending
That you’re forever mine…
And I
I can’t dream anymore since you left
I miss you singing me to sleep
I can’t wake anymore in your arms
I miss you singing me to sleep
Cheer up my friends all say…
And I can’t stop pretending
That you’re forever mine
You’re better alone anyways
And you’re not here, not here
I can’t dream anymore since you left
I miss you singing me to sleep
I can’t wake anymore in your arms
I miss you singing me to sleep
Cheer up my friends all say…

A cup of drip brewed coffee has about 115 milligrams of caffeine, an espresso (and percolated coffee) about 80mg, while instant coffee has about 65mg of caffeine. Decaffeinated coffee is not totally caffeine free, containing about 3mg of caffeine. A can of Coca-Cola has about 23mg of caffeine, Pepsi Cola 25mg, Mountain Dew 37mg, and TAB 31mg. Tea has about 40mg of caffeine, while an ounce of chocolate contains about 20mg.

The first Espresso machine was introduced in 1822 by the French, but it was the Italians who perfected and distributed it.

Coffee business

Coffee is the world’s most popular stimulant: 4 out of 5 Americans drink it, consuming more than 400 million cups a day. Consumption in Scandinavian countries is more than 12kg (26lb) per capita. With more than 25 million people employed in the industry, coffee is second only to oil in world trade.

Although coffee is believed to have been grown near the Red Sea since the 7th century, an Arabian author of the 15th century, Shehabeddin Ben, wrote that Ethiopians enjoyed coffee ever since anyone could remember. By the 16th centuries, coffee plants were found throughout the Yemen region of Arabia. After a Turkish ambassador introduced it to the court of Louis XIV in 1669, Europeans quickly acquired a taste for it. A few years later, the Dutch introduced coffee into Java. In 1714, the Frenchman Desclieux planted a single cutting of a coffee tree on the island of Martinique. Plantations soon grew from French Guiana to Brazil and Central America. Today, coffee is planted in moist regions around the world.

Instant coffee was invented in 1906 by Mr. G. Washington, an Englishman living in Guatemala.

Coffee is the seed of a cherry from the tree genus Coffea, a tree yielding about 1kg (2lb) of coffee per year. There are more than 25 species of coffee, the 3 main commercial types being Robusta, Liberia and Arabica, the latter representing 70% of total production. It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.

Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines. Ironically, caffeine withdrawal also is one of the most common causes of headaches. Women who drink 2 or more cups of coffee a day also have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis. This, however, can be offset by drinking milk or yoghurt to replace the lost calcium. Most studies have found that high caffeine consumption impairs fertility, and taken during pregnancy may cause premature or defected birth.

Caffeine is removed from coffee by treating the green beans with chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents. Instant coffee is prepared by mixing ground and roasted coffee with hot water. The water is then evaporated by spray dryers and high pressure, leaving only the coffee powder. In some coffee products, coffee is replaced with chicory (a wildflower herb), fig, date, malt, or barley, remotely resembling real coffee.

Caffeine is known medically as trimethylxanthine, and the chemical formula is C8H10N4O2.

Cappuccino
The word “cappuccino” comes from the 16th century Capuchin order of friars, whose hoods were called cappuccinos. A cappuccino is a coffee topped with steamed milk.

Barista
A barista is an expert in the preparation of espresso-based coffee drinks.

The small cup in which an espresso (sometimes referred to as expresso) is served is called a demitasse