There's a new beginner's bonsai book on the market: "Ortho's All
About Bonsai."
Meredith Pub. 124 pages. Pub. 2004. $14.95.

I bought it and as usual when I get a new book on bonsai, read it
from cover to cover to see what's there. The upshot:
Worthwhile, but spotty. In third or fourth place in the
beginner's bonsai book category.

There are some nice trees pictured and there are some VERY
amateurish trees pictured; many are hugely overpotted, and only
once did the caption to the photo make note of that. The section
on soil is poor; the illustrations on soil even poorer since it
appears that common houseplant "potting soil" is being used --
complete with vermiculite. In a couple of places the text says
"a" and the illustration says "b," most obviously in
Chamaecyparis where the text says "Do not use . . . for the broom
style" IMMEDIATELY adjacent to a 3/4-page picture of the tree as
a broom.

All that said, it covers many things well, especially pruning and
"problem solving" on insects and diseases. The "Bonsai Plant
Profiles" also are details and well done (though, again, the
pictures often don't do the species justice). Bonsai tools and
their uses are explained nicely. Seasonal care is thorough, but
generic.

Bonsai Today (#91) raved about a beginner's book called "Pocket
Bonsai" and gave the Sunset book a good review, too. I have seen
but not read "Pocket Bonsai" but I like the Sunset book a lot.
These 3 books are all priced the same (~$15 USA); given MY
druthers, and assuming for some reason I couldn't afford all of
them, I'd spend MY $15 on the Sunset book, but beginners probably
would benefit from owning them all as well as one of Herb
Gustafson's books.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

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