Bonsai Forests and Groups 

My imagination goes wild with these mini forests. Thanks for doing this video, it's inspired me I can do it to.

Can't afford to missed any single word coming out from his mouth... Priceless knowledge!

Peter chan is a wonerful teacher .he has explained so nicely in simple manner.

I never get tired of watching you work on the forests Peter.

Peter's explanations of techniques is invaluable. I now have some idea of what I am trying to achieve. Thank you Pete;r keep the videos coming

He is such a great teacher and just watching his videos is therapeutic. It is funny to watch him manhandle the plants though. The sign of a true master is that kind of confidence.

This is a man who loves his funds exist in this hobby to talking about #s and imperfect trees . It's comparable to a real gun guy vs the range fudds. Both find the beauty in. Imperfections and dings and types because that's the beauty of it

I could listen to this gentleman talk about composition of these forests all day long. How can you argue with his logic? Masterful.

Heron's forest are asewone!!!!! Love Heron's videos. Really Thank you for your time and interest!!!!!!!!!!!

Started with bonsai 2 years ago, and learned a lot by watching you videos ! This year i'm going to try to air-layer some trees, and hopefully make a beautyful forrest out of it.

I'm a Finn and just gotten to the bonsai world with my sparse few chilis, scheffleras, ficuses and collected trees from Lapland. I collected Larch cones in the autumn and the winter (wanted to try different methods of propagating) and am about to put the seeds to soil. Hope I do well. You inspire me, shifu. I love forests above all, so this video was quite to the point. Thank you so much for your advises with the "do not count" (who will count the amount of trees in a forest) and the potting varieties you will and should try. Cheers , keep making these videos - love 'em

I find Peter's delivery calming, sensitive and encouraging. Such a good teacher. Thank you

Very interesting and informative video! And, I'm not surprised to see Mr. Chan hanging out with the Queen.

I love the grass on the forests. I don’t know if that was intentional but, it still looks very good

it was john naka that said when styling bonsai make sure you leave spaces in between the branches for bird to fly through.

If I ever make it to the UK, I will certainly love to visit Herons nursery! Thank you Peter!!!

Nice way of teaching Very happy to see ur video Thanks alot

Thank you for your videos Peter. I'm a big fan of your work.

What an incredible experience to learn from you, like a true genius you are so great at explaining and sharing what you have learned so well. Thank you.

great Peter, your videos are always very interesting

I went on a bit of a tangent because I really like your approach to certain traditions like the odd number rule and I think it's a nice learning opportunity about traditions overall. The rule is also found in things like bouquetry, certain but as you say - it's often rubbish, especially in larger sets, and shouldn't be treated dogmatically. Alas, that's how traditions work, you don't really think what their origins are, just that it's a thing, so most people will either become dogmatic "purists", or reject traditions altogether and scoff at any traditional wisdom. Few actually evaluate these things and decide on this basis. I have a funny story as an example - in Ukraine one of the trees was traditionally believed to protect from the lightning strikes. Originally it was most likely because it tends to grow really tall and straight (compared to the typical fruit trees you'd see in a village), and to this day these trees always grow in the outskirts only, always the tallest and straightest in the area. However because the traditional belief didn't explain what or how it's supposed to protect you, people started believing you're supposed to hide under these trees during a storm. I can only imagine how many people died as a result over the centuries! I have two nice Japan related cases too, although it's about reenactment so not truly traditional in this regard, but also about traditional martial arts. In medieval Japan fabric was generally made in panels of relatively standardised size, due to the size of looms. It was generally then sewn together without cutting, with dimensions of garments being similar across the board. The thing is - medieval Japanese people were much smaller than, for example, an average American, especially an overnourished one. So now you see American and European reenactors wearing kosode which looks comically short, because they use XIV-XVII century Japanese dimensions, instead of resizing it based on wearer's dimensions to have the right proportions! A similar thing happened to swords, over time the evolution of the katana (developed from larger, usually more curved tachi, these words btw in period Japanese are often used interchangeably, even in mid-Edo), from the size to the way it's carried - was dictated purely by the need for an easy draw one could strike from immediately (it's even in the etymology) because there was a need for a self-defence weapon which could double as a sidearm for a foot soldier. This, in combination with smaller dimensions of a Japanese person of that era, lead to swords of a really short length compared to not just two handed swords of other cultures (or even older Japanese designs meant as cavalry weapons), but even many single-handed swords and sabers (not to mention rapiers and such, that's an extreme). So now we have 190cm-2m tall kendo competitors and other Japanese martial arts enthusiasts (often with wide shoulders and big bellies) using 80cm swords in two hands, which doesn't just look really funny and disproportional, but actually hampers their performance (there's an opposite trend in European MA, where short people buy maximum allowed length of rapiers and longswords and can't even ward themselves correctly because "longer blade=longer reach=better in tournaments"). It's actually similar for the Japanese because they're also much taller, with longer limbs, than their ancestors, so the martial art school developed in 1650-1700 isn't actually fully applicable if they use a weapon lighter and shorter in relation to their body than it would be for the master. I cna also assure you that no 1,8m jacked samurai of the old would order a standard size sword, it's in fact a common trope across the globe that big people carried bigger weapons!

Nice work Peter and happy bonsai greetings from Indonesia

I have 20 dawn redwood seedlings I started in January. Maybe in two or three months they will be good to repot. Going to try a few Forests with some. Forest compositions are beautiful.

What a tree Beautifull form of that bonsai gruping

The Acer palmatum forest is pretty cool

watches one video, buys 10 larch from ebay

For some reason I like the oval pots. The rectangles make it look like trees in a box.

That's beautiful

Peter, many thanks for your fantastic videos. I have started to create a larch forest as well. Would be very nice to see more of your forest plantings - especially the fixing of all the trees in the training pot. For beginners it is quite challenging to manage a big amount of trees without wires etc. Can you show us the final planting of many trees to a great forest in one training pot? Many thanks in advance. Greets from Hamburg, Germany.

Thank you ! 👍👍🙏🙏

Great video. You are a very talented educator. I am learning a lot about bonsai. I am a novice about to retire. I know how to spend time having fun with Bonsaii and propagating my own plants.Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and leaving a legacy. Hoping to visit your nursery one day.

Dear Peter Chan, I really appreciate to see a more free style of possible forests. The look and feel, the proportion and balance are more important than numbers . By the way your books are very interesting to read and are very usefull! Best regards, Jean-Pierre

Great video, Master¡¡¡¡

I just want to say I agree with you 100% I love your outlook on bonsai I learned a lot from you thank you keep making these awesome videos and I agree it doesn't matter what other people think if you think the trees are beautiful that's all that matters

It made me smile at 9.55. Unfortunately, the world is full of so-called experts who talk the talk.

i have learned some tips from your vdo thanks'

Sir...Please make a video on Chinese Elm

'Birds flying through the branches' John Naka

Love his style. With other instructions and reads, one gets really anxious about pruning, shaping and the like. I'm more couraged to try things now.

Спасибо

Love Peter's video's but those darned planes get on my wick!! I couldn't live anywhere near an airport!!! :o :(

I’ve just found this channel and I swear I love this man:)

Thank you so much Sir, I was thinking of making a forest group and this video of yours has been a great help to me. Thank you once again for making the concept so clear.

Great video, as always!

My first attempt at forest planting with overgrown pots left in the yard.

My understanding of why odd numbers are preferred is a little different and relates to visual perception. The mind will naturally try to find patterns and partition objects into equal groups. If it can’t do that then the result looks more disordered and therefore natural. Prime numbers would therefore be the ideal. 3, 5 and 7 are primes. 9 is not prime, but by then there’s too many for the eye to partition. 6 for example can be partitioned into 2 groups of 3 or 3 groups of 2 and will therefore look less natural.

Hello Mr. Chan, say I've been thinking about getting into bonsai; but, you see I've noticed there's one particularity to the art, and that is it takes a very long time for you to see the result of your work. As a 24 year old, what do you recommend I do to stop thinking about how long it will take and more about enjoying the process?

It is so much easier wiring 2 branches with one wire. Thank you for that.

i could honestly sit/work with this man for a long time, enjoying each others company and listen to him telling storys and what to do with any sort of bonsai. Being an understudy to him would be a remarkable thing, you would learn SO much .. That would be worth getting up in the morning for

My next project! just need to decide on which type of tree to choose?🤔🤔🤔.

At 25 min. That grouping splayed out would look amazing on a nice big rock. Just a boulder shape not flat. Very cool stuff

Excellent video. Interesting take on the numbers, odd or even, and very much inclined to agree with you. Also the way you set them up is very interesting indeed. I'm inspired! :)

Very beautiful videos sir..the way you explain is super so, that everyone can learn and do on his own beautiful bonsais... thank very much for your patience and methods you teach

Peter you mentioned that you added trees to the forest group. Could you do a video on how to do this please.

I always learn so much

I really curious what the prise is of such beauty.... Can anyone help??

Peter, will you wire maple forest when you first establish them?

"look how easy these plants are to separate" stands on one tree, pulling the other, struggling with all his strength, ripping roots. Lol

i have heard that the chinese used to make miniature landscapes and forrests and the japanese took this method and did it with just one tree... like they did with chinese clothing and calling them kimono.

I just think all those planes are flying over the nursery just to look at the bonsai.

You know he does this because he HAS to, not because he wants to. Like a painter or a musician. I could watch his videos all day. Stupid job.....

Is it taboo to make integrated forests, with different varieties of trees?

Thankyou for the informative video, very inspiring..

hey people and possibly peters of the comments section, I am very new to bonsai and I'm not familiar with many terms like deciduous and nebari, would anyone with some spare time be kind enough to leave some definitions to common terms used in bonsai, thank you !

Excellent video and very timely. I have 10 America larch I plan to use in a forest and they just started popping those little green buds.My maple seedlings which are only a year old will take a couple more years to fatten up before they go in a forest too. Thanks for doing these videos.

Each tree in the forest needs to develop a taper?

Excellent video Master, im learning alot with you

You are brilliant, smart, creative and wonderful. You are a great teacher I wish I knew you personally and then you would be my teacher. I cannot thank you enough for your teaching videos they are a great help to me in learning the correct way of creating bonsai. Thank you again, sincerely, Phil😍🥇👍

The way u handle roots is very harsh.. and i love it.. ❤️

U r so gud with ur plants.. u cut them.. tore them.. beat them.. but u love them so much.. so they become artpeice magically..❤️

Can you grow Larch from cuttings?

hello Peter you are a great master, another video with amazing content, I wish I could grow maples down here in Costa Rica

Fantastic video Peter. I'm putting some forests together at the weekend with a friend. You've given me some great ideas. Thank you.

great video peter.im hoping to visit your nursery this year.greetings from dublin

Absolutely wonderful teaching through stories and examples...thank you so much!

I would love to see 'a day in the life' at the nursery.

Excelent video. Thank you!!!

Nice info! They remind me of how Nandinas naturally grow/look. 🍁

I have learned so much from your videos, thank you for another winner! I have always loved the forest grouping, looking to create one that is full of autumn colors.

I love how he treats the forest trees so naturalistically.

Your bonsai trees look awesome makes me want to make a cannabis bonsai

Most that I like about the forests are the Conifers wired ,I was verry interesting how you make them , Your a great Artist !

Thank you for all the information!!!

Learn lots of things from your videos. Thank you very much.

I enjoyed this video tremendously-thanks Herons Bonsai ‼️

I'd like to buy say 10 larches from you, do you do a deal? I can't find anything on website

Goshin is hands down my favorite bonsai.

Good info. Thanks. You must hear the snip of scissors in your sleep.

Greetings from Chile thanks for you're knowledge

Can anybody tell me which variety of cryptomeria Peter shows us at 6.40? They're absolutely gorgeous.

Do you sell fake-slate like the one you show in this video?

how much for this beauty shipped to California?

i agree, he was most certainly incorrect..lol......This!...is what i hope to start..today......i have several maples which grew wild from seed last year, that i just dug up from the yard and flower beds....one must have hidden in the vines running up the porch and has be a few years old as it has a thicker trunk & a lovely little crown of branches, but, is not as tall as the others...still..i am placing it in the centre of the basin with a special granite rock and the younger ones around it......my hope..is to re-create a sense of the forest that surrounded my home on the mountain....in miniature. Fascinating to know what the number four means!..i learned to count and speak a few phrases in Chinese in karate class, Tang So Do...but had no idea the number was unlucky! i am a Native woman in the usa, near Canada..4 is a sacred number to us..it represents the four directions, and several other good things...interesting! Thank You

Which plants it is? Kindly tellme

13:00 4, or shi in Japanese also means death.

Great video Peter, Could you tell me a beginners tree that produces tear drop leaves?

I agree with your opinion on tree numbers. If there are enough trees that the eye can not instantly perceive how many trees there are, if someone has to stand there and count to come to the conclusion that the group is "bad", he is not making an aesthetic, i.e. artistic assessment; he is doing math. In any case, bonsai are supposed to be representations of nature, and as far as I know, trees can't count.

Anyone know what type of soil he uses? All my bonsai soil is rock type with great drainage but I don’t think it’s good enough?

Fantastic video where can I get your books I am from Australia

It's funny that just as you said you can almost see birds flitting around in the branches, I was getting ready to type in a comment that you should build some little nests to indicate birds and squirrels and so forth in the branches.