A bonsai is usually designed to have a front. It may be viewed from other sides as well, but the front will be the “best” side. Branches should show through the foliage in the front of the tree. The branches should also be positioned so that they grow sideways and slightly towards the viewer, with some branches in back that grow away from the viewer and slightly sideways. This creates a natural feel while still giving an artistically pleasing result.

    Pots are chosen to compliment the tree. A tall tree will look better in a wide pot, a sweeping tree may be best grown in a long pot, while a cascading tree will need a tall pot. Muted colors are often used – greys, browns, and shades of grey-blue or grey-green. The color is chosen to work with the tree’s bark and foliage without detracting from the tree’s own effect. If you look at enough bonsai, or photos of bonsai, you will develop a sense of how the pots can balance the tree in an aesthetically pleasing way.

    Bonsai can also be classified into general categories according to the shapes into which they are trained. Many books state that the first five listed here are the “main” styles.

The formal upright style looks like it sounds. The trunk is very straight and the branches are placed in groups of three (facing rightish, leftish, and to the back of the design.) Roots that are showing should also be balanced around the tree. The lowest branch in each group of three should face the same direction.

The informal upright style also has a vertical trunk, but it can have zigs and zags. The branch placement is not so rigidly defined.

The slanting style has a more or less straight trunk, but it is placed at a forty-five degree angle so that the tree appears to be leaning over. The lowest branch will face the opposite direction from the direction the tree is leaning, in order to balance the appearance of the tree. Other branches may face either direction and towards the back of the tree.

A tree in the semi-cascade style leans over the edge of the pot and grows horizontally and gently downward. The tip of the tree does not grow downward enough to be level with the bottom of the pot; in fact, it may only dip a few inches below the top of the pot. The lowest branches (those closest to the soil) should grow back towards the base of the trunk to balance the design, forming what is called a “head.” However, these branches do not have to be right above the pot – they can be two-thirds of the way towards the tip of the tree. The base of the trunk and the buttress roots should be very sturdy-looking. Semi-cascade bonsai are usually planted in medium to tall pots.

A full cascade bonsai will be similar to a semi-cascade, but more so. The tip of the tree may easily grow down past the bottom of the pot, so these trees are frequently grown in tall or very tall containers, which are then placed on small pedestal stands. The tree may or may not have a head to balance the design. Effective full cascade designs are often very sharply zig-zagged.

A broom style results in a sillhouette like a child’s drawing of a tree. This is most often done with deciduous bonsai.

The windswept bonsai has all of its living branches facing the same direction. This creates the effect of a tree that grew in a very windy place. Windswept styling can be applied to formal or informal upright, slanting, or semi-cascade trees. If the tree is a slanting or semi-cascade, the branches will face will face the same direction as the tree is leaning.

In the exposed root style, the tree may appear to be standing on its own roots like stilts. The roots are grown downward, then the soil is removed. The effect is similar to a tree that grew in a stream bank which is rapidly eroding.

Literati style bonsai have very long trunks, which are straight or bent, and a small amount of foliage at the very tip. A good literati is said to be difficult to create.

    Bonsai can also be grown with their roots placed over rocks, or rocks can be used to hold the soil in which the tree is growing.

    In addition, bonsai with more than one trunk can be grown. Two trunks, joined at the very base, can be very effective. A clump of trees sharing the same trunk at the base can also be attractive if they all have similar height-width ratios. Raft style bonsai are groups of trees all joined by the root system. They can be achieved by layering the branches of the first tree. The other method is to growing the whole group at once: A large branch is cut in half and laid into the soil so that the cut edge can root, but the branches point out of the soil and become the new trees. There are also various other ways to grow multiple-tree bonsai landscapes.