# Is it possible to have a bonsai rainforest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765 "2003-03-20T07:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![quarrossimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@quarrossimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quarrossimo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/1 "2003-03-20T07:56:39Z")
All I know about bonsai is that it is the art of growing miniature versions of big trees. Is it possible to grow a whole miniature rainforest? If yes, has it been tried? If no, why not? I’ve a tiny backyard and it’s waiting… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/2 "2003-03-20T08:16:49Z")
I imagine the amount of work needed to cultivate enough trees, coupled with the fact that a rainforest is just as much about the undergrowth (which can’t be made in _bonsai_) would make it almost impossible. Cool idea though. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/3 "2003-03-20T08:19:18Z")
Please grow one and post pics! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![quarrossimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@quarrossimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quarrossimo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/4 "2003-03-20T09:14:55Z")
Tristan - Why can’t the undergrowth be bonsai’d? (sorry if that’s a stupid question, but I thought you could bonsai any plant) Violet - Sure I’ll post pics - even if my “bonsai rainforest” has only one tree! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/5 "2003-03-20T09:29:08Z")
Do you even know what a rainforest is? What is your definition? ---
**Author:** ![quarrossimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@quarrossimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quarrossimo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/6 "2003-03-20T10:20:50Z")
“A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 2.5 meters (100 inches).” Got that off [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) However, I did have a rough idea of what a rainforest is even before that, given that I have spent a considerable time working in the sholas of the Western Ghats. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/7 "2003-03-20T10:24:51Z")
Here’s a bonsai [cypress forest](http://www.bonsaiweb.com/show/showtree.php?1372), for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/8 "2003-03-20T11:03:14Z")
Well, I just don’t think you could make the mosses, shrubs and other undergrowth plants in _bonsai_. I could be wrong. I don’t know much about the art. ---
**Author:** ![quarrossimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@quarrossimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quarrossimo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/9 "2003-03-20T11:06:50Z")
Yeah - looks like it. I’ve just been Googling away and the biggest bonsai “forest” I came across has all of seven trees in it. And they do seem to be doing it only to trees. Well, there goes my backyard bonsai rainforest! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/10 "2003-03-20T11:26:45Z")
Quite a lot of rainforest plants have very large leaves; this alone makes them rather unsuitable for bonsai, but in addition, it would be quite hard to prune and maintain the whole thing if it consists of multiple dense layers. There might also be a problem with the lower layers receiving enough light (things don’t all scale down at the same rate). Probably the best you could hope for is a _faux_ rainforest, creating the layered canopy effect with ordinary non-rainforest species, maybe including some miniature ferns and mosses too… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bonsai-rainforest/162765/11 "2003-03-20T15:17:25Z")
On high windswept mountain peaks in the tropics one can find a stunted form of cloud forest called “elfin forest,” in which the trees may be quite short (but not as short as the usual bonsais.)