Bonsai is the Japanese art form, but the word is also used to cover any practice of growing very small trees in containers. Unlike dwarf plants, which are genetically small, bonsai uses ‘normal’ trees and cultivates them to keep them small. The containers in which bonsai trees are grown limit the expansion of their root system and place a cap on the amount of nutrients available to them, limiting their growth above the pot. Rigorous pruning and artificial shaping helps them mimic the shape of much bigger trees, resulting in living miniatures.