2. Choosing the Right Bonsai Pot Selecting the right pot is an essential step in growing a Pine bonsai tree. The pot should be shallow, with a depth of no more than two-thirds the height of the tree.

At 390 years old, the Japanese white pine was already notable as the oldest specimen in the bonsai collection at Washington, D.C.'s National Arboretum.

Harold Sasaki wants to dispel some myths about bonsai: that they’re hard to grow, for example. “Most often, a bonsai dies because of lack of light,” he says. “So maybe you just put it in the wrong ...