Many people have a bonsai story: a first bonsai, a struggling bonsai. And many of these stories do not end happily, at least for the bonsai.

But the very best bonsai stories are about passion and beauty and transformation.

“A dewdrop hanging for a split-second – that is bonsai,” said Julian Velasco, the curator of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s bonsai collection and C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum. “It’s very Zen-like. It’s awesome.”

For Velasco, who nurtures more than 350 bonsai trees at the botanic garden – one of the larger and older bonsai collections on public display outside Japan – it all started with a bonsai he purchased as a young man at a street fair in San Francisco.

“Pretty quickly … I knew it would be a lifelong path,” he said.

Bonsai is horticulture, art, philosophy and even a way of life in the form of a single tree, lovingly pruned and trained to exist in a small pot so that it reflects the majesty of the natural environment, he explained.

“When you see the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, you are taking in the emotion of the place as much as the visual image,” and bonsai is about that emotion, he said. It is the haiku of the tree world.

Steve Alford is president of the Pikes Peak Bonsai Society, which meets on the second Saturday of each month. His mother started the club in 1987 and introduced him to the hobby.

“It’s fun to make that young tree look like an old tree,” said Alford, who has about 100 bonsai. “You don’t want just a tree in a pot. You want it to look like it’s from nature and it’s 100 years old. That’s the goal of bonsai. And being a living art form, it constantly changes. Every couple of years, you have to redo it and get it back to looking like an old tree.”

Luckily for beginners who have not yet attained a level of oneness with their new bonsai, learning to nurture a bonsai never has been easier. Expert help, once found only in Japan or China, is now more readily available at bonsai clubs and shops around the world.

Bonsai, Japanese for “planted in a tray,” originated in China in around 200 A.D., and the art spread several hundred years later to Japan. The art of bonsai was introduced to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and at least one of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden bonsai trees is more than 200 years old.

Although Velasco said the ultimate goal is to “open your heart to the tree,” he has a few more practical tips for novices.

The first is to choose a variety of tree suited to your environment. Bonsai are trees or shrubs, and most varieties should be grown outside, where they require a period of dormancy in winter.

For most people, however, who want to grow their bonsai indoors or keep them outdoors only in warmer months, tropical varieties such as the ficus or Australian brush cherry, with its interesting flower and bark, are good choices. Another good option, particularly for people with access to an outdoor growing space, is Chinese elm, which is adaptable and also can be grown indoors.

In addition to selecting the right variety, beginners need to understand bonsai stress and watering, Velasco said.

“A lot of times people bring home a bonsai and it drops its leaves and looks unwell. It’s just stressed out. It needs time to adjust, and a little patience,” he explained.

“Monitor the water very carefully. Without leaves it won’t need as much water. Hold off on water until the soil dries out. And little by little, when you hold off on water, buds will start to appear. And as that starts to happen, the need for water will start to increase.”

As for pruning, allow the tree to grow five to seven leaves before pruning it back by about two leaves of the new growth, Velasco said.

“Only prune what’s actively growing. Trees need to grow to be happy and healthy,” he said.

“If you’re on top of your game, the tree will repay you by being healthy and beautiful. Just try to appreciate what the bonsai is trying to express to you.”

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The Gazette’s Jennifer Mulson contributed to this story