The formal upright Bonsai is a type of Bonsai style. These miniature trees can styled to pretty much anything you like however there are many 'base' styles that you might like to choose from. The formal upright Bonsai style is one such style.
So just what is a formal upright Bonsai? Well, let's take a look.
The formal upright seeks to recreate the 'king of the forest' but on a Bonsai scale... aka very small. This is the appeal of these formal trees. Think of a tree that towers upwards into the sky and will fall over before it gets a bend in it's trunk.
Pines and junipers make excellent formal upright Bonsai.
This type of tree usually starts with a wide base. This tapers upwards towards the top of the tree where it finishes in a point. This gives the illusion of height (and that's something that we are aiming for here). Furthering the illusion of height, typically the branches and foliage do not begin until about 2/5ths or 1/3rd of the way up the tree. When the branches do appear, you will find that the most pleasing to the eye appearance is the tree which has alternating branches, one to the left, one to the right etc etc. Goes up the tree like that.
The foliage is thick and luscious. Regardless of the tree you are using, the foliage clumps at the end of the trunks and again adds to that illusion of height, something that we are really aiming for in the formal upright Bonsai.
You can add other things to the bottom of your tree to add to the imaginary landscape. Perhaps a small bench. You could even add a swing off your tree. A small sign. Remember that anything that you add to the bottom of your tree will have to match the scale of your tree. This could be the deciding factor for the height and illusion that your tree is creating.
As always, make sure that you get some inspiration for your Bonsai by heading out into nature (or at least onto Flickr...) to see some examples of the styling of trees that you want to create. You will find that there are many styles and illusions that you can create with the formal upright Bonsai style.
I like this style a lot, and I'm sure you will too.