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One of my favorite species for bonsai is Cotoneaster. The tiny leaves are dark, glossy green, they bear minute pink-white flowers in spring and the bright red berries stay on the plant from late summer right through the winter. Some varieties, like horizontaiis, which are deciduous, giving the added bonus of autumn golds and reds. The growth is symmetrical and entirely predictable, producing a herring-bone pattern of branches and twigs - ideal for bonsai training into almost any style.

Garden centre plants tend to be well fed and watered but they live fairly close together. This encourages long, vigorous shoots which to use to create a cascade style.

Because it is against the tree’s nature to grow downwards it will channel more energy to the crown at the expense of the tip of the cascade. To compensate for this you should select a vigorous branch for the cascade and keep the top well thinned out. Spray foliar feed on the lower parts regularly and only use a soil fertilizer sparingly.

It is quite common for extreme cascades to be laid on their backs for much of the time and only to be stood upright for watering. This can also help counter the tree’s compulsion to grow upwards, but it does have disadvantages. The pot may not drain too well in this position and the leaves will turn to face the light, so they look odd when the bonsai is the right way up. It takes a day or two for the leaves to re-adjust to their normal position.