Stands are not an essential part of bonsai, but they do serve to display your tree to best advantage. When a tree is brought into the house, placing it on a stand or mat will show it off to better advantage. When displayed in a show, a stand or mat is an essential piece of the display. Finer trees deserve to be shown on nice stands, though it is clear that none of us who have substantial collections of trees will own all of the different types and sizes of stands to show all of our trees to best advantage. The Japanese and Chinese stands shown here are nice stands that will complement nice trees. The more plain Japanese stand is more appropriate to rugged-looking, masculine conifers while the more ornate Chinese stand is more appropriate for displaying a flowering tree or a tree having a more feminine style. These fine stands can be expensive, but mores simple stands can be quite effective for displaying trees. The four shown here include a simple home-made stand, a traditional curved wood stand, a relatively modern design and a stand routed from a single piece of wood. Stands for cascade trees will generally be taller than normal stands to let the tree flow down below the base of the pot. When displaying the small shohin or mame trees, multiple stands are often employed. The big stand to the left is designed to show multiple small trees. Each individual tree in the display has its own small stand. The entire display is set off by being placed on a very simple goza mat stand as a base. There is a small slab under the companion plant. Smaller, simple stands are available from some kitchen stores like Bed Bath and Beyond where they are sold as cheese or fruit boards. Boards with small feet that have been designed for serving sushi in upscale restaurants are particularly nice. Recently, boards composed of plies of bamboo have become available as serve quite nicely for small trees. Getting even more simple, bamboo place mats can be used to set off displays. These mats are available from Pier One, and larger sizes are available from several sources online It is possible to purchase goza mats (goza mats are the visible outside layer of tatami mats) from Asian stores. These may be used to make stands by cutting them to the desired size, mounting them on plywood, and framing them. The frames are usually either black or a blond natural wood. One goza mat will make many stands of various sizes. Finally, accent plants and other small pieces can be displayed on burl slabs or even slices of trees. The first of these is a manzanita root and the scond is a maple burl that I affectionately refer to as my “boar burl.” (You can even confirm that he is a boar.)