We Build The LEGO Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree

Alongside the pretty build itself, the instruction booklet provides some nice background information on the tree. It states that the Japanese red maple is native to Japan, China, and Korea, and while it's a tree that grows slowly, its colors really flourish in spring and autumn. It can even live for over a century, giving people plenty of time to take in its beautiful colors.

Whether you're buying for an experienced LEGO builder or someone who's brand new to the hobby, the LEGO Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree is a nice fit for all ability levels. It comes with six bags that make up the green plant pot, the trunk of the tree, and the colorful leaves.

Starting from the bottom of the display, the first bag is focused around building the Japanese red maple's plant pot. There's 36 steps in this process, which provide the pot with a sturdy build that has smooth, rounded edges for a clean look. I think the color of the pot is a great choice as well. The dark green is a nice contrast to the bright orange and red coloring of the leaves.

It's from here that you start to build upward. Bag two focuses on filling out the base of the plant pot, constructing the trunk of the tree, and adding a couple of branches with some of those colorful leaves. The base of the plant pot features a variety of LEGO pieces in different shades of green, adding a bit more shading and texture around where the tree's trunk will be. From here, the trunk is built separately and fitted into the middle.

With the trunk fitted in place, the next steps are to build out the branches. As seen in the photo above, the first big branch jutting from the main tree breaks off into separate sections: one twig points up, while the other splits into a Y shape, with each end featuring a ball joint. These will eventually hold two sets of leaves, allowing you to move them around to find a good position for them later on.

Speaking of leaves, these are next on the agenda, and they have a really nice layering to them. Starting with the lighter orange leaves at the bottom, they are built up to feature darker red leaves on top which makes for a great gradient across them. There are three different sets of leaves that are pieced together and placed on both the two grey ball joints of the Y-branch and the branch pointing upward.

Before filling out the rest of the branches, the third bag provides more pieces to afix to the base of the model. These mainly focus around the trunk of the tree and add some more roots at the base. This is a nice way to add a little extra texture around it. With that done, you'll then focus on building out more branches around the tree. Bags four, five, and six largely focus on the remaining branches and leaves, so you'll find a lot of familiar patterns as you piece the rest of it together.

Once you've fitted the last set of leaves to the very top of the tree, the final product will look like the photo below. Again, this is a really lovely display with some beautiful coloring on the leaves. I absolutely love the gradient effect as the leaves transition from the lighter orange color at the bottom into the darker red near the top. It may be summer right now, but this set has me itching for fall colors already.

Per LEGO's website, this set measures over 9.5 in. (24 cm) high, 8.5 in. (22 cm) wide and 10 in. (26 cm) deep once finished. It's a really great option to set up on a bookshelf, table, desk, or any other surface around your home or office that needs a little splash of color. This set only took a couple of hours to finish, too, so if you're looking for a simple and sweet build to add to your collection this year, I think the LEGO Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree is well worth picking up.

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Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.