beginner

That’s right, mallsai! You have seen them everywhere. Gravel topped little junipers in generic pots sold out of parking lots, shopping centers, garden centers. People who might be interested in bonsai buy them, kill them, and never give bonsai another thought. This Is A Problem. Why? Bonsai...

Hello! It just happened... as it always does. Been out shopping for a bargain on some cute used pots. When I arrived at the doorstep I was greeted by two lovely elderly people that immediately took me to their nice garden and presented me with an oak tree in way too big of a pot. They said...

H, I'm looking for help with my new bonsai journey. I have a couple of Junipers I picked up from the nursery and I'm looking to style them but I wanted some help. If there are people in the yucca valley, CA area or close by that would be awesome to hear back from you.

Hello friends! My name is Max and I started my bonsai hobby at the beginning of this summer in early June! I started with hours and hours and hours of research as well as talking to someone at my local nursery who has also been in the hobby for a while. The books I have been referencing the...

Hi Everyone, After a trip to the National Bonsai Museum in DC I have been inspired enough to give this hobby a try! I've read a couple books and done a fair bit of research, but haven't actually purchased my first trees yet. My local Bonsai society is having their auction in a couple weeks, and...

Hello all, I am brand new to maintaining and keeping bonsai. That said, for my birthday, I have received a Chinese Elm. I live in an apartment, and the relative that has gifted me this bonsai does not realize that it’s best to keep bonsai outside. With that in mind, I have several questions...

Hi everyone! I’m a lurker and very new to Bonsai. Been practicing since last August. I’ve learned a lot fairly quickly recently…having lost almost every tree I got last year due to being afraid to fertilize among poor watering habits (overwatering). Yesterday I received this japanese black...

My seeds germination is many failed. So far, 200 seeds have failed. Initially, I wrapped the seeds in a damp paper towel and chilled them in the refrigerator(celsius 5°c, fahrenheit40°c) for a month before sowing them. The other one I tried the following site but it didn't...

I found this invasive honeysuckle. I like the natural gnarl and movement that it has to it. The buds are just pushing. Unfortunately the branches are essentially stick straight suckers. It is also very close to an invasive buckthorn plant. Do you guys think I should try to collect it? I have had...

I was gifted a serissa flora-plena (double snow rose) about 5 months ago. It was healthy when I got it, and only got a little upset during the new homing process. For reference, I live in PA, climate zone 7a. There are a few pictures from the day after I got it, watered and placed it: And it...

Hey there! I'm wondering what the most common beginner mistakes are, haven't gotten my first tree yet but I plan to this coming spring. I know about the basic mistakes such as over watering as a quick example, but I can't seem to find some more common yet not to "picky" mistakes. Basically I...

i'm new to bonsai trees and i just bought a bunch of random seeds to try and grow. i will list them below and hopefully someone will have some advice for how to bonsai them. i'm aware that some or all of these trees may be difficult to bonsai or might not survive at all. i just want to learn...

I got a Vietnamese Bluebell from a nursery in town about 4 weeks ago, and I ended up taking it back to the nursey and getting it repotted, and pruned about a week later, as you can see from the photos. I feel like its been losing so many more leaves and I have not been seeing much new growth at...

I just bought some bonsai seeds off of amazon which may or may not be to my downfall since i see a lot of people dislike it, but any general advice for tips? im barely in the germination stage. Im exited and just put the seeds into the soil yesterday

I think this might be my first post on this forum… started my bonsai journey about 2/3 years ago with a Hinoki starting set from Deshima. After watching countless video’s online, quietly lurking this forum and reddit and doing a bonsai beginner’s course at Deshima bonsai I decided I wanted to...

Hello. I am pretty sure that this is a hackberry. I am in central Minnesota so it would be a northern variety. A year or two ago this tree (see pictures) was chopped down. A month ago, I was clearing out the area where it was growing, because it was full of volunteer trees like this one. I...

Working on my first Shinpaku from nursery stock. I am worried I did too much pruning and concerned I may have killed the tree. The image with the red markup is what I’m planning for trunk direction. Is this good?

Really excited for this one! I've been playing around a bit with small stumps and other things and after a few months of toying with the basics I'm thrilled to start work on my first (expensive) bonsai! A lot of my previous work I don't feel could be called bonsai as it was however I'm certain...

I recently collected this Amur honeysuckle from my yard. It was about 5 feet tall. I chopped the main trunk down quite a bit. After two weeks it is aggressively budding. I pinched most of the buds that I know are in terrible spots. Which of the rest of these buds should I keep? What do you guys...

Hello, so I've scouted for good plants to propagate and I seem to have found a juniper and a rosemary. Attached are the places I'm considering air layering, do they seem alright? On another note, I've found a lot of alright looking olives but the issue is they are all growing from an existing...

So I've been interested in bonsai for a while and got a seed kit as a gift. As I imagine you all know, it's slow and inconsistent way. As such I've decided to obtain a grown tree. I have a family member with a farm house and there's a few species there that might work so I'm looking for advice...

First Bonsai here! Just wanted to know the feasibility of growing specifically a serissa indoors? I got this plant blind and didn’t realise how finicky it is, so right now I’m trying to master keeping it happy and healthy that before going into bonsai techniques. I’ve seen recommendations for...

Hi, just this week I collected a birch tree from the wild and placed it in a wooden box. I kept the rootball moist and placed it in a mix that is mostly made up of pumice with 15% bark. Due to my current living situation it only gets a around 4 hours of direct sunlight in the afternoon, but this...

Hello ! Very glad to have found this community, I have been doing a lot of research in my spare time, and I am right on the verge of buying my first tree. I just have a simple question: Are there any native NJ trees or bushes that are friendly for beginners? I have a few on my radar, but there...

First off, I’m sorry these photos suck. I hope they’re okay enough to be useful. There’s an interesting branch (top of the trunk’s curve) that I plan on making the apex; I have it wired upwards into an S-shape already. Besides that, I’m stumped with what to do with the upper half of the tree’s...