How large is your bonsai garden?

[SuperMarioZZZ]

From my point of view, the biggest request of this hobby is the need of a yard, eventually one big enough that will not limitate the bonsai collection.

How large is your bonsai garden or space?

Mauro seems to have quite a small space, but maybe the garden from the YouTube video is not all.

 

[leatherback]

My trees are in an area of about 3*7m / 9*20 ft.

I keep more trees there than I can manage in the ~ 14-21hrs per week I spend on them.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

How large is your bonsai garden or space?

garden: 10’ wide, and about 4’ front to back

space: i have a few friends and parents that let me use their yard and/or greenhouse

this is a downtown to living downtown in a major city. My wife and i are looking to move rural quebec where i can work with at least 10,000 square feet

first pic, current set up
rest of the pics, inspiration board

 

[SuperMarioZZZ]

How many square meters does your garden have, @Walter Pall ?

 

[Shibui]

This sounds like a newbie question.
The larger the space the more trees you can fit in. The more trees you have the less time you can give to each tree so they will not develop past a certain point.
Young, simple trees require less time. You can keep up with lots of younger, less developed starters. My older trees now have many shoots so they require 2-3 x more time whenever I trim or prune. The tree still requires the same space but far more time to keep it looking good. The more my trees develop the less trees I can adequately maintain just because of time. Area becomes irrelevant as your trees mature.
You may require a larger space to develop bonsai but as those trees do develop you'll need more time or less space to keep up with them.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

@Shibui it would be great if more people did exactly what you've outlined! develop many young trees, and as they age reduce the collection to fewer specimens while selling-off quality 'pre-bonsai' material. this would collectively progress the hobby and art

...try to find people doing it though

 

[parhamr]

The footprint in my yard is about 20' x 50', which includes the 8' x 16' greenhouse.

 

[BobbyLane]

@Shibui it would be great if more people did exactly what you've outlined! develop many young trees, and as they age reduce the collection to fewer specimens while selling-off quality 'pre-bonsai' material. this would collectively progress the hobby and art

...try to find people doing it though

ive been doing something similar to this, with the many nursery trees that i acquire. i just dont have the space to maintain all of them so in the past few months ive been selling pretty good trees and holding onto the ones of a higher quality or my favourites. or just put stuff in the ground..

the hornbeam, beech and elm were sold simply because i have better. the sold list goes on and on. i see it as recycling
IMG_7458 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2018-11-22_08-03-48 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7757 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

think at one point i had 26 trees on my balcony. now it usually stays at around 15 solid keepers and 5 that are just waiting to be sold

a bunch more in my allotment beds that have very good potential to be solid keepers

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I dont know how big my garden is. Can't be too big. But if your trees are mostly refined, you could have many more trees than if many were in development. I saw an abundance of healthy refined trees shoulder to shoulder at an awesome shohin bonsai nursery in Kyoto. One of the finest nurseries I've ever seen and one of the smallest!

 

[Dav4]

Depending on who you ask at my house, my garden is either too big or not big enough...

 

[Wilson]

I think @Shibui makes a good point about the work required for developed trees. I also love the idea of growing new material, and hope most of us who can, do. I remember Walter Pall talking about how great many of our trees will be, as we move them from one generation to the next. So if you have the space, get growing!

 

[GGB]

My yard is super tiny so I have one 5 foot bench and a few square feet of space I use to grow out material. I like having a nice looking yard and room for the dog to play so I keep my numbers down. There's a dude on here who only has a balcony and his shohin trees are crazy good. I wouldn't put yourself in a box with square footage

 

[River's Edge]

The Bonsai garden/nursery area enclosed is 25ft by 70 ft. ( 7 metre by 21 metre)This includes a small greenhouse ( 8 by 12 ). Pines and Maples in grow boxes are set on the ground in some areas outside the confines of the Bonsai Garden. Available space is several acres, now that the entire acreage is fenced.
The workshop/teaching studio is 24 ft by 30 ft. ( 7 metre by 9 metre)
Separate building outside the Bonsai Garden/ Nursery area.
As the trees mature their containers are upsized and then eventually downsized and space requirements are reduced! Ongoing sales also reduce the demand as i have discontinued propogation by seed. Also limited propogation by cuttings and air layers. Collection of Yamadori is selective and very limited. This has a minimal impact on space required, although collected tree's tend to be larger initially!
For those considering growing i would suggest restraint to ensure quality and long term sustainability. I would also suggest starting at an earlier age

 

[Walter Pall]

How many square meters does your garden have, @Walter Pall ?

My whole garden is 1400 m2, which is huge for German standards and tiny for American. The actual bonsai area is only 500 m2 which is again huge for our standard. It carries up to 1,000 bonsai of all sizes. This is way too many trees. So my area is not a show garden but a tree deposit area.

 

[Sansui]

Here's a look at part of my rear yard bonsai space. Lot's of room, however, finding areas with extended sunlight is challenging. Many mature trees thanks to the previous owner of my home. The wood pile in the background is the remains of my 100' EWP literati that came down in the spring. Unfortunately, I seem to spend more time with a chainsaw than I do with concave cutters or Felco's.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Here's a look at part of my rear yard bonsai space. Lot's of room, however, finding areas with extended sunlight is challenging.

I have the opposite problem, my yard is 100% sun 100% of the time. I had to rig up shade cloth for some of my more burn prone deciduous.

 

[Sansui]

I do have a sunnier area further back but that spot really begins to enter the dangerous Deer Zone!

 

[leatherback]

I have the opposite problem, my yard is 100% sun 100% of the time. I had to rig up shade cloth for some of my more burn prone deciduous.

In a way this is not so much of a problem; It is a luxury as you can decide how much sun arrives at your trees?

 

[M. Frary]

I have about 3/4 of an acre of lawn in full sun at my disposal.
The number of trees ebbs and flows.
This year I'm down to approximately 120 trees on 6 benches. My benches are 1"×10" boards laid across 5 gallon hydraulic fluid buckets. 20 feet long.
I've had as many as maybe 250 trees on 10 benches.

 

[Anthony]

Objective - 30 to 50 finished trees.
Height max - 15 inches and there are 5 at 2 feet or so.
Good Day
Anthony