Starting over

[Kevster]

It’s been years since I’ve posted. Lost majority of my outside plants to the neighbors puppy and gave a bunch of tropicals to a friend after that.

Winding back up I guess you could say.
My now 12 year old saw some old pictures of me holding her on my lap when she was 2 while doing some maintenance to a few trees pre puppy tornado.
So for my birthday she went and bought a few box store bonsai for me with her own money. She picked out a ginseng ficus, variegated Serissa Japonica stick, and a tea tree. Likely will never be anything more than something very special from my daughter. But I’ll make the best of them.
I did manage to get my hands on a trident maple sapling. 1 inch trunk so I put it in the ground on top of a tile to thicken up. Sadly either a deer or rabbit chewed it down to nothing. So I put it back in a pot and I guess we will see if it pushes growth in the spring.

I’ve been googling the normal pre bonsai nurseries here in the USA I’ve bought many trees from trying to get an idea of the pricing and make plans for late spring purchases. It’s so sad to hear the places I used to purchase from were lost in wild fires. Really good people lost everything!

Are there any reputable places people have been buying from or is it back to getting dirty nails in the local nurseries trying to find mediocre stock?

 

[Eckhoffw]

Winding back up I guess you could say.
My now 12 year old saw some old pictures of me holding her on my lap when she was 2 while doing some maintenance to a few trees pre puppy tornado.
So for my birthday she went and bought a few box store bonsai for me with her own money. She picked out a ginseng ficus, variegated Serissa Japonica stick, and a tea tree. Likely will never be anything more than something very special from my daughter. But I’ll make the best of them.

That is super cool of your daughter to get your such thoughtful gifts. You know, sometimes the Malsai works out.

I have a (box store) procumbens nana, and a ginseng ficus I really like.

If it’s alive after a year, you’ve achieved a lot.
From there, it’s up to you!

Glad your back at it.

 

[Carol 83]

So for my birthday she went and bought a few box store bonsai for me with her own money.

What an awesome way to get back into the hobby, welcome back! Hopefully she will take an interest also and you can enjoy it together.

 

[Paradox]

It’s been years since I’ve posted. Lost majority of my outside plants to the neighbors puppy and gave a bunch of tropicals to a friend after that.

Winding back up I guess you could say.
My now 12 year old saw some old pictures of me holding her on my lap when she was 2 while doing some maintenance to a few trees pre puppy tornado.
So for my birthday she went and bought a few box store bonsai for me with her own money. She picked out a ginseng ficus, variegated Serissa Japonica stick, and a tea tree. Likely will never be anything more than something very special from my daughter. But I’ll make the best of them.
I did manage to get my hands on a trident maple sapling. 1 inch trunk so I put it in the ground on top of a tile to thicken up. Sadly either a deer or rabbit chewed it down to nothing. So I put it back in a pot and I guess we will see if it pushes growth in the spring.

I’ve been googling the normal pre bonsai nurseries here in the USA I’ve bought many trees from trying to get an idea of the pricing and make plans for late spring purchases. It’s so sad to hear the places I used to purchase from were lost in wild fires. Really good people lost everything!

Are there any reputable places people have been buying from or is it back to getting dirty nails in the local nurseries trying to find mediocre stock?

Some of the same places are still around depending on what you're looking for.
However most places have many more trees tha they can post on a web page so it's hard to shop online. So it's worth emailing them if you're looking for something specific. Most will send you pictures of what they have available.

Here are a few off the top of my head.
There are others I'm forgetting atm so hopefully others can chime in.

New England Bonsai Gardens
Nature's Way
Brussels Bonsai
Wigerts Bonsai
Evergreen Gardenworks
Mehans minatures
International Bonsai

There is also the Bonsai Auctions Facebook group if you have that.

Also look into going to Bonsai Shows near you. A lot of trees get sold there.
One that might be in your range is the annual show organized by Mid Atlantic Bonsai Societies every year. They usually have it somewhere between Pennsylvania and Connecticut each year. Next year it is near Hershey PA iirc.

MidAtlantic Bonsai Societies Home

However you'll have to hunt a bit to find good deals. Some of the prices have gone way up

 

[GGB]

Being in Delaware I have to imagine you are a reasonable drive from either meehans miniatures (MD) or All Shapes bonsai (NJ). Oh, and welcome back

 

[Kevster]

Being in Delaware I have to imagine you are a reasonable drive from either meehans miniatures (MD) or All Shapes bonsai (NJ). Oh, and welcome ba

Thank you. All shapes is about 2 hours and Meehan I’ve been to and if I remember is just over 3.
Definitely warmer weather drives. Wife and I will make a day of it and make several stops along the way.

Greatly appreciated!

 

[Kevster]

Some of the same places are still around depending on what you're looking for.
However most places have many more trees tha they can post on a web page so it's hard to shop online. So it's worth emailing them if you're looking for something specific. Most will send you pictures of what they have available.

Here are a few off the top of my head.
There are others I'm forgetting atm so hopefully others can chime in.

New England Bonsai Gardens
Nature's Way
Brussels Bonsai
Wigerts Bonsai
Evergreen Gardenworks
Mehans minatures
International Bonsai

There is also the Bonsai Auctions Facebook group if you have that.

Also look into going to Bonsai Shows near you. A lot of trees get sold there.
One that might be in your range is the annual show organized by Mid Atlantic Bonsai Societies every year. They usually have it somewhere between Pennsylvania and Connecticut each year. Next year it is near Hershey PA iirc.

MidAtlantic Bonsai Societies Home

However you'll have to hunt a bit to find good deals. Some of the prices have gone way up

Thank you! There are several names there I’m familiar with.
And I’ll see if I can get to the annual show in Hershey.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It’s been years since I’ve posted.

Winding back up I guess you could say.

Hey @Kevster, great to see you again!!

Kevster is one of our early members - who was here before we implemented the "reaction score" program (thumbs up, smilies, etc). Fun to see an old name!