What is your favorite tree to bonsai?

[SHO_Gunner85]

I am still new to bonsai but the reason I got into it was because of the trees on karate kid haha. My favorite right now is probably the most common one out there but the Japanese garden juniper procumbens nana and or golden curl willow tree.

 

[Mayank]

Hands down Shimpaku juniper. Because I understand it's growth pattern better than other trees and have worked with them the longest and have had good luck messing around with them and trying new things. Plus they're super hardy and the mature foliage is pretty and does not poke (like my Japanese garden juniper or my super poky Colorado spruces).
Balsam fir is a close second!

 

[SHO_Gunner85]

I want to get a Shimpaku but there expensive when I see them online. Do you have any pictures of yours?

 

[SHO_Gunner85]

I have been thinking about getting this one but don't wanna spend the money on it right now haha

Pre-Bonsai Pot Grown Shimpaku (WEB3556) FREE SHIPPING

Shimpaku

www.bonsaioutlet.com

 

[leatherback]

I have been thinking about getting this one but don't wanna spend the money on it right now haha

Do not get that one. It is a rip-off.
As an example, this was around the 50euro mark:

Milestone project

Today it was testing time after 2 years running around in WErner Busch' bonsai school. Happy to share that I passed well enough to be allowed into the third year. The exam this time consisted of styling a tree in a style we had discussed in the past within a 4 hour timeframe. Then the tree and...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[SHO_Gunner85]

nice I haven't found any in Minnesota is my issue

 

[Potawatomi13]

Ponderosa Pine but could be Bristlecone Pine If could find a good Yamadori tree or two.

 

[Arlithrien]

Anything maple. And anything that I discovered while out in the world and collected or cultivated.

Right now its my Acer rubrum. Hoping to turn it into two or three Acer rubrums.

 

[clem]

1st place by far = scotts pine (it has small needles, relatively light/thin branches and various decorative barks : from the thin JWP bark to the deep JBP bark... Sometimes even deep like corticosa JBP).

Second place = acer palmatum & its cultivars

Third place = European or Ezo spruce (very small needles and decorative bark)

 

[j evans]

Welcome! Until I get better with everything my favorite is elms. Basically free, grow fast and hardy.

 

[penumbra]

Hornbeam, any hornbeam.

 

[Tieball]

American Elm.

 

[GreatLakesBrad]

Tamarack / Larix lacirina / American Larch

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Deciduous in general. Acer and elms in particular

 

[M. Frary]

Live ones

 

[Silentrunning]

Any Elm trees.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Too many to name, but Japanese Maple, Japanese White Pine, Shimpaku, Hinoki, and Korean Hornbeam round out the top five. There are others...

 

[MrWunderful]

Zelkova, trident, regular jm, JBP, portulacaria, dawn redwood and coast redwood

 

[Gaff74]

What a great thread! My collection is limited and all fairly young. The Jaqueline Hillier Elm is interesting. I have several Douglas Firs, none very old, with surprising variety in how they look and grow. I have some dwarf trees that might not qualify as bonsai so much as jut small trees and shrubs: Boyd’s willow, Sawara false cypress, Cryptomeria japonica “birodo”, and a dwarf Mugo Pine (pumilo).

 

[sorce]

Black Hills Spruce hands down, for the understanding of growth like @Mayank knows shimpaku, which, I don't get for the life of me!

Go bid on @mwar15 auction. It's still reasonably priced!

Sorce