There is a shortage of retailers up here in Maine so I'm looking for some ideas of where to buy. I've entertained the thought of amazon and home depot but I hate the thought that they glue all of the rocks and use questionable soil not too mention I've read quite a few comments on people receiving dead, damaged or just the wrong tree altogether, this into to say they don't sell good trees...I just read a few comments of bad experiences. My tree of choice are junipers plus I'm a beginner. Feel free to move this if it doesnt belong here.
where do you buy your bonsai?
- Thread starter nash2000
- Start date
Ris
Shohin
Try Ebay... lol
I have found my best trees going to local nursery but you must visit every season as stuff changes. Don't jump for the very first think you see as you will learn what to look for in a tree of good potential. Have patience, study pictures on the net and find what appeal to your liking.
Good Luck...
Rishi
Yea, I think I'll pass on eBay lol. I hear a lot of good things about Brussels and new England bonsai which is convienent since I'm in maine. I'm trying to keep it relitively simple by going with junipers, not only for their toughness but its been my favorite tree since being a kid. I'm not saying they're a simple tree, its just they tend to be more beginner friendly then most
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
- Messages
- 13,657
- Reaction score
- 33,360
- USDA Zone
- 6a
You need to make a day trip to MA...Bonsai West in Littleton, and New England Bonsai Gardens in Bellingham, are two of the best specialty bonsai nurseries on the east coast. Don't buy anything on line until you've seen some GOOD bonsai in person.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Just curious and not wishing to be condescending but do you feel that because you are interested in bonsai you must purchase something from a bonsai store? Sometimes sound advice is dependent upon the thought processes of those who you are trying to advise.
I guess I do to be honest. I'm quite new to the hobby and there's still a ton for me to learn.
I just googled these 2, I really like the larch. Forgive me but are you suggesting I grow from seed...which i hear is very difficult or are you suggesting I go on a nature hike and look for some to bring home?
jk_lewis
Masterpiece
I don't buy "bonsai." Building your own from a collected or nursery specimen is 99% of the joy of bonsai. You do yourself a disservice buying a ready-made tree -- or even a pre-bonsai.
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
If you're new, you would be well-served to actually buy material that has been grown for bonsai. If someone is looking for a car, you wouldn't direct them to a bike shop.
check out evergreengardenworks.com, telfarms.com, gregorybeachbonsai.com, muranakabonsai.com
You will hear/read that decent bonsai can be made from $10 shrubbery material from Lowe's. If you are like most of us, you will spend $200 trying that avenue. You want to be money ahead? Spend that $200 at one of the sites above.
check out evergreengardenworks.com, telfarms.com, gregorybeachbonsai.com, muranakabonsai.com
You will hear/read that decent bonsai can be made from $10 shrubbery material from Lowe's. If you are like most of us, you will spend $200 trying that avenue. You want to be money ahead? Spend that $200 at one of the sites above.
Joedes3
Shohin
Go to Bonsai West and New England Bonsai. If you don't want to buy from them, at least look at what is available. See what you like. They both have a lot to offer, i.e seedlings thru speciman bonsai. Colin Lewis is from Maine. Google him, he has classes and sells trees.
Window shopping to see what you like doesn't cost anything.
Joe De
Window shopping to see what you like doesn't cost anything.
Joe De
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
The best materials for bonsai are collected trees and professionally grown pre-bonsai---both of which can be expensive. If you have guidance from a grower in your area that can help you through the process from beginning to end this would be a good way to go. However; if you are on your own and trying to learn by yourself you have to understand that it is very likely that you are going to kill your first trees.
If these first trees are $200 pre-bonsai or $1000 yamadori (collected trees) the cost of learning all of a sudden becomes marginally high, depending on your descrectionary funds. Odds are as of now, considering your experience, you would not know a good pre-bonsai from a ham sandwich. If you order your pre-bonsai from on line, unless a photo of a specific tree, ( and not a photo representation of stock in a particular category) is provided, you are still buying a pig in a poke. I realize there are some very reputable vendors out there, some of them have been suggested, and buying from them will probably not get you cheated.
Once again you must remember the attrition rate can be high in the beginning. I have always been a proponent of the nursery trade. There are a lot of things wrong about nursery trees that make them difficult as the years progress but the cost of losing a couple of them is small. In short; get your hands dirty and your mind around the process before you start killing good trees and losing a lot of money. It's easy to sit back and wish you had started with better trees instead of wasting time with trees that were going no where. Sad thing is it is usually those who have gained a good deal of experience that are able to make that assessment after they have destroyed a couple of trees, or worked on useless trees that they now dispise. The fact is this: Killing a few trees and learning about frustration, disappointment and failure are the dues that you will have to pay to get into this hobby.
Almost anyone can fly an airplane once its in the air with a few easy lessons. Learning how to land and take off makes getting there far more difficult.
If these first trees are $200 pre-bonsai or $1000 yamadori (collected trees) the cost of learning all of a sudden becomes marginally high, depending on your descrectionary funds. Odds are as of now, considering your experience, you would not know a good pre-bonsai from a ham sandwich. If you order your pre-bonsai from on line, unless a photo of a specific tree, ( and not a photo representation of stock in a particular category) is provided, you are still buying a pig in a poke. I realize there are some very reputable vendors out there, some of them have been suggested, and buying from them will probably not get you cheated.
Once again you must remember the attrition rate can be high in the beginning. I have always been a proponent of the nursery trade. There are a lot of things wrong about nursery trees that make them difficult as the years progress but the cost of losing a couple of them is small. In short; get your hands dirty and your mind around the process before you start killing good trees and losing a lot of money. It's easy to sit back and wish you had started with better trees instead of wasting time with trees that were going no where. Sad thing is it is usually those who have gained a good deal of experience that are able to make that assessment after they have destroyed a couple of trees, or worked on useless trees that they now dispise. The fact is this: Killing a few trees and learning about frustration, disappointment and failure are the dues that you will have to pay to get into this hobby.
Almost anyone can fly an airplane once its in the air with a few easy lessons. Learning how to land and take off makes getting there far more difficult.
Last edited:
bumblebee
Mame
I am an on-going beginner at bonsai...For what it's worth, if you are anything like me you will kill lots of trees on your path to bonsai.
I have plants in many stages of growth, but the hardest to lose are the ones I've paid good money for. You have to learn what will
and what won't grow for you.
What 'good money' means differs for everybody. But if I'm going to lose a couple of hundred dollars on a tree, it needs to be one that
is worth that after lots of sweat equity, and not after spending cold cash on it.
Others may disagree with me. We all grow little trees for different reasons as Smoke said. I'd rather lose trees that may not ever be
good bonsai while learning how to keep good bonsai alive, than lose good bonsai while learning to keep them all(good and bad) alive.
So I dig up trees, buy from Ebay, buy from good nurseries, start trees from all kinds of cuttings, wherever I can to get material to
work on. Some are starting to look like something worth sharing, most aren't. Some I'll keep and some I'll pass on to a new home
and make room for better trees as I move along in this lifetime.
Libby
I have plants in many stages of growth, but the hardest to lose are the ones I've paid good money for. You have to learn what will
and what won't grow for you.
What 'good money' means differs for everybody. But if I'm going to lose a couple of hundred dollars on a tree, it needs to be one that
is worth that after lots of sweat equity, and not after spending cold cash on it.
Others may disagree with me. We all grow little trees for different reasons as Smoke said. I'd rather lose trees that may not ever be
good bonsai while learning how to keep good bonsai alive, than lose good bonsai while learning to keep them all(good and bad) alive.
So I dig up trees, buy from Ebay, buy from good nurseries, start trees from all kinds of cuttings, wherever I can to get material to
work on. Some are starting to look like something worth sharing, most aren't. Some I'll keep and some I'll pass on to a new home
and make room for better trees as I move along in this lifetime.
Libby
Last edited:
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
- Messages
- 13,657
- Reaction score
- 33,360
- USDA Zone
- 6a
Nash...day trip...Rt 495 south to Littleton, and then on to Bellingham...it will truly open your eyes........
Larch is a bottomland tree. It self seeds into places where water is stagnant. So finding it mowed short in ditches in most of NH VT ME, up-state NY, up state and youper MI is no great search.
If surveying the shoulders of roads you drive past, and asking permission is too great, Then place an add on your local craigs-list or free-cycle.
Alder is deciduous and preffers a bit wetter siting, but is also omni-present.
Both bud back well. And are hearty as any tree can be in your area.
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
I am also new...just a year into bonsai and spent some money buying trees from Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, eBay, local nurseries, etc. etc. All of them have something to offer...just know what you are looking for and how much is reasonable. "Reasonable" depends on your budget....mine is really low. Hint...some nice trees w/ bonsai potential are in big pots...check the 5 to 40 gallon trees at Lowe's or Home Depot
The best plants I have now are all free...collected by myself from yards of people who want to re-landscape their yards. They are not "yamadori" quality but definitely much better than anything I can afford to buy from bonsai nurseries.
I am not your typical "newbie" in a sense that I have more than a hundred plants in training now but you can definitely do the same. I believe my average trunk size is 4"+ ...and I have several in the 8" - 12" base sized tree.
If you can wait for spring & willing to invest some sweat equity on this hobby...check Craigslist and be on the lookout when you are driving. listen to the sound of heavy equipment. Some demolition or site clearing sites can yield really nice FREE plants.
If you are not shy (and so inclined)...contact landscapers and see if you can hook up with one...you dig & keep plants they are supposed to remove and dispose. Win-win!
Good luck!
Wow! way more input than expected, kind of opened my eyes a little. Looks like like I need to do quite a bit of research because I'd love to grow my own. First this I need to do is being able to locate and identify my own trees and shrubs.
jkd2572
Masterpiece
That's why we are all here. Saving us time feeding in others experience. And showing off trees....
Great teachers here. Brian underwood. And smoke have a wealth of knowledge they share. Sorry for everyone I left out, but these two guys are a wealth of info and they spend a great deal of time trying to help others In their pursuit. Seek wisdom from the most experienced. Don't ever go with the cheapest stock broker. The ones that charge the highest fees usually get it for a reason.
Great teachers here. Brian underwood. And smoke have a wealth of knowledge they share. Sorry for everyone I left out, but these two guys are a wealth of info and they spend a great deal of time trying to help others In their pursuit. Seek wisdom from the most experienced. Don't ever go with the cheapest stock broker. The ones that charge the highest fees usually get it for a reason.
I just did some very minor research on growing from seed and from cutting, seems to be very challenging but I'm up for it. I think I'll go into my woods when I get home and see what I find. I hear growing from seed is best done in the fall time.
jk_lewis
Masterpiece
Being able to ID what you find is important. I rely on 2-3 books:
1. Michael Dirr's "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" (Absolutely indispensible!)
2. The Audubon Society Field guide to North American Trees - Eastern Edition (for natives)
3. A regional handbook of trees for specific parts of the country where I go. Almost every region of the USA has at least one book on native trees and shrubs, and most state forestry departments have their own small booklets.
4. In Maine, you need Lenz' "Bonsai from the Wild" (Second edition) for how-to on collectiing local trees.
