Bonsai stock

In garden centers Bonsai are becoming popular with displays emphasizing the Japanese connection. These usually tend to be over priced and poorly trained, giving the impression of an expensive hobby. Bonsai are trees that have been trained, so if you look in the normal trees section at garden centers young seedlings can be obtained. These are the best for the beginner as results are relatively quickly obtained. Bonsai seed kits are available which promise great results on the box but rarely come to fruition. Growing from seed can be very rewarding but takes years to produce a worthy specimen.

With a young seedling it is best to plant it in a garden border or large pot and let it grow to fatten up the trunk diameter. Keep it in check though and try to maintain a well balanced branch layout with a lot of regular spaced branches. When the trunk has reached the desired diameter the tree can be carefully dug up so as not to disturb the root system and transferred to a smaller pot.

Some of the more classic bonsai are Japanese Black Pine, Japanese maple, larch, Scots Pine and Zelkova. In the past 20 or so years, a great many species not previously accepted as bonsai have also joined the list. Some tropical trees, and plants, such as weeping willow and Jade, are just two. Today, bonsai is an art form, a living sculpture. If the Bonsai resembles a full grown tree then it's well on it's way to becoming a good Bonsai.

Types of trees

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