Can anyone recommend any local shops near Glasgow for buying a Bonsai Tree or even a decent online shop.

Thanks

You could ask the Scottish Bonsai Association.

www.scottishbonsai.org/page.cfm?page=6

scottishdude wrote: Can anyone recommend any local shops near Glasgow for buying a Bonsai Tree or even a decent online shop.

Thanks

I go to garden centers. You can get good material there. Far better than trying to buy trees ready trained and grown for the simple reason you are more likely to source material quicker and easier. I don't know of a single Bonsai nursery in the North East apart from Willowbog Bonsai near Hexham. A Juniper Bonsai at Willowbog can cost hundreds of pounds (seriously - look on the website) but a Juniper at a Garden Centre can cost what, £20? £30?

The only unstyled juniper I find on that site was sold for 90 pounds..
www.willowbog-bonsai.co.uk/store/index.p...ewProd&productId=649

Which gardencentres sell junipers trained for bonsai?

I agree that agrden centres are places to look for cheap material. If is however not often the type of plants you get from a bonsai nursery.

hey thanks for your replies, i did message the Secretary of the SBA and he put me in touch with someone just waiting on a reply.

i did have a look on Willowbog Bonsai and Wattston Bonsai, but didn't see anything i fancied.

if you can recommend any garden centers, that would be great. I don't mind something long term.

thanks Martin

leatherback wrote: The only unstyled juniper I find on that site was sold for 90 pounds..
www.willowbog-bonsai.co.uk/store/index.p...ewProd&productId=649

Which gardencentres sell junipers trained for bonsai?

I agree that agrden centres are places to look for cheap material. If is however not often the type of plants you get from a bonsai nursery.

I think maybe you misunderstood my point. Easy thing to do. I meant that given the cost effectiveness and ready supply, perhaps this is where garden centers have the edge over bonsai nurseries where as you saw the cheapest raw material is a Larch for £65 and tracing them is hard. Then it is the Juniper for £90 and another Larch for £95. The others all seem to be anything from £195 to just short of £400. There is I am sure specific 'aesthetic traits' (you may call it) in the nebari, roots, trunk and branches that you need to look out for that defines good material. Traits which are essential to a naturalistic design. I Have books where it mentions in the beginning about this topic. OK it does appear a lot of people are of the view they are grown not with bonsai rules in mind and of course they are not. But I just think with a little time and attention to detail you can find a subject you can create into a bonsai which looks good whilst not looking like an award winner.

There is a huge amount of material available at much less than you are saying, trees which have been grown for bonsai are not the same as that sold in garden centres. You need to visit a bonsai nursery to see what is there, they will have a lot more than on a web site. Join your local club, you will find material for sale much less than any nursery.

m5eaygeoff wrote: There is a huge amount of material available at much less than you are saying, trees which have been grown for bonsai are not the same as that sold in garden centres. You need to visit a bonsai nursery to see what is there, they will have a lot more than on a web site. Join your local club, you will find material for sale much less than any nursery.

Then I am afraid this is where my journey in bonsai ends. The North of England bonsai is a place called Thirsk in the county of North Yorkshire. That is a 2hrs 12min drive from where I am in a place called South Shields in the county of Tyne & Wear. Willowbog has proved difficult to get to once I plotted a route on Google Maps. Nothing is local to me.

From what your saying bonsai nurseries are my only hope.

BonsaiMackem, I think you are mis-understanding a lot of what is begin said.

In general, plants specifically pregrown to be a bonsai-starter have a few characteristics which make it a lot easier to develop them into good bonsai:

- Rootball that has been prepared to be reduced
- Lots of branches to choose from
- Tapered trunk
- Some shape in the trunkline

This means that over the course of some 5-10 years the grower had cut the main roots at least once every 2-3 years, trimmed the tree back every 1-2 years and in the first years have paid attention to the shape of the main trunk.

Generally speaking you should be able to get trees like this, which are not in a bonsai container, nog worked on, basically, big bushes, for 50-150 euro's

As an example, two trees that I bought this winter from a grower for under 100 euros:





If you go to a regular garden centre normally all you find are trees for the mass-market gardens. Which means the main trunk is straight, the roots are often twisted and bent from multiple slip-pottings etc. To get to a workable pre-bonsai typically puts you back up to 2 years. The safings.. Perhaps 50%.

It is then up to you. Do you know what to look for in a garden centre tree? Great, then go for it. You can get good plants there too. As an example.. A tree for -I think- 20 euro's that I bought last year:



However, a bonsai grower often is a better choice as a larger percentage of their plants is suitable (So the choice is: Which do I like, rather than, which is suitable). In the end, it all comes down to: Do you know what you are doing. If you do, the origin does not really matter: You can make something out of it. Which brings us back to Craigs post , where he shows he knows what he is doing.

leatherback wrote: Do you know what to look for in a garden centre tree?

Fraid' not. But what I do try to do is to see how it would look aesthetically after some work from me. I don't try to look for the next winner of the gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for Bonsai. I just like a tree that would look naturalistic and pretty once I did some work to it. That's pretty much my level. I mean I would be doing somersaults over the moon till the next total eclipse of the sun if I could even find let alone create something as utterly spectacular as the one in your pic. But I can't. Best I could do is just something that is at least trying to look halfway attractive and naturalistic.