Hi everyone!

I was planning on purchasing some plant as nursery stock today and I am wondering what advice anyone can give me that isn’t already on this website.
I have just a few general questions for things to know when buying a tree and what happens (in everyone’s experiences) when getting it back home.
How thick of a trunk should I be looking for?
Does the nursery stock need to be repotted once it arrives home?
How old is old enough for a tree to be shaped/pruned for bonsai?
I am going to visit a local nursery in my area to hopefully find something, but if not, Lowe’s hardware store around the corner has Japanese Boxwood trees for $8. Would these be an okay tree?
Lots of advice is appreciated!
No hard feelings!
Thank you!

in short: The size of tree you want to create defines the trunk: 6 to 12 times the trunk thickness = height of your tree.
The age is irrelevant. The older the trunk the better te bark. But in a general store you will only get plants that are a few years old, so do not worry about it.

Main things to look for are, in order of relevance:

- Leafs that are naturally small or reduce well (So the right species)
- nicely spreaj surface roots
- A good tapering trunk without clear bumoos, swellings etc
- Small branches on the trunk (For conifers particularly)
- A trunkline that pleases you

Everything else is just a matter of styling afterwards.

Repot in the right time of year, and when you know the plant is healthy. Untill that time, adjust your care to the substrate available. (That being said, I repotted 6 japanese maples today because the substrate was bad, and I could not wait any longer; I wanted the plants to partake in the automated watering setup.

Thank you so much! I will remember all of this when picking out a nursery stock.
I am wondering (and this may be a very basic and silly question but I am not fearful of asking embarrassing questions) if there is a difference between using plants and trees for bonsai. Ex. I feel like junipers never end up looking the way a juniper bonsai does, but an apple tree does.
Does this make sense?
Again, possibly a ridiculous question.

I would say you determine what the plant looks like in the end. A wild juniper can look like a juniper bonsai, just not the ones you find growing happily at sea-level.

I am not sure what you mean though.. Trees are plants..? I would say, any woody plant be it a shrub forming or tree forming plant, can be used to grow bonsai.