1. Seedlings in your front yard - If you have trees in your yard, the chances are very good that there are seedlings popping up all over the place. Pull them up and put them into a pot, and you have a baby bonsai that you can start training to be a mame (mini) bonsai, or let it grow and mature, and begin shaping it when it is a little thicker.
2. Seeds - Starting a bonsai from seeds is certainly the one that takes the longest, but it can be fun to watch your tree grow from a tiny seed.
3. Discarded garden plants - Discarded garden plants can make great bonsai. They are already a decent age and have the characteristics of a mature plant. Even if they look more like a shrub at first than a tree, trim it back a little, wire the branches, and soon it will start to look like the start of a good bonsai. Is your neighbor planning on taking out some bushes? Offer to take a few so that perfectly good plants don't die.
4. Cuttings and air layering - Using cuttings and air layering, you can get a jump start on having a nice thick trunk that could otherwise take years to develop from a seed. Rooting hormone is a good thing to buy if you are using this method. It isn't that expensive either (I got a container of it for about $4).
5. The local garden center - To buy bonsai from a local garden center, you don't have to buy bonsai from the local garden center. By that I mean that if you want to be able to go to a store and buy a bonsai, you don't have to buy a pre-made bonsai. You can buy a small juniper bush, which costs about $5 at a local Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot, and train it to look like a bonsai. It might require more work, but it is rewarding to know that you created the bonsai yourself - at a fraction of the cost. Another benefit of this is finding a wide selection of species for bonsai. You can also buy pre-made bonsai at a garden center, but their selection is typically limited to figs (Ficus).
6. The Internet - Sites like eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon are great for buying hard to find species of bonsai. With sites like these, you can find great deals on not only bonsai, but really everything a bonsai enthusiast needs, from soil, fertilizer, and containers, to shears, shovels, and wire cutters.
7. A specialist bonsai nursery - You can buy pre-made bonsai at bonsai nurseries if you are willing to spend a bit of money, but the cheaper alternative when shopping here is to buy young, unshaped trees.
8. Garden festivals - At garden festivals, there are often vendors who sell bonsai. These vendors sometimes offer special deals as a way to attract new costumers to their business.
Hey, budget-conscious bonsai cultivators! Please share any ideas for obtaining and growing bonsai on a budget in the comments section below!
3. Discarded garden plants - Discarded garden plants can make great bonsai. They are already a decent age and have the characteristics of a mature plant. Even if they look more like a shrub at first than a tree, trim it back a little, wire the branches, and soon it will start to look like the start of a good bonsai. Is your neighbor planning on taking out some bushes? Offer to take a few so that perfectly good plants don't die.
4. Cuttings and air layering - Using cuttings and air layering, you can get a jump start on having a nice thick trunk that could otherwise take years to develop from a seed. Rooting hormone is a good thing to buy if you are using this method. It isn't that expensive either (I got a container of it for about $4).
5. The local garden center - To buy bonsai from a local garden center, you don't have to buy bonsai from the local garden center. By that I mean that if you want to be able to go to a store and buy a bonsai, you don't have to buy a pre-made bonsai. You can buy a small juniper bush, which costs about $5 at a local Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot, and train it to look like a bonsai. It might require more work, but it is rewarding to know that you created the bonsai yourself - at a fraction of the cost. Another benefit of this is finding a wide selection of species for bonsai. You can also buy pre-made bonsai at a garden center, but their selection is typically limited to figs (Ficus).
6. The Internet - Sites like eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon are great for buying hard to find species of bonsai. With sites like these, you can find great deals on not only bonsai, but really everything a bonsai enthusiast needs, from soil, fertilizer, and containers, to shears, shovels, and wire cutters.
7. A specialist bonsai nursery - You can buy pre-made bonsai at bonsai nurseries if you are willing to spend a bit of money, but the cheaper alternative when shopping here is to buy young, unshaped trees.
8. Garden festivals - At garden festivals, there are often vendors who sell bonsai. These vendors sometimes offer special deals as a way to attract new costumers to their business.
Hey, budget-conscious bonsai cultivators! Please share any ideas for obtaining and growing bonsai on a budget in the comments section below!
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