Bonsai Starter Plants

Bonsai starter plants are young plants with the traits that make training worthwhile: small leaves or short needles, dense branching, and tolerance for a confined root system. This page lists the species Nature Hills Nursery carries that bonsai practice has already proven out, in sizes you can begin working with in the first season.

Species that forgive a beginner

Juniper is the usual first conifer because it tolerates repeated pruning on green growth and takes wiring without snapping. Zelkova and lacebark elm are the deciduous counterparts, with small leaves and trunks that thicken faster than most. Serissa carries tiny leaves on a trunk that ages quickly, though it sulks if you move it around. Ficus is the one to start with indoors, since it puts up with low light and constant handling. Japanese white pine is the classic subject and the slowest, better as a second or third tree.

Leaf and needle size decide the illusion

A bonsai reads as a full-size tree only if the foliage is in scale with the trunk. Species with leaves under an inch and needles under 2 inches start you most of the way there. A large-leaved plant can be reduced over years of work, but beginning with a naturally small leaf saves you that fight entirely.

Evergreen or deciduous

Evergreen conifers hold their silhouette in every month, so the tree is finished-looking year round. Deciduous species drop their leaves and show the branch structure all winter, which is the half of the tree that experienced hobbyists judge hardest. Both are valid. The evergreen is the easier first choice.

What to look for in the plant you buy

Choose low branching, a trunk that tapers from the base upward, some movement in the line rather than a straight pole, and roots that flare visibly at the soil surface. Those four things are hard to add later. Height and current shape matter far less, because most of the top is going to come off anyway.

Pick a species for your zone, then pick the trunk you like.