Can any plant be made into a bonsai?

Jennifer Gregory:

Hi, I’m Jennifer, and we’ll be talking to you about bonsai here today at Maas Nursery.

When you think bonsai, you normally think of this juniper, and yes, that is a bonsai, but bonsai is an art form. It just describes the shaping of a tree or shrub into a deliberate form and placing it into a pot that suits that form. As you can see here, this is a loropetalum that is a shrub known as Chinese fringe that’s been shaped into a bonsai, and we have smaller bonsai here awaiting their final shaping and their placement into an appropriately shaped pot for them. We have herbs. We have shrubs. If it’s got a woody structure, it can be shaped into a bonsai. We have a much larger bonsai garden that exhibits many, many different varieties of plants for both the sun and shade that have been formed into a traditional bonsai form.

What makes bonsai so special and pricey is they take a lot of time and commitment to develop this beautiful form. This bonsai is several decades old, and it’s been shaped this way over a series of years. Behind me is another bonsai that is at least 30 years old that has been shaped meticulously over the years. Each and every one of these bonsais has the potential to reach decades, if not centuries in age, whenever they’re properly trained and cared for. If that sounds like a lot, we really suggest that you get involved in a bonsai society in your area that will help you with shaping and caring for your bonsai when you’re a first time bonsai owner.

But if you still want to approach owning a bonsai, then I really like these jade plants. They’re a type of succulent that is suitable for your indoor spaces, unlike most of our bonsai that is going to take the care of a succulent. So we’re low watering, low maintenance. So if you want to get your toe into having a bonsai, but having something that is 30 to 40 years old seems like a little bit of a stressor. Then we suggest starting out small, starting out with something that doesn’t have a high demand list to begin with.