Tips on where to buy starter trees online in Europe

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BalconyBonsai

Yamadori
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Stockholm, Sweden
Hi, I'm not sure this is the correct forum for this question but I couldn't find abetter one.

I would like to know from people in Europe(or people with experience from Europe) what are good places too buy starter materials for making Bonsai. Everything from small seedlings to bigger trees. The gardening centers I find around me don't have a lot of variety to what they offer and they are mostly geared toward normal gardening. So I'm thinking my best bet would be to find some big nursery online that ships to Sweden. I know some online bonsai stores offer pre-bonsai but they don't always have much variety.

The best option I think I have found so far is Esveld(esveld.nl) in the Netherlands. They seem to offer a lot of different species of japanese maples and most other trees i could think of. Anyone have any experience with them or have other suggestions?

Thanks
 
I'm not European, but people seem to rave about Lodder Bonsai, also in the Netherlands.
 
Esveld sells maples NOT meant for bonsai, mostly grafted..

Lodder has a fairly high pricepoint I find.
Kaizen bonsai is reliable, and pretty good value for money
Look at facebook "bonsai and related items for sale"
bonsai.de also on the more expensive side, but in general good quality especially if you want more than just plants
bonsaiplaza is a good reliable store, with trees at all prices (although these are all Japan imports and maybe a segment too high to start with)
Bonsai exhibition in Genk each february has more traders than you can imagine

Are you looking for something specific? I am constantly thinning my collection.
 
Mikecheck123 said:
I'm not European, but people seem to rave about Lodder Bonsai, also in the Netherlands.
Click to expand...
Hi! I have been to their website and from the puctures it looks like they have some nice trees. Unfortunately, it seems almost nothing is present in their online store, only some very generic swirly trees. And the Netherlands is far from where I live so I can't really pay them a physical visit, at least not as things are at the moment.

But I appreciate the tip!
 
Truth....

9 out of ten "starter" trees aren't worth the $.
No matter where you big them.

Just start digging locals!

Sorce
 
BalconyBonsai said:
Hi! I have been to their website and from the puctures it looks like they have some nice trees. Unfortunately, it seems almost nothing is present in their online store, only some very generic swirly trees. And the Netherlands is far from where I live so I can't really pay them a physical visit, at least not as things are at the moment.

But I appreciate the tip!
Click to expand...
See I have no real concept of distance there. Thought maybe you could walk across the street to the Netherlands.
 
sorce said:
Truth....

9 out of ten "starter" trees aren't worth the $.
No matter where you big them.

Just start digging locals!

Sorce
Click to expand...
Well,
Seems in Belgium Ginkgo Centre has nice starter trees. http://www.ginkgobonsai.be
I plan to visit it next spring. Now winter is at our door in a month of 3, I don't want to buy my first starter tree yet.... first get some experience in basic maintenance with nursery trees :) .... slow and hopefully safe
 
Kadebe said:
Well,
Seems in Belgium Ginkgo Centre has nice starter trees. http://www.ginkgobonsai.be
I plan to visit it next spring. Now winter is at our door in a month of 3, I don't want to buy my first starter tree yet.... first get some experience in basic maintenance with nursery trees :) .... slow and hopefully safe
Click to expand...
good one. Forgot about that one.
But same still holds. If the OP wants to VISIT the place, belgium is not practical either.
 
BalconyBonsai said:
Unfortunately, it seems almost nothing is present in their online store, only some very generic swirly trees.
Click to expand...
If you have some idea of what you are looking for, contact them and they will send you images of some proposed trees. They have (ten)thousands of trees normally in stock. But yeah, most of those simple trees
 
leatherback said:
Esveld sells maples NOT meant for bonsai, mostly grafted..

Lodder has a fairly high pricepoint I find.
Kaizen bonsai is reliable, and pretty good value for money
Look at facebook "bonsai and related items for sale"
bonsai.de also on the more expensive side, but in general good quality especially if you want more than just plants
bonsaiplaza is a good reliable store, with trees at all prices (although these are all Japan imports and maybe a segment too high to start with)
Bonsai exhibition in Genk each february has more traders than you can imagine

Are you looking for something specific? I am constantly thinning my collection.
Click to expand...
Ok, too bad about esveld, it seemed promising otherwise with a really large diverse selection.

Thanks alot for your different ideas! I have browsed kaizen before and they seem to have quite a lot of different trees. Regarding facebook, that is probably a good route but I'm not a member and I'm hoping to succeed in going through life without selling my soul to them.

In regards to what I'm looking for I'm not totally sure. After looking at the pictures of @Walter Pall trees I'm hoping to get a Hornbeam of some kind(I think the Korean should work for my climate with winter protection) and more maples. I know they won't be close to his trees but they sure make for good inspiration! I love that natural style!

But at the moment I would say I'm mostly browsing and planning for the future. I think buying something during the fall might not be the best idea since I still haven't overwintered any tree yet so I think I will wait until spring before buying more.
 
BalconyBonsai said:
In regards to what I'm looking for I'm not totally sure. After looking at the pictures of @Walter Pall trees I'm hoping to get a Hornbeam of some kind(I think the Korean should work for my climate with winter protection) and more maples.
Click to expand...
just realize .. those are trees with three to four zeros in the pricetag..

I have a crappy fatter maple available. needs lots of work, there is a thread of mine on timing of a chop from May or so. That is the tree that will not make it another year before it moves, most likely.

I have loads if one year old trident and palmatums if you want some young stuff. pop me a pm if you do.
 
Some Carpinus in Spain. https://www.laosgarden.com/es/busqueda?controller=search&s=carpinus

I realise that is a long way but they will deliver and I can vouch on their credibility. Have everything from starters to expensive, certainly shipping over winter would likely be better over such a distance. Also no idea what shipping would cost, if nothing else you can just have a browse and get ideas.
 
leatherback said:
just realize .. those are trees with three to four zeros in the pricetag..

I have a crappy fatter maple available. needs lots of work, there is a thread of mine on timing of a chop from May or so. That is the tree that will not make it another year before it moves, most likely.

I have loads if one year old trident and palmatums if you want some young stuff. pop me a pm if you do.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I realize that but what I meant was that seeing those trees made me urge to grow the same species. Also, I'm not that much of a trunk-man, more of a foliage-person, so I think the trees won't need to be extremely old with crazy nebaris for me to be very pleased. Just something with a natural looking trunk that I can try and create a beautiful and natural looking branch structure and foliage on. But maybe a good tree for that would still run a very high price?

The one year old maples might be interesting as well so I will make a note of that, thank you!
 
just fyi for price indication of maple trunks.. https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/summer-pruning-and-die-back.43780/

This is the one I am going to let go eventually. Offers starting 150 collected is what I am thinking, of course a bit more if I have to build boxes and source cardboard for eu shipping. Once both main chops have been made and i have repotted again it will probably be a bit more, spring 2022

The first cut has closed by over a cm on both sides, and I have made a more conservative start removing the ugly old root. The tree grew to about 10ft this summer.
 
Starfox said:
Some Carpinus in Spain. https://www.laosgarden.com/es/busqueda?controller=search&s=carpinus

I realise that is a long way but they will deliver and I can vouch on their credibility. Have everything from starters to expensive, certainly shipping over winter would likely be better over such a distance. Also no idea what shipping would cost, if nothing else you can just have a browse and get ideas.
Click to expand...
Wow, thanks! I thought I had found most online Bonsai stores in europe but apparently there are loads more! This one had a lot of nice things!
 
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