Sections:

Seeds + Bonsai-From-Seed Guide
Trees - NEW
Services

Bonsai Lessons / Consultations (Virtual or In-Person)
Bonsai Workshops - Up Next: 9/16/2023 Beginner Yew Bonsai Design and Care (Trees and loaner tools provided)
Bonsai and Artistic Landscape Tree Maintenance (Pruning, Styling, Repotting, Watering, Carving, Bonsai Boarding)

Seeds + 10-Year Bonsai From Seed Guide

As I said in my blog post, Making the "Glory to Ukraine, Peace to Ukraine! / Слава Україні, мир Україні!" Bonsai Display, I will be donating 10% of my bonsai seed sales to charities in Ukraine. At the links below you can also contribute directly to the National Bank of Ukraine in support of humanitarian aid or in support of their defense forces.

Donate Directly

As regular readers know, I strongly believe a better bonsai seed kit needs to be made available for

those interested in growing bonsai from scratch. Too many bonsai seed kits include seeds that never germinate, offer no support to new growers, and if you can get germination, they offer no instructions on how to turn this sapling into a mature, respectable bonsai. To that end, I've leveraged my experience as a bonsai apprentice at Elandan Gardens and my teacher's 60+ years of experience in growing bonsai from seed to compose a practical guide on seed-growing bonsai. My seed-growing guide is focused on foundational bonsai strategies for the first 10 years of growing like building your trunk, selecting and wiring branches, and creating good nebari (root flare). Every order of seeds comes with the growing guide at no additional charge! The physical guide and seeds will be mailed to you together.

My seeds are collected from a variety of locations including bonsai gardens, botanic gardens, public arboretums, and on occasion, city streets and wild locations. The specifics of each seed are listed in their Etsy listing.

Seeds require you to cold-stratify them yourself as dry storage for most species is critical to their longevity. In spring, some select varieties are available pre-stratified.

Etsy offerings as of Autumn 2022. (Some new species have since been added. See Etsy for the full list)

Available seeds (on Etsy)

Low on stock / available upon request:

Pidgeon Pea (tropical)
Avocado (tropical)
Lemon (tropical/subtropical)
Orange (tropical/subtropical)
Rain tree, Samanea saman (tropical, also not the same as Brazillian Raintree)
Clitoria ternata (tropical) (I'm low on this one and saving for myself but could be requested)
Western Larch (limited)
Subalpine fir (limited)
Douglas fir (limited)
Alaska Yellow Cedar (low on this one, probably saving the rest for myself)

Out of stock:

Dwarf Japanese Maple
English Yew (will return in 2024)
Brewer Oak
Chestnut Oak
Chinkapin Oak

Fresh seeds coming in 2024

Korean (Kousa) dogwood
Florida dogwood
Pitch pine
--
English Yew restock
American hornbeam restock
Northern Spicebush restock
Chinese Elm restock

Trees - NEW

I am officially a licensed nursery registered with the state of Ohio as of 2023! I specialize in growing native bonsai from seed, digging local wild bonsai from yards and forests, and propagating tropicals for beginner bonsai artists to enjoy. Contact me to see my nursery in person or inquire about anything in particular you are looking for. I am located now in northern Upper Arlington, near Columbus, OH. Occasionally I may update the links below with more details on what trees are currently available but generally, an in-person visit is the best way to see everything available at a given time. Contact me to arrange a visit appointment!

*$15 minimum for delivery within 15 miles of OSU campus in Columbus. Beyond that, we can negotiate based on the order. No shipping at this time, but maybe in the future.

Available Bonsai & Prebonsai

Tropicals (indoor-friendly)

Crassula ovata, aka jade - bonsai and prebonsai
Gollum jade
Portulacaria afra / dwarf jade
Christmas Cactus
Ficus macrocarpa
Ficus benjamina
Lemon
Hawaiian umbrella tree
Avocado
Black olive
Monterey Cypress (semi-tropical)

Deciduous

Privet yamadori
Barberry yamadori
Catalpa
Thundercloud plum
Redbud
Virginia creeper
Gray bark grape
Mulberry
Silky dogwood
Azalea
Hackberry
Black locust
Red maple
Honey locust
Amur maple
Quaking aspen
Northern Spicebush
Sweetgum
Apple
Chinese elm
American elm
Native ash spp.
Sugar maple
Black walnut
And more...

Broadleaf evergreens

Boxwood yamadori
And more...

Coniferous

Japanese black pine
Yew yardadori
Monterey Cypress (semi-tropical)
Juniper spp.

And more...

Services

Bonsai Lessons

In the age of quarantine, I now offer Zoom, Skype, or Discord bonsai consultations as well as in-person lessons in the Columbus area. I can be of service in helping pass on basic horticulture information and in helping to formulate design ideas. Those who do not have a bonsai club in your local area may find this especially useful. Contact me if interested.

Bonsai Workshops

Up Next:

9/16/2023 Beginner Yew Bonsai Design and Care (Trees and loaner tools provided) - $50/person

We will be using a bit older material than in my other beginner styling workshop. Although we are not repotting in this workshop due to the time of year, because the material is more mature, participants will receive a tree that will transform more rapidly into a finished bonsai. We will focus on wiring and pruning to set and enhance the trunk and primary branch lines as well as start to form the foundation of foliage pads if time allows. We will also open with a brief exercise in wiring bonsai and instruction on the benefits of and essential steps to keep a bonsai alive outside. The workshop will be 3 hours and is hosted in coordination with the UA Parks and Recreation Department.

Other workshops available on demand are:

Yew Phoenix grafting ($100/person for a 3-hour workshop). I provide carved juniper deadwood, yew whips, training pots, and bonsai soil for slip-pot. This workshop was first hosted in the spring of 2023 and was well-received by all who attended. Participants should bring their own pruners, pliers, and bonsai wire, but some recycled wire and small loaner pruners are available also.
Beginner repotting and initial styling ($50/person for a 2-hour workshop) where we take young stock (participants receive either tropical/indoor suitable material or seedlings intended for outdoor growing; inquire about exact species availability as it varies over time), repot them into training pots and perform initial wiring and pruning to set an initial shape. Loaner pruners, soil, and recycled bonsai wire are provided.
Intro to kintsugi repair. If you have a broken pot, inquire here. I'll be happy to source and supply the necessary tools for the 2-in-1 step technique I have written about. I will provide you the epoxy, gold, silver, or copper-colored mica powder, parchment paper, and toothpicks for application. I will show you how to begin sealing the pot together here in person in this 1-hour workshop but for a pot with many pieces broken you will have to let segments dry completely for about 1 day before adding the next piece, so much of it will need to be completed at home which is why I provide the supplies for you to take home. $75/person.
Carving workshop ... my priciest workshop as I will need to get liability insurance for this and you will be expected to sign a liability waiver. I am most proficient in mechanical deadwood carving via Dremel and Die Grinder. I have been instructed in both the Dan Robinson and the Will Baddeley styles of carving. I also have limited experience in Si Dao manual carving techniques, especially with the use of bark scrapers, trunk splitters, and jin pliers, and will be happy to demonstrate all of these methods. The main area I do not have experience in is carving via chisels. Contact me if interested.

We can combine this with a privet wiring and styling workshop. I have a few privets left over from my CBS workshop. Again, this workshop was well received by all who attended!

Wiring and Clip and grow workshops for primary branch lines and foliage pad development

For $50 I will provide a 2-hour workshop where you will practice wiring and pruning on honeysuckle bonsai. I have several which I saved with permission from Columbus Parks from our latest invasive removal event in spring 2023. These trees are intended explicitly for beginners to practice bonsai techniques. Participants who take this workshop can take home the tree to continue their long-term practice, just make sure to pick off flowers once they are done blooming in future years to prevent the plant from producing seeds.
Other material is available to teach this subject area if you have a different species preference (price may vary).

Bonsai or Niwaki (landscape tree) Maintenance

For those near Columbus, OH, I offer my experience in styling landscape trees (Niwaki), as well as collecting, repotting, styling, carving, and maintaining bonsai. You may wish to see the before & after gallery section of my blog to get a better idea of my abilities. A few selected examples of my work are included below for convenience. Contact me if you would like to discuss this option.

Bonsai boarding is also possible for brief or extended vacations.

Example: Decandling Japanese Red Pine

An example of my work as an apprentice at Elandan Gardens. 4 years of decandling pines... it changes you. Luckily all the holes in my hands have now healed!

Example: Thinning Alaska Yellow Cedar

Thinning Alaska Yellow Cedars and related Thujas are very time-consuming tasks. The perfect job for an apprentice! Pruning fronds in this way results in the regeneration of smaller fronds as well as backbudding for ramification.

Example: Cleanup & Cutback on a Laceleaf Japanese Maple Landscape Tree (Niwaki)

Old Japanese Maples are a pleasure to prune! They just need their regular maintenance, otherwise, it is a much more involved process to reset their structure. This was a tree I pruned for a client. Due to the major reset, further years of monitored growth are needed.

Example: Pruning Japanese Black Pine Landscape Trees (Niwaki)

I have extensive experience in pruning landscape pines as well. All learned from his bonsai teacher Dan Robinson at Elandan Gardens.

Bonsai Sales & Services