What is the best bonsai tree
What is the best bonsai tree for beginners?
What is the best bonsai tree for beginners?
What is the best bonsai tree for beginners? People new to bonsai often ask us what is the best bonsai tree for beginners. The answer is – it depends! Success with bonsai depends chiefly on two things; location and watering. Having said that, some species of tree are certainly easier than others.
When you first start with bonsai, you tend to want to keep them in the house. After all, they are houseplants aren’t they?! Plus, if they are in the garden, you won’t see them as much as you would if they were on the coffee table / desk. Its cold and wet out there half the time, you don’t want to go out there. In reality, it is much easier to keep bonsai trees outside. Having said that, some bonsai trees can be kept indoors, and people tend to start with these.
What I can tell you is that almost everyone who grows bonsai trees as an interest, grows them outdoors. Trees love fresh air, sun and rain. I have this conversation with beginners in bonsai nearly every day at the nursery. So, if you want to get into growing bonsai and you have a garden, use it! Right now, you might not have any bonsai trees and the garden isn’t very interesting. If you get into bonsai and build a collection of lovely bonsai trees and bonsai projects, it will be coming into the house that’s the problem!
Anyway, off on a tangent there. Here is a list of a few of the easier bonsai tree species.
The best bonsai trees for beginners
Ficus
Description: Evergreen tropical tree. Sometimes have cool aerial roots growing from the trunk.
What Makes Ficus bonsai trees good for beginners?
Ficus will grow well indoors, in a bright location. Since beginners often want to grow bonsai trees indoors, Ficus is a good choice. It is also easy to shape with wire, as the branches are supple and bend easily. Fairly forgiving if you forget to water.
Shop for Ficus Bonsai
Chinese Elm
Semi-evergreen tree. Usually most peoples first bonsai tree and a good choice. Naturally small leaves. Not too expensive either – Nice looking trees are available without spending hundreds of pounds.
A well shaped Chinese Elm potted into a nice pot. A good starter bonsai without spending a fortune makes them a good choice for beginners in bonsai.
What Makes chinese elm bonsai trees good for beginners?
Will grow indoors or outdoors but its is better to grow them outdoors if possible, for at least the warmer months of the year. Very easy to prune, as they put out lots of new shoots when they cut branches back. Also frost hardy for outdoor life. Its quite easy to improve the look of the tree through regular pruning over time.
Shop for Chinese Elm Bonsai
Portulcaria – Small Leaf Jade
Evergreen succulent. Not actually a tree as such but it looks like one. Small oval leaves.
What Makes Portulacaria bonsai trees good for beginners?
Its naturally grows in hot climates, so its fine indoors. It is very tolerant of drying out, so if you forget to water for a few days, it won’t mind too much.
Juniper
Evergreen tree with scale like foliage. A bonsai classic. Old specimens from Japan can be extremely valuable. Need to live outdoors and cannot survive indoors.
What Makes Juniper bonsai trees good for beginners?
It doesn’t have leaves in the way that you imagine when first think of a leaf. Junipers grow in small cells – little green segments. This means that you don’t have to worry about big leaves spoiling the image of the tree.
A large tree in the wild can have a million leaves. We can’t do this with bonsai but junipers give the illusion of a wild tree due to the scale-like foliage, making them good for beginners in bonsai.
Shop for Juniper Bonsai
Cotoneaster
Evergreen. Small leaves and flower. Small berries too. Needs to live outdoors.
What Makes Cotoneaster bonsai trees good for beginners?
Small leaves always help. It also responds well to pruning – It puts out lots of new shoots when you prune branches back.
Small leaves, flowers and berries make Cotoneaster a good choice for beginners to bonsai.
Shop for Cotoneaster Bonsai
16 Common Bonsai Tree Species to Grow
These types of bonsai trees are best for training into different shapes at home
By
Cori Sears
Cori Sears
Cori Sears specializes in houseplants and houseplant care. For more than 10 years, she's been on a mission to transform her urban apartment into an indoor jungle. She's been a contributing writer for The Spruce since 2019.
Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
Updated on 08/23/22
Reviewed by
Kathleen Miller
Reviewed by Kathleen Miller
Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and Horticulturist who shares her knowledge of sustainable living, organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens, a working sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column. She has over 30 years of experience in gardening and sustainable farming.
Learn more about The Spruce's Review Board
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Bonsai is an ancient living art form that utilizes growing and training techniques to produce miniature trees that mimic the appearance of their full-sized counterparts. These techniques include heavy crown pruning, root pruning, and root confinement in shallow containers.
Nearly any perennial, woody-stemmed tree or shrub that produces true branches can be trained as a bonsai tree. However, some species are more well-suited to growing as bonsai than others. Some bonsai tree species are more popular due to aesthetic reasons (such as having small foliage or gnarled-looking bark), while others are popular because they are notorious for being low-maintenance and resilient when grown as miniatures.
Bonsai Tree Species for Beginners
If you are just getting started growing and training bonsai, you may prefer to work with varieties that are easiest to train. Here are common bonsai tree species for beginners:
- Juniper: Tolerates heavy pruning and is ideal for learning wiring techniques
- Ficus: One of the most common indoor bonsai tree types and best if you're not consistent with watering
- Japanese red maple: Affordable tree that tolerates pruning mistakes of novice bonsai artists, but you'll need to remember to water it
- Chinese elm: Great for learning pruning techniques; thrives indoors or outdoors
There are many types of species you can try out to create bonsai trees. Read on to find out more about the four species above for beginners and other popular flowering and non-flowering tree and shrub varieties that make good bonsai specimens.
Tip
Nearly any tree variety grown as a bonsai will grow best in a special potting mix that is usually marketed as a bonsai soil mix. This mix is really not a soil at all, but rather a mixture of hard Japanese akadama (a claylike mineral), pumice, and black lava, sometimes with some horticultural additives included.
Bonsai Tree Plants and Feng Shui
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Loren Klein / Getty Images
Juniperus is a large genus of over 50 evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs that are popular as bonsai trees. All species of juniper can be successfully grown as bonsai.
Junipers are popular as bonsai for two main reasons. First, the small foliage fits nicely with the miniature aesthetic of bonsai; and second, junipers are hardy trees that can withstand aggressive pruning. Juniper bonsai trees do not do well when grown indoors, and they must be planted in dry soil.
- Light: Bright, sunny light
- Water: Allow soil to dry slightly before watering
- Color Varieties: Needles can be yellow, pale green, or dark green (depends on species)
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3000ad / Getty Images
Pine trees are popular as bonsai because they are hardy and trainable. In fact, pine trees can be shaped into almost every known bonsai style. Pine trees are characterized by needles that appear in bundles of two to five, and bark that becomes scaly or flaky as it ages. Species that are particularly good for bonsai include Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii), mountain pine (P. mugo), Scots pine (P. sylvestris), and Japanese white pine (P. parviflora).
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Water when the soil looks dry
- Color Varieties: Needles range from light green to bluish green to dark green (depends on species)
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Aleroy4 / Getty Images
Japanese maples are deciduous hardwood trees famous for red-burgundy or green leaves that turn bright red, orange, or yellow in fall. The bark of young Japanese maples is typically green or reddish, turning grey or grayish-brown as it ages.
A warning to those bonsai enthusiasts who don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the craft—Japanese maples require a lot of water, especially during the growing season. Depending on the temperature, they may require daily watering, possibly even several times daily.
- Light: Sunny, partial sun
- Water: Requires frequent watering (daily or more)
- Color Varieties: Some varieties have red or yellow leaves from spring to fall, while others are reddish in spring, turn green in summer, then transform into brilliant reds, yellows, or oranges in fall.
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Carlo A / Getty Images
Cherry trees are traditionally believed to signify friendship, and varieties such as the Japanese flowering cherry also make beautiful bonsai trees. These ornamental, deciduous trees are not only gorgeous, but they are easy to train because their branches and trunks are pliable and easy to shape.
While bonsai cherry trees can be grown indoors, they may suffer from a lack of light and grow best when grown outdoors in the summer months.
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Keep the soil consistently moist.
- Color Varieties: Foliage is green or bronze; flowers can be various shades of white or pink.
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Cliff / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
The rough, ragged bark of cedar trees has made them a popular choice among bonsai enthusiasts. Cedar trees are evergreen conifers that grow short needle clusters along their branches, providing an opportunity for very dramatic bonsai styles. Impressive drama aside, cedars are not ideal for beginners. Cedar bonsai trees require specialized care and expertise to grow properly as bonsai and are best-suited for experienced growers.
There are four cedar species frequently grown as bonsai: cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libania), Cyprus cedar (Cedrus brevifolia), Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), and Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica).
- Light: Direct sun
- Water: Allow the soil to partially dry between waterings
- Color Variations: Dark green needles
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Bulgnn / Getty Images
Ginseng ficus is a tropical bonsai tree species. However, it's considered to be an excellent species for beginner bonsai enthusiasts because it is a very hardy and forgiving tree. These broadleaf evergreen trees are characterized by unique-looking aerial roots and oval-shaped dark green leaves.
Ginseng ficus makes a low-maintenance bonsai tree, and it doesn't require as much light as other popular bonsai varieties. It grows well indoors as a houseplant since it thrives in warm climates and bright, indirect light.
- Light: Bright, indirect light
- Water: Keep soil moist
- Color Varieties: Glossy green foliage and light brown bark
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Photohomepage / Getty Imges
The beautiful, umbrella-like canopy of the weeping fig makes it a popular choice for bonsai. Its twisted surface roots are another alluring feature that lends well to bonsai styling.
Besides its appearance, Ficus benjamina is a hardy, resilient tree making it perfect for bonsai training. It adapts well to growing indoors and is often grown as a houseplant year-round.
- Light: Part sun
- Water: Water frequently
- Color Varieties: Glossy green leaves and light-brown bark
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/ Getty Images
The dwarf jade plant is a semi-evergreen softwood shrub that makes an excellent bonsai tree for beginners. Dwarf jades look very similar to the more common jade variety (Crassula ovata), however, the smaller foliage of the dwarf jade makes it the preferable choice for bonsai growing.
Dwarf jade bonsai trees grow well indoors but need direct sunlight for most of the day. They can also be successfully grown outside but cannot tolerate freezing temperatures.
- Light: Direct light
- Water: Water sparsely
- Color Varieties: Dark green succulent leaves, light brown branches
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SharonCobo / Getty Images
The thick, knotted bark and striking, fruit-bearing flowers of the pomegranate tree have made it a popular type of bonsai tree. Its naturally gnarled, ancient appearance is perfect for the bonsai aesthetic.
Pomegranate bonsai trees can be grown outdoors year-round in warm climates, or grown indoors for part of the year. They should be protected from freezing temperatures and frost.
- Light: Bright direct light
- Water: Water regularly
- Color Varieties: Glossy green leaves; may flower with orange-red blooms that produce edible fruit
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MarcBruxelle / Getty Images
Dwarf boxwoods are popular shrubs and they also are good choices for bonsai plants since they respond well to pruning.
One type of dwarf boxwood, the littleleaf boxwood (Buxus microphylla), also known as 'Kingsville Dwarf', grows 12 to 18 inches high, perfect for bonsai and miniature gardens. Harland boxwood (Buxus harlandii) is another good shrub for a bonsai, but it can grow a little taller, to 2 to 3 feet if not pruned. Yet another dwarf boxwood variety is the Korean (Buxus sinica var. insularis) with a height of 2 feet.
- Light: Full sun to partial shade
- Water: Somewhat drought-tolerant; let dry slightly between waterings
- Color varieties: Small, rounded, glossy, or leathery green leaves and insignificant green or yellow flowers
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DebraLee Wiseberg / Getty Images
Azaleas are flowering shrubs, but some miniature versions, typically referred to as "greenhouse azaleas," are meant to be houseplants. Dwarf varieties can grow just shy of 3 feet tall.
One particular azalea, Satsuki (Rhododendron indicum), is ideal for bonsai but it's also considered strictly an outdoor flowering plant. Without pruning it can grow several feet tall, but with pruning it is a lovely foot or so high with pink springtime blooms.
- Light: Full sun to partial shade; dappled shade
- Water: Frequent watering
- Color varieties: White, pink, red, orange, peach blooms
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TraceyAPhotos / Getty Images
The Chinese elm, also known as lacebark elm, is a popular choice for those beginning bonsai since the tree is easy to grow indoors or outdoors though it needs heavy pruning. It has a rounded shape and its distinctive multi-colored bark in shades of brown, gray, green, and orange exfoliates for visual interest. A Chinese elm bonsai will stay around 10 inches to 2 feet tall.
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Drought tolerant, but needs less frequent and deeper waterings
- Color varieties: Small green leaves, insignificant blooms, and exfoliating light and grey bark
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Daderot / Wikimedia Commons / CC0
In the landscape, beech trees grow tall with thick, lush canopies and striking shades of bark, and bonsai versions are every bit as lovely. The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is ideal for bonsai because of its smooth grey bark and broad, but small leaves.
You'll enjoy the tricolor beech tree (Fagus sylvatica 'Roseo-Marginata'/'Purpurea Tricolor') with its variegated leaves that may include many shades of green, pink, and white, with a color often edging the leaves, that create a dramatic bonsai.
Other beech tree options include the American beech (Fagus grandifolia) with large, but thin leaves that look breezy as a bonsai, and the Japanese white beech (Fagus crenata), in demand as bonsai for its smaller, thicker foliage.
- Light: Full sun to semi-shade
- Water: Water whenever the soil is dry
- Color varieties: Green, yellow, purple, pink, white, or red leaves, white or gray bark
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Cliff / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Many fir (Abies) trees from the genus are often chosen for Christmas trees, and they make perfect bonsai specimens, as well. They are part of the pine tree family (Pinaceae) but fir trees deserve their own place on the bonsai map. One caveat: fir trees aren't always suited to container culture so they have to become acclimated.
A popular tree from this genus to bonsai is the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga). The foliage is dense and the branches are well proportioned for bonsai. The younger branches on Douglas fir can be easy to train since they are very flexible versus older, breakable branches.
- Light: Full sun to partial shade
- Water: Does not like droughts or wetness, requiring water when the soil is just about dry
- Color varieties: Green or blueish-gray needle-like leaves
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Sailko / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Though the white oak tree (Quercus alba) grows to epic heights in the landscape, it can also make a handsome, sturdy bonsai specimen. Even as bonsai, it will have its signature gnarled, aged trunk and the propensity to live indefinitely.
A white oak tree may not be too easy for beginner bonsai artists. Other types of oak trees make better bonsai trees to start, such as the English oak tree (Quercus robur). It's a perfect bonsai for autumn leaf peepers and you don't even have to leave home to see the changing fall colors.
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Deep, infrequent watering only when soil is dry
- Color varieties: Dullish green and shapely rounded lobed leaves with rough gray trunks
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bullantmultimedia / Getty Images
Most flowering crabapple species make beautiful fragrant flowering and fruiting bonsai. They flower in the spring and produce small dangling round fruit in the fall. It's safe to taste the tiny apple fruit of your bonsai if you're tempted.
There are numerous ideal crabapple species for bonsai. Try ‘Sugar Tyme’ for its pinkish white flowers and profuse red fruit and weeping types like ‘Red Jade’ for its drooping form that bursts with white flowers.
- Light: Full sun but not in direct, harsh heat
- Water: Frequent watering to keep moist, not soggy
- Color varieties: Oval serrated leaves come in greens to purples, with pink, red, or white flowers, and reddish to orange fruits
The Best Succulents
Indoor Bonsai Care Instructions
Indoor Bonsai Care Recommendations
It is a common misconception that bonsai are kept indoors. In fact, most types of bonsai trees need to stand outside to be exposed to natural phenomena throughout the four seasons, just like ordinary trees. Only tropical and subtropical plants can be permanently indoors, where a high and stable temperature is maintained throughout the year.
Choice of tropical tree species for indoor bonsai
There are several types of trees that can be grown indoors. Today, the most common (and easiest to care for) is ficus bonsai. Ficus, which tolerates low humidity and is resistant to various adverse conditions, is a good choice for beginners.
Other common indoor tree species are the money tree (Crassula), privet (Ligustrum), eretia (Carmona), sheflera (Schefflera arboricola) and sageretia (Sageretia).
Indoor bonsai trees; ficus, carmona and Chinese elm.
Why can't temperate (non-tropical) trees be kept indoors year-round?
As noted above, the most important reason is that these trees require a dormant period in winter. At this time, the annual growth cycle ends and the tree prepares for the next cycle, which will begin in early spring. It gradually sinks into a dormant state as temperature and light intensity decrease over several weeks. This does not happen if the tree is kept indoors.
An example of an "indoor" ficus bonsai
In terms of care, an "indoor" bonsai is different from ordinary "home" potted plants. The main difference is that bonsai are kept in small containers and therefore have a limited supply of nutrients and moisture. Even more importantly, tropical trees require an abundance of light and high humidity, i. conditions that are quite difficult to recreate indoors.
Specific recommendations for indoor bonsai care:
1. Lighting
The main problem with tropical bonsai indoors is the significantly lower light intensity indoors compared to outdoors. At low light intensity, trees, of course, do not die immediately, but their growth slows down, which ultimately leads to their weakening. Therefore, put your bonsai in the brightest place, best of all - on the south window.
However, even if you have a south-facing window, the light intensity may still be too low. Then additional lighting with lamps, for example, fluorescent (with a spectrum that stimulates plant growth) or LED, for at least 10 hours a day, can help.
2. Air Humidity
Another problem with keeping tropical bonsai indoors is that they need relatively high humidity, much higher than what is usually found indoors (especially when the heating or air conditioning is running). You can increase the humidity around your bonsai by placing it on a tray filled with water, or by misting it several times a day. It also helps to ensure the flow of air from the street through the window.
3. Watering and feeding
The most important rule is never water on a schedule. Ignore the tag attached to your bonsai, which may say that the tree needs to be watered every so many days. Instead, watch your tree and only water it when needed. Please see the section on watering and fertilizing for more information.
4. Temperature
Tropical tree species need a relatively warm temperature throughout the year, which is the normal room temperature of your living room.
Subtropical trees can tolerate slightly cooler temperatures in winter and usually do well when wintered at temperatures well below standard room temperature.
In a nutshell, choose the right kind of wood and follow the appropriate care instructions and you'll be fine!
varieties and types for beginners, growing conditions and technology, care rules
The right choice of bonsai for cultivation in our climate and the correct determination of its conditions is the key to plant health and its normal existence. With the help of the following article, we will help you choose the plant that is most suitable for planting.
Theoretically, it is possible to grow absolutely every plant in miniature, whether it is a shrub or a tree, but the art of bonsai has its own favorites, which I would like to pay attention to. Basically, these are deciduous and coniferous plants. So, the most popular are maple and pine. They are quite whimsical and grow extremely slowly, but it is worth trying to create the right conditions and follow the necessary care in order to grow these masterpieces.
The legislators of the art of bonsai, the Japanese, grow miniature ornamental plants in fresh air, that is, on the street, and bring them indoors only on holidays. In our regions, this possibility simply does not exist, since even on the balcony, in winter, the plant may die. Freezing of the roots occurs, which turns into an extensive disease of the whole plant, which leads to a slow death. However, plants that have been taken from the wild for bonsai cannot be permanently kept indoors. With the right content, they need winter dormancy, which is achieved at temperatures from 0 to -5 degrees Celsius. So, especially for bonsai, you will be forced to provide the necessary climate, for example, on a glazed balcony. Before you start growing bonsai, you need to identify exactly the plant that is more or less predisposed to our climate . Their adaptability is much higher and the percentage of survival is much higher than that of exotic plants.
Contents
- 1 Plants that are suitable for growing in our environment:
- 2 Choosing a plant for bonsai (video)
- 3 Houseplants for bonsai
- 4 Growing bonsai (video)
Plants suitable for growing in our environment:
- Common lilac, Hungarian lilac, White Svidina, White variegated Svidina;
- Japanese spirea, Middle spirea, Birch-leaved spirea, Downy-fruited spirea;
- Alder Irga, European Forsythia, Common Cherry, Steppe Cherry;
- Siberian spruce, prickly spruce, gray prickly spruce, globular willow, weeping willow, Ledebour willow;
- Berry apple tree, Sievers apple tree, Cossack juniper;
- Siberian larch;
- Low almond, bean, Mock orange varietal;
- Viburnum viburnum;
- Common viburnum, River maple;
- Cotoneaster chokeberry, Euonymus european;
- Ussuri pear, Hawthorn;
- Silver birch; Barberry Thunberg;
- Purple barberry, Amur barberry.
Choosing a plant for bonsai (video)
Houseplants for bonsai
It is much easier to grow bonsai from indoor plants, subtropical and tropical. They do not require any special conditions for wintering or growing up, and it is much easier to form bonsai from them and this can be done in a short time, of course, in a comparative sense. Even in ordinary wildlife stores, you can find ficuses that are suitable for forming small ornamental trees from them.
One of the main criteria when choosing material for bonsai will be the ability to find plants with small leaves and flowers, which are approximately commensurate with the small trunk of the plant itself. So the future plant, already from the very beginning, will be a proportionally reduced creation, similar to an adult tree.
Growing bonsai (video)
Also, in addition to external data and conditions of detention, when choosing plants for bonsai, people are often guided by the beneficial properties of plants . Some of them, in addition to producing a small amount of oxygen, have the ability to disinfect the surrounding air, while suppressing the vital activity of various harmful microorganisms or supplying it with volatile leaf secretions with medicinal properties. In the list of similar plants:
- Ficus Benjamina;
- Laurel noble;
- Arabian coffee;
- Boxwood evergreen;
- Chinese hibiscus;
- Japanese privet;
- Japanese euonymus;
- Western thuja;
- Muraya exotic;
- Grapefruit;
- Lemon;
- Fig.
Professionals who have been practicing bonsai for many years say that in no case should you choose a plant for planting at home that you do not like, annoying in appearance, colors or smell.