What Are The Best Bonsai Trees For Beginners?
One of the most asked questions among new comers to bonsai is, What tree is best to begin with. And surprisingly this questions never gets answered in the way that it should. So today I want to take you through some considerations so that you can pick the species that will be best suited to your schedule, environment and skill level.
What trees can be made into bonsai?
Before we get too far into it lets cover this question first, what trees can be bonsai? The answer is simple, if it gets a woody trunk and woody branches it can be bonsai! Now some species are more suitable then others due to things like leaf size. Some trees have big leaves which makes it harder to get that dense refined look unless you have a massive trunk that dwarfs the leaf size in comparison. But for the most part get creative with the species you work with.
How Do I Choose My First Bonsai?
Ok so the time has come for you to get your first tree, You take to social media and ask what is the best bonsai trees for beginners and you get the 3 common answers, Ficus, Chinese Elm and Juniper. But are these really the best trees for you? Well its hard to know without some follow up questions.
You see the trees ability to thrive and respond to bonsai work and survive within a small pot greatly comes down to environmental factors and the trees requirements. It can also come down to your availability to tend to the trees needs such as water or providing shade during the hotter months.
So lets take a look at some of the environmental factors that will affect your tree and its ability to thrive.
Direct Sun : This is usually my first question to new comers when they come into the nursery, Can you put your tree outside in direct sunlight, meaning there is nothing between your tree and the sunlight. This includes glass or plastic sheeting. If the answer is No then that pretty much wipes out 90% of the trees you could keep successfully as bonsai as most species we use are temperate species and require the outside environment and direct sun to live and thrive. But lets stick to the sun for now. The sun provides UV rays which react with the chlorophyl in the leaf as well as the carbon dioxide in the air to create glucose which is the trees food and energy source. So the more sunlight a tree has access too the more it can progress its growth and strength, the more strength a tree has the better it responds to bonsai techniques. Some species how ever though will require some amount of partial shade due to having thinner leaves so this is also something you will need to consider when purchasing a tree, if it does have thinner leaves can you provide a good amount of morning sun but have the tree shaded by the afternoon heat.
If you cant provide an outdoor environment for your tree then your only options will fall under the tropical species such as Ficus & Fukien tea. Chinese Elms also seem to do ok indoors but keep in mind they wont respond as well as trees that are kept outside.
Rainfall : When it comes to environments there are places that seem to rain none stop and there are places that are hanging onto the edge of their seat for just a single drop. This can become a deciding factor for the type of tree you can have as a beginner. Now I’m not saying there are species you will never be able to have due to how much rain you do or don’t get as you can adjust your soil mix to account for the amount of rain the tree will receive, but that is a little more advanced and to see further success as a beginner lets get you a tree that will thrive in your environment without any special treatment.
Some species like to be kept fairly moist or even wet for the most part while there are other species that like to live on the drier side of life, So you can imagine having a tree that likes to be slightly drier and living in an environment where the rain just doesn’t let up! You will be fighting a battle to keep the tree happy, where as if you have a species that loves water your job will be so much easier and youll have greater success without adjusting soils. So when choosing a species keep this in mind.
Wind : An often overlooked consideration is wind, if you live in a more coastal area that gets blown off the face of earth fairly often your watering requirements are going to be higher then those who live further inland and have a more gentle breeze to deal with now and then. Wind can dry a tree out very fast by drawing the moisture out of the leaf, the tree needs to replace this moisture otherwise the leave will dry up and die, leave it too long and the whole branch could dry out and die. Now much like the rain we can make adjustments to our soil mix to have it hold more moisture if we live in a windy environment but we are trying to avoid that in the beginner stages. If you live in a windy area consider trees that don’t mind a little bit of drying out between waterings, now this doesn’t mean you can neglect watering and the tree will be fine it just means some species like ficus are less sensitive to a little bit of dry.
Summer Heat : When it comes to summer time the sun can get a bit extreme and temperatures can rise, This will be your first true test of watering. Some species can shrug this heat and intense sun off while others will simply fry no matter how much water you are providing them with. Needle foliage trees tend to do better in this situation such as pines and junipers, and trees that have thicker waxier leaves also do better. How ever trees like Japanese maple with a very fine leaf will suffer. The consideration here will be do I live in environment with very hot summers and if so can I provide shade and extra watering for the trees through these months? If you will have trouble providing shade and extra waterings you will need to consider species that will be able to handle those living conditions.
Winter Cold : This is just like the summer conversation but the opposite, Some trees can handle well below freezing temperatures while others will die. Obviously your deciduous trees are the champions of cold hardiness, Conifers do pretty well below freezing and tropicals want nothing to do with anything below freezing. Once again if you live in a place that has cold winters you will need to consider this when choosing which species will do well in these conditions. You can have trees that wont do well in those conditions but like mentioned in some of the other points they will need special care such as a green house or some sort of protection for your trees over winter. When looking at a trees cold hardiness just remember to lower the threshold for a tree in a pot, those hardiness zones are for trees in the ground not trees in small pots. Trees in the ground have insulated roots that make use of the earths natural warmth, In a pot the roots are much more exposed to the cold. Remember the smaller the root ball the smaller the cold tolerance.
Watering Frequency : The amount your tree needs watering depends on a wide range of factors such as Humidity, wind, outside temperature, pot size, soil type, how dense the foliage is on the tree and also the species. If you are not home a lot or work long hours consider this when choosing a species, if you choose something that has higher watering requirements and you aren’t around to fulfil that duty that could be an issue.
Example of tree considerations for bonsai beginners.
Hopefully all this information will give you a better understanding of what tree will give you the best success in your early stages of bonsai. You don’t have to stick to the trees in the chart as that is just an example of some information to look at and show you how you can consider what is good for you. You can find that information for any tree and make your own chart of trees that might work well for you.
Until Next Time, Enjoy Your Bonsai Journey
