SELECTING PLANT MATERIAL

Plants for bonsai are often purchased from nurseries. If your town is like Pittsburgh, there may be several nurseries that have acceptable plants, but there are no full-scale retail bonsai nurseries. There are full-scale bonsai nurseries in and around many cities, and many of them can be located either in bonsai magazine ads or in the links located elsewhere on the Pittsburgh Bonsai web page. These nurseries have more of the plants usually used for bonsai; and the plants are often pre-trained. For instance, you may find junipers that are staked upright to grow like trees. Some also sell finished bonsai. Every spring the Pittsburgh Bonsai Society has a weekend show during which good plant material is sold. Occasionally, vendors come to Society meetings with plants. Other sources include mail order nurseries or bonsai shows in other cities where vendors sell plants. You can also collect plants from the wild, perhaps like that azalea bush in your yard that doesn't quite belong there.

Look for plants with the following characteristics:

• Trunk. There should be a single trunk, at least 1/2 inch thick at the bottom. It is very important that the trunk taper evenly toward the top.
• Roots. Often good roots are below the soil level in nursery pots. Dig down in the soil with your finger. Good bonsai material should have large roots going off in more than one direction, which can be exposed to enhance the tree's style. Beware of nurseries (or non-nurseries such as department stores that sell plants) where the plants are dug out of a field and shoved into a pot of peat moss or sand. Sometimes these roots are tangled, crowded or growing upwards. These plants can be used, but they should be bought in the spring so they can be repotted immediately.
• Branches. There should be plenty so you can select the ones that fit your styling of the tree. They should be thicker at the bottom of the tree and gradually get smaller toward the top. Internodes (the spaces between branches, secondary branches or leaves) should be short so the foliage masses will have a compact, dense appearance.
• Foliage. The condition of the leaves usually tells you about the health of the tree. Also, look for varieties with small leaves. The foliage eventually should be small, and smaller bonsai need even smaller leaves or needles for balance. Some plants' foliage can be reduced with training, and some naturally have small leaves.

Here's a list of good bonsai candidates you might find in regular nurseries:

1. Junipers (juniperis), especially Procumbens nana, needle, or shimpaku. Rug junipers are harder to train as trees;
2. Japanese Maples (Acer Palmatum and its cultivars);
3. Trident Maple (Acer Buergerianum);
4. Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata);
5. False Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa nana, Chamaecyparis pisifera - various varieties);
6. Dwarf Alberta Spruce (picea glauca conica);
7. Larch (larix);
8. Cotoneaster;
9. Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo mugo or the dwarf form, Pinus mugo pumilo);
10. Atlas Cedar (Cedrus Atlantica);
11. Azaleas;
12. Chinese Elm (Ulmus Parviflora); and
13. Japanese Black Pine (Pinus Thunbergii).

There are many other possibilities, so don't be afraid to try whatever catches your eye.