Where to buy Bonsai tree?

[transplant]

Just returned from LA last week and when I was out there paid a visit to the Huntington Library and Gardens. They had amazing bonsai trees. I have always wanted to get one and seeing them renewed my interest. Does anybody have a recommendation on where you can buy them? I am not looking for anything like that which I saw at Huntington as they were probably worth thousands. I am in CC and no car but if there is a recommendation in the burbs I can always get a zip car and head out. Appreciate any info.

[Neb]

There's a place at Reading Terminal that has them. I bought one for my wife last year.

[Worm]

Urban outfitters:

Miniature Indoor Bonsai Tree - Urban Outfitters

Home Depot:
Outdoors - Garden Center - Plants, Bulbs & Trees - Plants, Bulbs & Shrubs - Bonsai Plants & Supplies - *at The Home Depot

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Neb, Worm, thanks for the recs!

[qweezyq]

I have seen them in china town, though I can't recall exactly where. It was a numbered street.

[#1MetsFan]

The only way to get a "good one" is to grow it out yourself and train it, unless you want to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If you are serious about learning bonsai, start with something easier to work with like a japanese maple or a chinese elm and grow it out in a 2 or 3 gallon planter. And get a good bonsai book.

Those "bonsais" that they sell at pharmacies and at Home Depot are not real bonsais. They are just young trees that were stuck in a shallow pot and marketed as bonsai. Don't expect them to live for very long.

[Neb]

The one I got at Reading Terminal was $30. It's doing fine a year later.

[dogoagogo]

10th Street in Chinatown, between Race and Arch, on the west side of the street. It's a few doors south of Imperial, but before Cherry (?). They have bonsai out there, along with a lot of neat things. I buy my incense there pretty much exclusively, although I can never remember the name!

If you're a beginner, it's probably best to start out with some of theirs and experiment. Bonsai can be temperamental and up and die on you if you're not careful and sometimes even if you are.

If you feel like taking a drive, this place in Ringoes NJ is pretty neat:

Allshapes Bonsai | A full-service bonsai nursery located in Ringoes NJ

It's not hard to get to, and a lovely drive once you're off 95.

[transplant]

#1metsfan, good suggestions, thanks.

dogoagogo tks for link looks interesting!