Many trees and shrubs are suitable for traditional bonsai. Good starter stock can be found at a local nursery, Lowes, Home Depot, your own back yard, or a neighbors for that matter. (please ask before digging) Specialty nurseries often have a wide selection of dwarf and semi dwarf varieties of many species. Dwarf plants, however, do not always convey the same impression as their full size counterparts because their growth habits are quite different. Azalea, beech, boxwood, ginkgo, maple, oak, juniper, pine, wisteria, and zelkova all make good subjects.

Not sure which plant goes with what style of bonsai? Continue Reading »

As even the young novice knows there are five (5) basic styles for bonsai but with many variations on each style.  The following article link will provide you with a list of the five basic styles used in bonsai using a few live trees as examples. It will also give you a list of common trees found in your local nursery or favorite bonsai shop. This article is intended to give you just a basic understanding.

Check out the Basic Bonsai Styles article for tips on choosing the correct plant and style for your next design.

Featuring today’s bonsai artists without including the “Masters” who influenced them most would not be possible so from time to time we plan to interview some the founding legends of this art form and feature bonsai artists from other parts the world such as Morten Albek from Europe and Kenji Miyata from Japan.

Check out the Bonsai Styling 101 article for tips on pruning and basic design.

Here Kenji Miyata and Bob Jardinico work on a large Shimpku at a recent Kenji Day event sponsored by Chikugo-en bonsai nursery in Gardena, CA. Kenji now lives on the west coast so we will be seeing much more of this talented bonsai master.

"Bonsai is imagination and fantasy. You can’t just scale down a big tree, and put it in a pot. You have to paint the visions held in peoples’ minds." Morten Albek

This bonsai web site is dedicated to the living art of bonsai. West Coast Bonsai does not claim to be an authority on the art of bonsai nor do we profess to be experts in any style or technique used by today’s bonsai artists. We are here only for your entertainment.

Our goal is to help educate the novice bonsai practitioner and to feature the “living art of bonsai ” and showcase some of the bonsai artist that do it “west coast style”.