The First Two Weeks at Bonsai Portsmouth

Over the past two weeks I have learned A LOT. I’ve learned that there really is a significant amount of people who

are “interested” in bonsai. They either saw one on TV or in a movie, they have heard about them, or maybe they read about them online. The problem most people have is they either don’t know where or how to start or they are either too scared to start. This is part of the reason I started Bonsai Portsmouth. 

Now, if you have been to the nursery over the past two weeks, you probably noticed that I am almost doing the exact opposite of what you might expect. For the most part, I feel like I am trying to talk people out of buying a bonsai; but what I am really doing, is making sure that you will be set up for success. You probably heard me mention that most garden centers have this cute, little “bonsai” section with some tropical trees and the classic, stereotypical “bonsai” from the Karate Kid, the Juniper. Side note - Juniper’s are some of our favorite trees to maintain and work on - but garden centers give these little guys a bad rep. 

See, typically, someone would buy one of these cute little guys or gals, bring it home, put it on a nice sunny windowsill, and effectively watch it slowly wither away and die. Now you think you are a terrible plant parent or that bonsai is just “too hard” for you; when in reality, you were uninformed about the environment and conditions that your bonsai will need to thrive. Notice I didn’t say “survive” and that’s because we don’t just want to keep trees alive, we want to see them push new growth, we want to see roots growing out the bottom of the pot, we want them to THRIVE!

So, when you come to Bonsai Portsmouth, please don’t worry that we are going to push bonsai trees on you. In fact, we will do the exact opposite. I want to make sure that we are setting you up for success. The absolute last thing I want, is for someone to buy one of our trees (that we pour our heart and soul into), have you take it home, and watch is slowly die. You will hear me asking you questions about where you intend to keep it, how much sun does it get, what is the temperature and humidity of your proposed spot, or things like that. 

Then I can direct you to the species of bonsai trees that would benefit the most from those types of conditions. My goal is to show people that bonsai doesn’t need to be hard, it doesn’t need to be super expensive either, it can be enjoyed by people of all ages. This weekend I sold a pre-bonsai to a young girl shopping with her father and two trees to a lovely, retired couple that are just getting into bonsai. 

The welcoming and the feedback from the community has been incredible! For everyone that has stopped by to say hi or “check out the space,” to the people that are just plain happy to see someone moving into the nursery, and lastly the people that have offered to help me out, I can’t thank you enough. I started this endeavor because I truly love bonsai - don’t get me wrong, it is a labor of love - but, when the days get hard or everything seems to go wrong, its the people like you that keep me going. 

I am so excited for what is yet to come and I am beyond grateful for the progress we have made so far. 

Thank you all.

Peace and Bonsai.

Kyle.