soonami

Bonsai is a long term hobby and many people do many things to obtain trees. The majority of people, I think, go to bonsai nurseries that specialize in seeding, grafting, propagating, collecting and shaping trees. These nurseries will have some trees that are completely unshaped, meaning they root a juniper cutting and it's just been growing in a a container for 5 years without any pruning. There's prebonsai which is nursery stock that maybe slightly wired, root pruned, or trimmed to a desired shape. And there is "finished" which have been fully styled and potted.

If you don't know of a nearby bonsai nursery, you like many people have no choice but to germinate seeds to get the majority of traditional species that aren't natural to north america such as, trident maple, japanese maple, japanese white, red, and black pine, ezo spruce, etc. But this is a long process from seed to tree, you'll probably have to wait 5 years before these trees have developed enough to train.

What I do is I go to nurseries and I look for trees with potential. Those that have thick trunks and have thick roots when I reach into the soil and feel around. This "nursery" collect is a good way to get quality product cheaply, as regular nurseries have more in stock than bonsai nurseries and usually more competitive pricing. Usually smaller locally owned nursery are better than like those of Home Depot and Lowe's, that's because some of these trees are probably grown by the owners themselves so they can help you look for something or let you know of any sales they might have. The quality is usually better too, since they are part of the community people will let them know if the plants were not good.

I also collect trees, there's plenty of literature on the site about that. I just started bonsai myself, but collecting trees is a worthwhile experience. You get to know your natural surroundings and native trees will survive your winter and climate better than trees that have adapted to the climate of Japan. And besides except for the trouble of asking for permission and the time to go out, it's free. Even if you can't find a 1000 year old rock mountain juniper like Walter Pall, if you look closely enough you'll almost always find something.

The process of obtaining trees is different for each person. Some people like Vance Wood gets more of their trees from nurseries. Walter Pall collects a large proportion of his trees from all over the world. John Naka liked to propagate his own trees through seeds or cuttings. So there is a way to go for everyone, but starting from seed is the slowest way to go.

I will usually collect seeds when I go out on hikes or while collect trees just too see what they will do. Part of the reason I do this is to replace some of the trees I take out and the other part is because it's just interesting to start from scratch