Originally Posted by Vance Wood

Treebeard wrote: My Point? Don't expect to fall over a stunning piece of material when visiting garden centres. In fact, don't even expect to find any mediocre material even after inspecting every plant in the place.

I suppose this is possible depending on where you live but here in Michigan this is not true. I suspect that the real problem is that the bonsaiist is going into a place like this hopping to find something that just jumps out at them as a potential bonsai. Going through every plant in the place is not simply walking up and down the lanes looking at every tree, its much more than that. If you are not willing to get your hands dirty and bend your knee this will be your experience as well.