John -

Welcome.

You would do well to avoid bonsai "kits" and mass-market bonsai, known in these
parts as "mallsai." Instead, go to your local garden center and buy a gallon size
landscape plant that you can train yourself. The money you save will be enough to
buy a book on bonsai, or better yet, to pay for membership in a local club if there
is one.

What is easiest to take care of depends on your climate and other factors such as
whether or not you have a good outside place to overwinter a hardy tree (like a
juniper) or indoor conditions that might favor a tropical, like ficus (fig, also
available at many garden centers). It would help if you let us know a bit more
about your particular situation.

Your best bet is to learn as much as you can, from this list, from a club, from
books, and by working with trees. Check the library at your college - I'm sure
there will be at least a couple of books on the subject.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Jay


John wrote:

Hi all, I've been reading lots of info in here and I've decided that I
would like to try to have a bonsai tree.

I think I want something that I can put on my outside window seal
during the day and take inside during the night. I was thinking maybe
the typical beginner Juniper.(I like the flowering bonsai's too, but
those are probably harder to take care of, especially for a college
student right?).

anyways, there is a bonsai kit online here
http://www.bonsaiboy.com/catalog/bonsai-starter.html that looks sort
of interesting. They say the juniper is about 3-4 years old and I was
just wondering (I've been looking at a lot of older Junipers) If I can
'sculpt, form, make' whatever you wanna say, the tree into a curve
trunk, or is that just natural with some of these trees.

if anyone has any other ideas where I can buy a decent bonsai kit, or
juniper for not that much(my mom may already kill me for buying a
bonsai) I would be very very very appreciative :-)...

I am really interested in bonsai...

thanks

John

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