28th August 2017

Although it's generally a slow time of year in the garden we've still had so much work on the table and with autumn just around the corner it's been good to keep on top of things as autumn is a very busy time of year for us. This is the time of year we like to work on species like Pines & Junipers. Late autumn is also a great time to check out the structure of your deciduous trees and to get ideas on any major structural pruning you want to do during late autumn / winter. It's been a great growing season with most trees putting on lots of new growth. We haven't had too much rain so controlling the moisture levels in soil has been much easier than previous years. We've had lots of new trees passing through the garden and some moving so fast we haven't even had a chance to list them on the website.

This is also the time of year we get lots of emails from concerned Pine owners. This time of year pines naturally start to shed previous years needles. They sit further back on the branch, closer to the trunk. They turn a bright yellow colour and fall from the tree with ease. This is a perfectly normal thing to happen this time of year. It's a good idea to run your fingers through the foliage to remove all of the yellowing needles to allow more air and light into the tree. If your current years needles turn yellow or brown this isn't the same as the tree shedding previous years needles and can be the indication of a major problem.

If you haven't seen yet we now have a new up and coming potter on board with us at Premier Bonsai. Tom Butterworth is a UK based potter and has been making pots for around two years. Tom is making some really unique pieces in many different styles. Pots are priced very reasonably and we have a good few that are available to ship right away!

4th August 2017

Hi guys, a long time since the last blog update i know but we've had so much going on over the pact couple of months. It's been a very testing and difficult time indeed. Loosing my great auntie Jean has been heart wrenching. This amazing lady has been like a grandmother to me for my whole life. Her passing was very unexpected and sudden. I saw her every day over the past couple of years to help my mother care for her. She loved and supported Premier Bonsai from day one. She was truly fascinated on the subject of bonsai and would always ask detailed questions about what was done and why. Whenever i got a new tree in I'd always take it around to show her and she was always astonished at the beauty of my little trees.  In the three years we've been running the business we haven't taken one single holiday and the shop has been open for the whole time!! 3 years straight. I very nearly closed shop for a couple of weeks break to get things in order and generally have a rest and get my thoughts together. However I know what my auntie would have said so i kept going and to be honest having all of your orders and emails to sort and the general tasks of running the garden have done me the world of good. So thank you to everyone for your orders and helping me keep busy at this very difficult time. It's much appreciated. The truth is I'm at my happiest when I'm in or around the bonsai garden weather its tending to the trees, updating the website or packing and shipping your orders.

With everything going on it's amazing some of the new products and trees we've still managed to source and get listed on the website. We have our usual steady flow of new  Thor Pots that we are now offering free worldwide shipping on!! as well as a huge Skull pot that was missing in the post for 4 months. We've also had over 40 new Erin Bonsai pots that are available for sale now. We have also discovered a new potter by the name of Tom Butterworth. This guy has been making pots for around 2 years and is already producing some truly beautiful pots. One to look our for in the future for sure. We will be showcasing a few of his pieces over the coming weeks so look out for the new page dedicated for his work.

We've also had a ton of new trees and material come in over the past couple of months. We haven't had the time to promote these so a good few (and some of the best) are still available for sale. We have also added a small selection of indoor bonsai by request of some of you guys.

We now have a much bigger selection of metal bonsai sculptures made by UK artist Matthew Gollop with more to come in the future. These amazing little trees are hand crafted and made by hundreds of strands of wire. Some new designs with glass beads are also now available. These make great gifts to loved ones if they aren't so green fingered.

R.I.P Auntie Jean 1929 - 2017 A truly amazing and loving lady that led a very interesting and unique life and will be missed more than she could have ever known.

 30th April 2017 

It's been 7 week to the day since our last blog update. I'd almost forgotten we even had a blog page. To say things have been busy would be a huge understatement. There has been so much going on in the garden over the past 7 weeks and it's been difficult keeping track of what day it is. We've managed to source so many new products over the past few weeks. We've also taken delivery of lots of new trees with more to come in the coming weeks / months. We are very pleased to now be stocking Erin Bonsai Pots. The first batch arrived a few days ago and they are already proving to be very popular. As you will probably know we also use them for our own trees. There are so many options when choosing an Erin pot for your tree. We personally love this quality about these amazing unique hand made bonsai pots. Be sure to check out the page regularly as we already have a hand full in the bag for the next batch!

We've also added the B4Me page where you'll find some great products used and approved by Harry Harrington, the author of the highly sucessful and very popular bonsai books  Bonsai Inspirations 1 & 2 & The Foundations Of Bonsai. On the page you will find items including Black Deadwood Hollow Stain, Bonsai and Wood Carving Tool Cleaning Solution and Anti-Transpirant Spray S600 that is very useful for collected or sickly trees. Click the link for more information about this great product.

We also have some new power carving tool bits including the Nibbler T Maxi & Mini, The Nibbler R Maxi & Mini Fantastic quality and very popular. Great for ripping out chunks of deadwood. We also a few other carving bits very useful for deadwood work on your bonsai trees. Please follow the link for more information

Probably the thing keeping us at our busiest over the past few weeks besides all of the repotting and packing orders has been planning our new commission a bonsai pot page with Thor Holvila. We are very pleased to be offering commission made bonsai pots by Thor Holvila. With lots of planning and fine tuning there are now many different signature designs available in all shapes, sizes and glazes. Most pots will take approximately one month to be made and shipped to you with the exception of some of the larger pots. Pictures will be sent before the pot is shipped to make sure you are 100% happy. There is no obligation to accept the finished pot is you're not completely happy it.This is a fantastic opportunity to get your favourite Thor design in the perfect shape, size & colour. Please click the link for more information 

12th March 2017 

It's been another busy couple of weeks for us here. We've started some of the repotting and have many other trees in the pipe line. Lots of the usual cleaning and tidying in the garden as we prepare for the coming growing season. We've been packing and sending your orders each day and getting through all of the related paper work. We've managed to get some major website updates & improvements started that are already making the website easier to use and flow quicker and better. We've taken delivery of lots of new items and have finished preparing them for sale. We've replenished some stock that had been out for a while. Some of the new items we have in are really great. The new Ryuga Rs shears are simply amazing and are living up to expectation. We have been testing them out for a few days now and are very pleased with them. Along with the new RS shears we also have two new jinning tools, a new carving tool. Xl trunk splitter, Ryuga angled jin pliers, 3x branch bending tools, new pots and a few more bits and pieces. All being well we should be taking delivery of some new trees over the coming weeks / months so be sure to check out our outdoor bonsai page.

28th Feburary 2017

We are very please to announce that we have finally taken delivery of some much needed supplies. We have been out of these items for a little longer than we'd have liked. Our supplier has manages to get more of these much needed items and the shop is now fully stocked up again. The items include Japanese Folding Saw, Kiyonal Wound Sealant, Potting Mesh, Camelia Oil, Japanese Rectangular Turntable, Japanese Soil Scoop Set. We also have some brand new dry goods to list to the website over the coming days, so be sure to check in with us again soon to see the new items that will be available.

We also have this new brush kit now available for sale. It contains all of the brushes you'll ever need to clean your bonsai trees. From very stiff brushes ideal for cleaning deadwood to softer brass brushes ideal for cleaning flaky bark from live veins. and everything in between. Only £36.99

24th Feburary 2017

It's been a month to the day since our last blog update and what a month it's been. We've had so many different things going on. Since our last blog we've had a major clean up in the garden. This time of year lots of grime and dirt can accumulate around the benches and floor space, so around this time of year we have a major clean and tidy up. Nice clean and open bench space makes things a lot easier and the trees appreciate growing in a clean environment. We've also been adding some new items to the website with much more to come soon. We are very pleased to now be offering a few new budget tool kits ideal for beginners or people on a budget. We are also now offering full set of Ryuga carving tools with free tool roll & worldwide shipping. We are almost ready to add various other Ryuga tools kits to the website so watch this space. These will be tailored for different needs. We will be offering sets in both stainless steel and black carbon steel. We will have shohin kits, scissor kits, kits for medium trees and kits for large bonsai trees. We have also taken delivery of the new batch of Thor Holvila bonsai pots and they have been going down very well. More to come very soon.

We had a fantastic opportunity of getting our hands on a superb Acer Buergeriaumn (Trident Maple) and have been eagerly anticipating it's delivery. It arrived in the garden yesterday and to say we are pleased is an understatement. The tree was originally from Taisho-en in Japan before being imported over to Europe about 4 years ago. The tree stands 58cm tall and is about 56cm wide. The tree supports a huge butterss style nebari, Nice subtle trunk movement and nice branch placement. This tree will remain in our private collection for the foreseeable.

Complete Ryuga Carving Kit

Budget Tool kits

24th January 2017

Here is the second part of yesterdays guest blog post by Harry Harrington.

Ulmus procera (English / Field Elm) No2 

Another 'throw-away' Ulmus procera/Field Elm bonsai, created 6 years ago from a stump, cut off the base of my Elm airlayer from the book Bonsai Inspirations 1.
The stump still had live wood when I cut it from the base of the airlayer, so I threw it into some soil and not surprisingly given how strong this species is, it rooted and threw out new shoots.
I grew out some trunks, hollowed the stump and planted the tree onto a slab made by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery. Since then, I've simply pruned it to shape for the past 3-4 years!

This is the tree that the Elm in question came from

New trunk leaders growing in a training pot

The tree after 6 years of development

23th January 2017

We have a couple of new little trees on the way to the garden, collected and developed by Harry Harrington. Both of the trees are Ulmus procera/ Field Elms. The guest article by Harry Harrington goes to show there can be potential in almost any material if you're willing to put in the time and effort needed. It's also inspiring and amazing to know this first little tree was growing in a 1 inch pocket of leaf mould. Simply amazing! We are very much looking forward to receiving these lovely little trees.

Ulmus procera (English / Field Elm) No1 By Harry Harrington

Before and After images of the Shohin Ulmus procera/ Field Elm bonsai........
Collected in January 2011, this tree was a hopeless case from the offset! I found it by the side of an old bridge where it, and a number of other Elms, had been growing in thin 1" layer of leaf-mould. Workmen had cleared the bridge, pulling up metres of Elm roots, each supporting a number of suckers such as this one.
I... honestly don't know why I even bothered bringing this and half a dozen other similar trees home and rooting them!
Fast forward 6 years, and the trunk and branch structure have been developed, and the tree airlayered last Summer to produce a decent base, before being planted in this Victor Harris pot. (One of the first I bought from him around 2002).
Just 18cm/7.5" tall, with a 3.5cm/1.5" trunk diameter.

Bonsai pot by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery

13th January 2017 #1 

In December we managed to get hold of a very special little bonsai tree. We were originally going to list this tree for sale but since then we've decided to keep in in our garden for the time being. The tree in question is a stunning little Juniper 'Itoigawa' We had our eye on this tree for a good while before we brought it and since it arrived we have had so many messages via email and social media about the availability of this little tree. Sorry guys this is a keeper, for the time being anyway. This kind of tree really stands out to us because it's quite iconic and kind of tree you think of when when hear the word bonsai. The tree was already in pretty good shape when we brought it and so it just needed a little refinement with a few pieces of wire and a little thinning. We've just commissioned a special bespoke pot from our resident potter Thor Holvila. He has been potting some sketches together for us and running ideas by us. We think we have come up with a strong contender. A lovely lava black clay with a very subtle dash of green around the rim of the pot. The pictures show a rough idea of these first thoughts. All being well this pot should be ready by the end of February.

 This is a before & after picture of the refinement work we did after the tree arrived.

More detailed picture of the work completed and more details of the amazing trunk.

Here is a sketch by Thor with a rough picture of the kind of pot we're thinking of building for this tree

13th January 2017 #2

One of our customers 'Francesca' in the USA shared a lovely picture of a Thor Holvila skull pot she recently brought from us. This skull is a very special one and one of the largest Thor has made (so far) The clay used was granite grey and so it looked very natural. We thought we'd share this lovely picture on our blog page to show you guys. Francesca is going to keep us posted on what she ends up doing with the pot so keep an eye out on this page to see what becomes of this skull pot. Thor skulls are becoming more and more popular. We have sold quite a lot of these unique little pots and even have one in our own collection of pots. We have a couple smaller skulls left in stock here

13th January 2017 #3

We're almost at the end of the second week of January and things have been very manic in the bonsai garden & workshop. We've been packing orders non stop since Christmas. We had ran out of some essentials so we had to put in an emergency order of new stock to replenish sold stock. We have managed to get hold of some very nice quality Japanese bonsai tools. These Yagimitsu bonsai tools are made from high quality Japanese steel. Just holding them in your hand you can feel the very high quality of these amazing tools. We have some in black carbon steel and some in stainless steel. We don't have the whole range that's available yet but we are aiming to stock all of these amazing tools in the near future. Here is what we have so far.

5th January 2017

After a well earned day off on the 1st January we got back to the mountain of orders we had to prepare for shipping. By early evening on the 2nd we had caught up with all the orders we had to get out. It was nice having a few days off over the Christmas period but i must say it's great getting back into the flow of things, packing orders for our customers and tending to the trees.

We have something of a special pot now available to pre order. This is a Nidhogg dragon pot by Thor (No-156) and we're very excited about this one. this pot is something of a rarity as the clay used isn't Thor's usual choice and as such we probably wont see another quite like this one any time soon. Please click here for more info about this pot.

28th December 2016

It's been an unusually busy December for us here at Premier Bonsai hence the lack of blog posts. We usually find things get a little quiet in December but not this year. We have been working in overdrive to insure you all received your orders in time for Christmas. After two days off we got back to packing your orders and general website maintenance on the 27th and it seems like is isn't slowing down just yet. We hope you have all been enjoying the Christmas holidays. We have, although eager to get back to work.

Our resident potter Thor Holvila has just released his latest batch of pots and we have 5 of these amazing pots to add to the collection. This months edition is called Iceland and was inspired by a recent trip to Iceland. These are available for sale now

21st November 2016

Well after another busy week in the garden we have finally managed to take delivery of some much needed stock. If you have recently clicked on a product to find it's out of stock, try again as the chances are we now have more in stock now. As much as we always try to keep a steady level of all our items some weeks we find we we get multiple orders for the same items and we quickly run out. We get these items replenished as quickly as possible. We are still waiting for Kiyonal, Potting Mesh, Camelia Oil to come back in stock. Please bare with us and we'll have them back ASAP.

We have also taken delivery of some very nice new pots so be sure to check out our bonsai pots page.

11th November 2016

It's been a very busy week in the bonsai garden, lots of cleaning and tidying. Yes it's that messy time of year when all the leaves are falling and making a mess of our lovely benches. We have had a visit by Bonsai4me.com's  Harry Harrington to drop off a couple of our trees and help style one of our larger White Pines. These trees have been listed on the website for a while and we've decided to make the most from them and get them into better shape to show you what can be done with the sorts of imported trees we get in from Japan. So we have just listed three new White Pines to the website, each very unique and full of potential. Please contact us for more information regarding these stunning new trees.

1st November 2016 #2

It's fair to say Autumn is here and it is truly one of the most beautiful times of year for deciduous trees & bonsai. Some of the fall colours this year have been truly breath taking and they seem to have lasted a long time. We have a large Zelkova in the garden at the moment and the colour has been changing daily over the past couple of weeks. We thought the colour was as vibrant as it was going to get but it keeps getting brighter and brighter. Keeping the trees in full sun during the summer months should help create brighter fall colours. We love this time of year here at Premier Bonsai.

1st November 2016 #1

23rd October 2016

 Well after a seriously busy month we finally had a couple of slower days and that gave us the chance to have a much needed sort out in the workshop. It's amazing how messy things can get after weeks of packing orders and working on trees. Before the clear out and tidy up i couldn't even get into the back room of the workshop as it was full of boxes for packing orders, they were literally stacked from the floor to the ceiling. So we spent the first day in the back room flattening boxes and clearing out things we didn't need. The second day consisted of building new shelving and sorting through some stock. The new shelving really did it's job and has made a huge difference to our workspace. The workshop is for now very clean and tidy. Just how we like it.

This is where the magic happens :)

Some of out Thor Holvila pots on display

New shelving full of stock

Some of our display stands on display

The soil & box storage room is now accessible :)

13th October 2016

We've been working on this amazing little yamadori Sabina Juniper in the bonsai garden today, cleaning off the old flaky bark to reveal the stunning red colour underneath. We have also applied some Lime Sulphur to the deadwood to bleach it White and help protect the deadwood. The Red & White really contrast well with the green foliage. There is something magical about these Yamadori Sabina Junipers. You can just tell the amazing trunks on these little trees are all natural and shaped by nature. These shapes just can't be recreated by man's hand or wire. The twists and turns in these trees are truly unique and so natural looking. This little tree is going to be fantastic within a few seasons once the tree has been refined with some fine wiring and once the pads start to fill out. The pictures really don't do the tree much justice. You can literally spend a ages looking around this tree viewing all the twists, turns and curves in the trunk. Truly a delight to work with and a pleasure to view.

6th October 2016 #2

As we've mentioned before we work closely with Harry Harrington the author of the Bonsai Inspirations & Foundations Of Bonsai books and owner of the highly successful website bonsai4me.com Harry is much respected and highly regarded in the bonsai community and is well known all over the world for his amazing work with bonsai trees. We have been very lucky to work with Harry on quite a few projects over the past couple of years and he has just helped us complete another one. This amazing cascading Japanese White Pine (Pinus Parviflora) The transformation this tree has gone through is truly amazing and really shows what can be done with our Japanese imported material. As raw material the tree was very tall and leggy. The tree was turned clockwise a few degrees to give the best possible view of the great shape and movement of the trunk. The branches were heavily compressed creating lots of movement in the branch structure and bringing it all in much closer to the trunk. Only a few branches were removed for the final design including just 6 from the top of the tree. After this heavy work we will now keep a very close eye on this tree and it will now be left to recover for some time before anything else is done. For more info about Harry and what he does please visit his website www.bonsai4me.com We also his his book 'Foundations Of Bonsai' available for sale here

Before & After Shot

Close Shot Of The Completed Tree

Inside The Tree

6th October 2016 #1

We have just uploaded a few new trees to the website. in this batch we have a very nice quality Japanese White Pine, a Pyrocantha (Firethorn), a cascade Satsuki Azalea, and a couple of nice Korean Hornbeams. We hope you enjoy looking through them. Click the picture for more info about these new trees.

29th September 2016 

We have just added a couple of new small trees to the website. We have two Trident Maples (Acer Buergerianum) and a lovely little Chinese Elm (Ulmus Parvifolia). We will have a few more trees added to the website in the coming days. Click the image for more info.

28th September 2016

We have just had one of our Pinus Parviflora (Japanese White Pines) styled by Harry Harrington. This is an amazing tree and was previously listed for sale on our website. I am pretty glad it didn't sell as Harry had created a really stunning little tree. I has amazing taper for a pine. You don't see too many with taper like this one especially with such a straight truk. Also the Nebari is incredible, very uniform and even around the whole tree. The tree was meant to be re listed back up for sale but I am having second thoughts at the moment. The lowest branch on the right is not apart of the design and will be removed in the future. For now the branch will be kept for the health of the tree. Ungrafted Pines need to we worked a little more gentle than the usual grafted White Pine varietys used for bonsai. The pictures below show what can be done with some of the kinds of material we stock and sell. The transformation is amazing and the tree will continue to improve further over the coming seasons.

Before & After Shot Of The Japanese White Pine

The Japanese White Pine In All It's Glory

Harry Covering The Branch That Will Be Removed In The Future

26th September 2016 #2

We have a few new small trees to list on our website over the next few weeks. If you see anything you like and don't see it listed for sale yet, please get in touch and we will gladly give you a price. Species include Largerstromia, Trident Maple, Chinese Elm, Hornbeam and Firethorn.

26th September 2016 #1

We have just had this amazing Zelkova Serrata arrive in the bonsai garden. The tree is a Japanese import and is much bigger than the pictures make it look. You don't see too many of these especially this size and quality. Given a few seasons this tree could be an amazing specimen quality bonsai tree. We are truly thrilled with some of the trees that have passed through our bonsai garden in the last 2 years. This is all made possible by you our customers and your ongoing support. So thank you for your support over the last 2 years. We will continue to bring you the very best products and service.

16Th September 2016

Well after a very busy summer in the bonsai garden we are very pleased to have some of our biggest projects under way. We have been working close with Bonsai4me's Harry Harrington on some of our larger trees. As usual Harry doesn't disappoint and has helped get some of our trees on the right path for development. We spent close to 30 hours on this Shimpaku Juniper. It has been a long road with lots of planning, prepping and most of all wiring. This tree sure has a bright future now. It might come up for sale in the near future but we are not sure yet as it would be nice to keep for our personal collection.

Before

After

Before & After

The Trunk Before & After Clean Up

The Trunk & Nebari After Clean Up & Deadwood Stained With Lime Sulphur  

 9th September 2016

Just had word from Harry Harrington he's going to be dropping off some of his books at the end of next week. The Foundations Of Bonsai & Bonsai Inspirations Vol 1. We can say on a personal level that these books are fantastic, well informative and well worth buying weather you are a beginner to bonsai or an experienced bonsai artist. These books will inform you of his techniques, progressions (with pictures) and guide you through the processes of how Harry works with his amazing trees.  If you would like to pre order any of these books please contact us at premierbonsai@hotmail.com

8th September 2016 #2

 It's been a very busy summer for us at Premier Bonsai and since having our new website up and running business has been great. Our variety of stock has grown from strength to strength. We would like to thank our customers for their ongoing support and helping grow our business. We absolutely love doing what we're doing for you guys. We love to meet and network with like minded individuals. We know were not the biggest bonsai nursery but we're determined to be one of the best and in time we're sure our business will grow into what we're hoping for. We have met some great individuals on our journey and made some great contacts that will help our business become unique and stand out from the crowd. Our resident potter Thor Holvila releases his amazing bonsai pots every month in editions. We very much look forward to seeing what he brings us each month. There's always a pleasant surprise where Thor in involved. We also have regular visits to our bonsai garden by Bonsai Inspirations author Harry Harrington, who helps get some of our raw material onto the right path before they are offered for sale. His work sure does bring what his books say 'Inspirations' We like the idea so having some trees the next stage up from being plain raw material as we know it's not always easy for the less experienced bonsai artist to fully see the potential in a piece of raw material. So we think having some styled / semi bonsai trees in our range might encourage the less experienced artist have the confidence to buy a tree that they wouldn't normally look at twice. We think it's much easier for beginners to the hobby to see where a tree needs to end up in the years after purchase after it's had it's first initial styling. Looking at raw material can be very overwhelming if your new to bonsai. Our selection of trees are growing in variety and quality. Our trees are all hand picked and are of the very best quality in the price ranges we offer. We have Harry helping us with a hand full of larger Junipers and Pines this year. More coming throughout September & October.

            Juniper Itoigawa before & after               Japanese White Pine Before & after

Shimpaku Juniper before & after

8th September 2016 #1

We're running a special offer until the 30th September. Buy two or more Thor Holvila bonsai pots and get free worldwide shipping. Email us at premierbonsai@hotmail.com before you order and we'll adjust the shipping price on the website for you to receive free shipping. Chick here to view our range oh Thor Holvila Pots.

4th September 2016 #3 New Trees

Exciting times! We've just had two new trees land in our garden. A fantastic Crab Apple and a sweet little Blaauw Juniper growing through a rock. The Crab Apple was collected by Mike Konig and is estimated to be around 50 years old. It has amazing flaky bark and a nice thick trunk. It also has a lovely natural hollow on the back side of the tree. The basic shape is there and over the coming seasons this tree will develop & ramify nicely. The juniper was also put together by Mike at a workshop. The basic shape is there and the tree just needs a little refining to refine the pads. It's always nice getting new trees in the garden

4th September 2016 #2 Bonsai Sale

Our biggest ever clearance on outdoor bonsai trees is now on for a limited time only. Be sure to check out the outdoor bonsai trees section. We have to make some room in the bonsai garden

4th September 2016 #1 New Pots Just Landed

The latest batch of Thor Holvila bonsai pots are fresh out of the kiln and we are pleased to tell you we have a couple of these unique one off pots on the way to our garden. This months edition is called Small Conifers and they are typically unglazed pots made from roof tile red clay. These pots are proving very popular at the moment and we have been sending them all over the world including USA, France, Germany & Belgium & Holland. We are the only bonsai nursery in the UK to be stocking these amazing bonsai pots by Thor Holvila. Click Here for more info.

28th July 2016 New Pots Just Landed

We have some more new pots just landed from Sweden by Thor Holvila. A mixture of the June & July editions, Green Tones & Velvet Violet. These pots are very nice & unique to say the least. Remember if you can't find the pot your looking for we can always have one commissioned for you. The average waiting time is between 8 and 12 weeks. If you send us a picture of the tree you want a new pot for, we can have some virtuals made up for you of the different options available to you. Click Here for more info