Buying a bonsai
In a great many countries, bonsai are sold in specialist shops or at regular exhibitions. In Georgia, bonsai can be bought in garden centers. These are mostly small ficus or Chinese elms produced commercially in Europe. These species are suitable only as indoor bonsai. With very rare exceptions, these plants are of little value to a true connoisseur of bonsai (because of poor styling). If you search online for trees offered for sale, you will see that this trend is not unique to Georgia. The same thing happens in countries all over the world. Still, buying such a tree has its upside: a hobbyist who knows styling techniques well can turn it into quite a beautiful bonsai within 1–2 years.
When buying, be sure to examine the bonsai carefully. Very often a tree in a shop is quite weakened because of the wrong placement and care. Look at the leaves first: a large number of yellowed or discolored leaves already points to a weak plant. New shoots should not be unnaturally long, and the distance between nodes should be even throughout. There should be no dead branches on the tree. If it is a conifer, browned needles are already a sign that the tree has some problems. A shop may give you incorrect information about care. So it is better to find out the exact species and its Latin name, and then, drawing on various sources, work out for yourself what conditions that particular species needs to grow normally. It is less risky if you decide to buy a bonsai from a specialist who creates miniature trees themselves. Such a person will give you all the care information you need in detail.
What is a bonsai worth? This question is quite hard to answer, because valuation is fairly subjective. Bonsai sold in shops are relatively cheap. A truly valuable bonsai, however, is very rare in Georgia. A specialist who decides to sell their work will, as a rule, ask quite a large sum. The reason is the great amount of time spent creating a bonsai. If you search online, the prices of fine bonsai specimens offered for sale range on average from 1,000 to 15,000 US dollars. But Japanese collectors, as a rule, pay far larger sums to acquire unique traditional bonsai.
The most expensive bonsai, a Japanese white pine, was sold at a bonsai exhibition held in Japan on 18–21 November 2011 for 100,000,000 Japanese yen (about 1,300,000 dollars) It is said to be 300 years old. Nobody would pay such a sum for a tree of the same species and age growing somewhere in nature. A bonsai is never valued for its age alone. This tree is a masterpiece of bonsai culture – practically a perfect work. It meets every requirement of classical bonsai.
When you decide to buy a bonsai, you need to know for certain whether you can provide the right conditions for it to grow normally. You should also be clear about whether you are ready to give a small tree constant attention and proper care.
