Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojosan
And just how is a visitor to the site to know this? I have yet to see any indication of mature stock for sale, other than "email us"..... I have been to the site numerous times, and find navigation pretty poor. It seems that the vast majority of what is offered is in 2.75" pots.
The whole idea of "tell us what you are looking for and we'll let you know if we got it".. is pretty off-putting. Let me see what you have, and then I'll let you know if I'm interested. Not everybody sets out to find a specific piece every time.
The material may be listed in there somewhere, but it sure is not easy to find.
Just MHO.
Matt
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Matt - you have touched on several things that are I feel are issues with bonsai nurseries in America. Be prepared however as these have less to do with the online sellers as they do with us customers, our buying habits and what we need to expect.
Your opinion as stated demonstrates a particular issue I have with the sad state of online bonsai sales. It's almost as if you
expect hundreds of trees to be photographed and cataloged, posted on a page with multiple pictures, descriptions and dimensions. I understand (and respect) your opinion and feelings about having to ask for something but I do not agree with it. Simply put - what's the big deal with asking for help? Is it that difficult to ask a person for assistance in selecting material? As I stated in a prior post the time and effort for the posting of these trees would need to be added to the operational cost of the business. That means the cost of the material would increase. The photos would also need to be updated as after all these are living and growing things not static inventory in a box. So would the tree pictures be changed 4 times a year x 200 trees x 4 photos per tree? Wow. That is a lot of work for anyone to do. Seems easier to just contact a seller and say "I have $xxx.xx to spend and want an elm, oak, pine or whatnot tree. Do you have anything? Can you send me photos of what the tree looks like right now? Can you give me a quote on shipping? Can you offer me some advice?"
The online shopping method you mention of "show me what you have and I will tell you if I am interested" seems a bit... reclusive and limiting. I am all about "empowering" the customer but you are not buying a $38,000 car from a huge corporation or dealership that is based on fixed and comparative pricing structures, you are buying a piece of changing living art from an artist of sorts. Some things can't be found on a computer screen with the single click of a mouse. Or can they? I suppose they could but I can tell you there is better stuff out there, you just need to do a bit more work than scrolling thru sites. Examples of this
non internet presence but hell of a nursery are Jim Gremell, Roy Nagatoshi, Johnny Uchida and Mas Ishii. Fantastic stuff but you pretty much need to call or go there.
I can agree that a person who visits Brent's site might be unaware of his nicer material. However if one has spent anytime on the various bonsai chat sites no doubt you will encounter Brent's postings. He always refers to his blog or one of his articles. It doesn't take too much effort to visit the site or blog and after reading the entries have a better grasp on what he does and may have. That's how I found Brent and so have countess others. After posting back and forth I emailed him and bought some material. I eventually traveled out to California and made time during my trip to visit him, as well as many other nurseries. My point is that no matter what you are looking for or where you look you need to do a bit of leg work to get the good stuff. Are you looking for the good stuff? I am.
He does sell a lot of 2.75" material, so much he has a waiting list. He propagates some pretty special and rare material and does so in limited quantity. The sad part of this is that the majority of the people out there only want to spend little money and a small, young cutting grown plant is all they will buy or can afford. As you may know the good stuff is not young and never cheap. Be that as it may demand is demand. It does sadden me a bit that we, as customers don' really "get it" about how long it takes to grow a proper trunk (especially as a novice) and that there are few places out there selling proper trunks and trees that are not full of flaws that will still take 10 years to fix.
I can say for sure that when Brent does list the stuff not on the site now it will sell quickly and for realistic prices. I'll post some photos that I took just to show some examples. For more info contact Brent.