Dwarf Korean Lilac is another…so easy to grow available everywhere and beautiful flowers with small leafs.

I haven't really seen people try to make a black cherry-plum (prunus cerasifera nigra) into a bonsai and in my opinion when they flower the contrast between the dark purple leaves and the pastel pink flowers looks amazing and I also think weeping willows are underappreciated

5 - Ivy (hedera helix), 4 - Euonymus, 3 - Pomegranate (Punica granatum), 2 - Olea Europea, 1 - Dogwood (Cornus Florida). Great video and idea!

A fun video, lots of excellent trees out there that you don't see very often!!

great choices! I grow pomegranates from seed but not on purpose. The birds eat the seeds and spread them all throughout my backyard and potting soil. I also grow them by cuttings both regular size and also dwarf size. I live in Las Vegas, NV area and they love it here. I also experiment with other plants that adapt well to this harsh climate, most are grown from seed and a few from cuttings. Such varieties are : 1) African Sumac (Rhus lancea), 2) Chinese Pistache/Red push Pistache (Pistacia chinensis), 4) Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus), 4) Mesquite hybrids (Prosopis chilensis hybrids), 5) Palo Verde (Cercidium/Parkinsonia varieties and hybrids.) - Most of these I grow from seed or they are blown in and self-sow. This is just a few different things that are well adapted to my climate but I mess around with so many different plants. Whenever I travel I always pick up seeds from many different places to experiment with. - Thanks

I think Amelanchier canadensis would make a nice Bonsai. I love its glowing colors in autumn.

A great selection 👌 I am growing a bonsai from privet..

Very interesting content. I’ve been working a lot with Thuja recently. Not normally popular in bonsai but I find them beautiful. I also love all of your 5 picks. I actually have a few myself. Thanks, keep growing

Really great advices. Thanks.

Interesting #1 (no spoilers 😀) I have seen some really beautiful examples of older trees on the web.

Very interesting presentation! Hopefully this helps to get other species into use as bonssi. Thanks for sharing!! Much appreciated.

I Love Potentilla. Maybe my favorite deciduous species. I have Potentilla in 3 different colors. Yellow, White and Purple... unfortunately they truly thicken veeeery slowly and they need a ton of water. Your Potentillas look amazing. I'm quite jealous. I'll have to search some gardens for thicker ones.

Very good video Jelle.

In my opinion, birch is an underrated species. It grows very quickly, the leaves can be reduced to small ones. The only drawback is that they sometimes kill their branches, but only with poor care.

Great insight and beautiful bonsai underdog choices thanks for sharing.... sending good vibes from California..

Wild cherry and dwarf picea both mad under rated

My favorites that not many people use: 1. natal plum (flowers smell very nice and it is blooming all the time), I havent managed to get fruits on mine yet. 2. citrus trees - small/smallish fruit varieties such as kumquat or tangerines. Lovely smell of flowers, plus fruits. Leaf size can be reduced with time. Then I love succulent/semisucculent shrubs - 1. plectranthus ambionicus fast grower and nice smelling foliage, thickens up like crazy, also makes nice aerial roots, if you like tropical look on the trees 2. geranium it takes time to thicken up, but the results can be very nice plus the flowers bonus, 3. kalanchoe bossfeldiana - sold as ordinary house plant, super easy to reduce the size of foliage and basically shape as a tree again flowers can be very nice - all of these species are best grown by clip and grow, most of these are very accessible and cheap.

As a greek living in NL, props to you for proposing pomegranate! Indeed the small variety doesnt grow NEARLY as fast as the big variety but I got both in the making, lets see in a few years :D

Great vid Jelle! I think all herb bonsai is underrated. Grow them, eat them and after a few years they are great bonsai materials.

I was in California on a trip and sat down in the shade of a pomegranate tree and thought, this would make a good bonsai candidate. I get home and this video pops up in my feed. I’ll be searching the stores for pomegranates and another tree I want to try, quince. Thanks for the content.

Great content, I have been growing mimosa or flame tree seedling. I hopefully I can grow them into bonsai. Thanks for your content.

I agree, pomegranate. Great tree. Cornus, Berberis, jaboticaba and potentilla I didn’t know. Personally I haven’t got a personal top 5, yet. Just starting here. But thank you for the tips !

Hello Jelle, I am currently experimenting with a Ligustrum. It's fun too.

I love Cornus. I think one of the main reasons people don’t think they are suitable is that they are hard to collect so slow pot development is the best way. Personally I love black cherry, sweet gum, and loblolly pine.

A few of my unusual favorites are 1. Katsura Tree (Cercidiphyllum Japonicum) small nice leaves, great autumn color 2. Poncirus trifoliata - hardy citrus, small leaves, nice flowers, smells nice, great autumn colour 3. Acer monspessulanum beautiful small leaves, very hardy 4. Stewartia monadelpha, just beautiful!!

Great video. There is a twisted pomegranate that has won every award in the highest bonsai shows

A great production Jelle. Darn - you've beaten me to the races again, but still nobody has mentioned my two favourite under-dog bonsai. As you know from my videos (and titles) - I have loads of Potentilla. Well, I thought I did :) But then I thought I had loads of Chinese Elm but now all I have is Elmkovas. I have heard a few people using Dogwood and definitely I have a few Berberis somewhere in the garden. Be patient because in the production line i have two different videos on some lesser known species...

One species I have never seen discussed in bonsai videos on KZfaq (and I must have watched hundreds) is Celtis Australis. Birds poop the seeds and I regularly find seedlings under hedges and in wilder corners of the garden so I decided to keep and grow some after Google results showed that the species can be turned into bonsai. From what I can see it has smallish leaves, medium fast growth, flexible branches. On the minus side the foliage is dull green and rather coarse with no seasonal color so perhaps that’s why it’s not popular. However since I have it for free it’s worth a try.

Second coment, I really like Parottia Persica, Pyrus Callryana, Pinus Radiata, Lumus apiculata, Ribes sanguineum, Pictacia atlantica and a host of unusual pines from Mexico my favorite being P Maximartinenzii. I also enjoy filling trunks of trees with autologous grafts to create little Frankenstein trees. I make airlayers from trees in my area. always practicing plant propagation techniques for the sake of learning. thank you for a good video Mats H

What about, as an underdog Campis Radicans? I think it has a few regional common names. Some may know it as orange trumpet vine or the like. It's a vine that in my area is native and recommended as a substitute for invasive types of Honeysuckle that grow in wild spaces and over fences. I have one that I purchased as a tiny plant in a box from a big box store and I grew it in a tomato pot for probably a year or two to get strong. Then this spring I reported to see if it could be a bonsai and I ended up experimentally planting a root cutting as well. And recently, late summer, that root cutting has quickly developed shoots. I don't know how suitable it is yet, but it so far tends to get a woody trunk and send out long shoots. So there could be lots of ways to train it.

Chinaberry aka Indian Bead Tree is another interesting species as well as the Privet Tree. Interestingly the privet tree and the chinaberry are deemed to be invasive because of the speed of their development - both species have beautiful trunks and are ideal for trunk art

My top five is big basin sagebrush, sandcherry, cliffrose, silver Buffalo berry, mountain mahogany.

I think the blue beach in Michigan is a really nice shrub tree The waves patterns in the trunk are awesome not sure if it’s negative here.

Mimosa or Persian Silk Tree. They can take sitting in water, they can take dry conditions. If you cut them off at the base, they regrow every time. Any pruning is rewarded. They naturally grow in long thin stalks but can be cut back to induce branching, or can be wire with easy to create any shape or curve desired. Don't plant them in the ground, they grow and drop tons of seeds from their pods, which is why they are hated by most gardeners. If kept in pots you alleviate all the downsides and get to enjoy unusual flowers the small leaves of the legume family. They root from cutting easily. If you spot one out in the wild, look around the understory as there will be tons of sprouts and shoots every spring.

I have a Myrtus Communis, very small leaves, tiny white flowers and black berries.

Ceanothus. Fast growing, good in heat and very good at drought tolerance and tiny 1cm x .3cm leaves, excellent beginner tree and very striking even at smallest sizes

One of my first trees from my first bonsai class is a Jaboticaba. I love bark and the color of the new leaves. However I almost lost it last year when it was outside slightly below 0 C. I am going to need to completely rebuild it.

Jelle, can I ask if you choose any particular soil mix for the Dogwood? There are several Cornus species native to my area, but in the past, when I got some small dogwood bareroot seedlings from a certain large supplier of trees they didn't survive. But, back then I was using more of the potting soil type mix.

Nossa jabuticaba é braba demais! Abraço do Brasil

I enjoyed this video very much! Can you list your selection discussed? I cannot understand what you are saying when you identify them. Thank you!

Western White Cedar, also known as thuja occidentalis. 1) Vigorous growth, so can be restiled (unlike 5-needle pines). 2) Very unpicky in terms of light and soil (also unlike five-needle pines). 3) Hardly any general pests (unlike the tropicals). 4) Very frost-hardy (outside northern Canada or Siberia, of course, unlike the traditional Japanese species). 5) Leaves are tiny, which is also valued in bonsai. 6) In nature thujas can be some of the tallest trees in the world, which is quite ironic with bonsai.

I love my berberis (I think it's a Japanese Barberry) It reminds me of a gnarled old apple tree. I did major surgery last year to get rid of the second trunk, and was worried it would struggle. But it recovered like a champion, and shrugged it off. I barely have to protect it in winter ( I just throw a plastic bag over it on super cold/ frosty nights) it's a tough one. I agree SUPER under appreciated.

Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry and Dwarf Myrtle (Myrtus communis) are very underrated as bonsai

Corylus avellana, especially the contorta variant, has braught me some interesting results.

Hi nice video. What about Flamboyan(Delonix regia)? Do you think it’s bad idea ? Or it’s a good species for bonsai ?

Pomegranate can flower & fruit in first year - I have fruit on trees I planted last December.

Mulberry is great... Black cherry... Almond tree Peaches Scarlett Crateagus is cool fruits Rhamnus cartatica And osage thorn

Hi Jelle, Kannst du die Namen der einzelnen Pflanzenarten bitte nochmal in die Kommentare/Beschreibung packen? Fällt mir schwer das im Video zu verstehen. Vielen Dank dir schonmal, Gruß aus NRW. Matthias

Arbutus menziesii! They're so pretty and low maintenance, but they hate having their roots messed with.

We tend to see the trees you mention here, and other trees and bush-like things as an interesting thing to see if it would make a suitable Bonsai. As indicated “many” take a long time to thicken or getting a mature or craggy bark. But, if you are early enjoy in your journey in life, time is not a big problem. AND as with this living art form of ours, the next Bonsai enthusiast will help that tree move further along.

Here in North America, these are my 7 underappreciated species, very suitable for bonsai. Acer Freemani/RubRum/Platenoides .. beautiful trees, ALL suited to bonsai just like any Acer (everything will reduce), ESPECIALLY if you select specimens with great genetics... Only complaint with Platenoides is that the petioles don't reduce comparatively. Eleaegnus!!! (Autumn/Russian) Invasive, small leaves, flowers, delicious fruits..backbuds like a champion, and reduces well. Rhamnus! (Buckthorn)... Invasive, tough as nails, reduces and backbuds well. Lonicera! (honeysuckle)... Gets a bad rap, but if you LEARN the tree's unique timing... It becomes a much more apt specimens. Ribes!!! Same thing... If you learn them.. they are very rewarding. Great upload, Jelle. 🤓

For me the following are the best species to start. Easy, tolerant and require just minimal care. 1-juniper procumbres nana 2-trident maple 3-chinese elm 4-european Olive 5-eleagnus pungens

Your #1 under dog, will be my 1st 100% outdoor tree. Its resilience and flexibility with all sorts of conditions makes me believe I won't kill it. 😂

You said in the premiere you haven't had flowers on your dogwood. That must be due to the bonsai pruning schedule, that the buds are chopped off before they can bloom. But, since many flower before foliage comes in, you might get some flowers if you delay the spring pruning by just a little bit.

I think Tamarindus Indica, Pithcellobium dulce, spanish cherry, suriname cherry, barbados cherry, celtis sinensis, Desmodium ,Silver Oak ,casuarina are under dogs. They are superb for bonsai.

i wish you would have put text on the screen because i couldn’t understand the species of the last few. would you be able to write the names for us?

I think a great idea is to look at your locally growing flora in nature. harvesting seedlings, cuttings, and yamadori from your natural surroundings assures environmental hardiness against weather and pests and can be an inexpensive way to get into or grow your bonsai collections as well as a way to find unique or underrated species.

Hawthorn it is almost impossible to kill and when the leaves get too big just cut, thorns are also cut, I have dug up one with a 5 cm stem and almost no roots and it survives

I really wanna see lapacho bonsai because of their beautiful flowers

I think willows are very underestimated. There's so many varieties to choose from. They grow very quickly, withstand almost anything you can put them through, and as long as you water them abundantly they are one of the easiest trees to grow.

Field maple is a great species. Much easier to look after than non native (to Europe) maples such as acer palmatum. Grows really fast, leaves aren't too big and responds reasonably to cuts.

👍👌👌🙂🙂

Hello. Have you tried Sassafras? or Heptacodium? Dawn Redwood?

yaupon holly- very hardy to heat and cold, small leaves, alot of branching, trunk looks great when thickened, and the only plant in north america with natural caffene.

people should work with what's local. i live in San Francisco and collect yasmadort (in San Francisco)of pinus radiata , Hesperocyparis macrocarpa (monterey cyrus), costal live oak and in fact we have more oak variety than anywhere on earth in California, coastal and giant redwoods either collected or nursery stock, we have several native plant nurseries and i work with matertial from there regularly. Finally I will admit i work with rosemary and thyme as bonsai. Rosemary can be unforgiving in regards to back budding and last year i started grafting my rosemary tree. For that lets just say I'm on the learning curve. On a last note. While i do collect small wild trees in urban areas I also contribute by planting trees in my city with and without permission. I also put grafts on wild pines changing them and some smaller wild city trees get bonsai wire and pruning. I would like to think my contribution is a net positive

Hi I got a weigela bonsai the other week I love it but no one seems to have them

I dont get Ginko with big leaves. I have pomegranate :)

I'm not familiar with the last one # 5 cam you please spell it for me? Thanks alot! Great content man. Respect!

i would recommend clementine tree's, they are not as difficult as lemons

You dude, are a underatted specie . Real Larch ( larix ) are great or malus too .

Warm wood.

Japanese Elm has nice bark and structure .

#1 Dogwood 😂

A jabuticaba , gosta de muita agua e substrato mais orgânico , mas prefiro a pitanga , cresce mais rápido e é muito resistente😉

Portulacaria Afra

Dogwood would be cool

Cotoneaster!

I hear stewartia are excellent for bonsai, they have orange skin like bark

I tried one dogwood and it was doing very well until I repotted it

Ficus carica

Please put the name of trees below. It's hard to understand.

Spirea Arguta

, eik, treurwilg,