What Are The Benefits Of Having A Bonsai Tree (And Are There Any Negatives?)

It can be very exciting when you first get into bonsai, but there are actually a lot of benefits that come with having one, some you may know, others you may not.

So I will go though some of the benefits of owning a bonsai, as well a few negatives. Although the benefits far outweigh any problems you will ever have.

Bonsai Are Nice To Look At

I think one of the simplest benefits of having a bonsai is that you just get to look at it.

Bonsai look cool and it is just so pleasurable to sit and look at them. It doesn’t matter if it is from far away or extremely close up, there is always something you can enjoy while looking at them.

This is pretty much the main reason we have them …we think they look cool and you will get a lot of enjoyment from this alone.

Just think of any other house plant, or bush you have in the in the garden, you will not look at these with nearly as much joy and curiosity as you will with a bonsai.     

Bonsai Are A Conversation Starter

It’s not just us who like to look at bonsai, you will find anyone who visits your garden is always going to ask about your trees the second they see them.

They are a very good conversation starter as people are just fascinated by them. Although this only works if they see the tree …it doesn’t work so well if you are out and about and just randomly start talking to people about trees.     

Bonsai Will Keep You Busy

Bonsai is a hobby and it will keep you busy. There is always something to do, even if it is just watering your trees.

It is quite a nice hobby in regards to your time as you do lots of little things, often, so you are always busy, but at the same time, it is not sucking hours and hours away from your life.

You can actually go a long time without really having to do much, maybe just a quick check that everything is doing okay.  

Bonsai Gets You Closer To Nature

Bonsai is a form of nature and playing around with little trees will bring you closer to nature in general.

You will find you start looking at big trees in the wild a lot differently after you get into bonsai. You will actually open your eyes and start noticing things. You will be trying to spot different species or start studying the shapes of the different trees and how they interact with the others around them.

You will even just start paying more attention to the changes in the seasons and you will also probably just take more of an interest in learning about nature in general, which is always going to make you feel closer to it, and really it is something we should all be doing more of these days.

Bonsai Gives You Something To Connect With

Bonsai is very hands on and you will form a connection with your trees. They are growing, staying healthy and taking shape due to what you are doing with them and that feels good.

You can kind of compare it to looking after a pet, it’s just maybe that a tree is a little slower to react to you …but you will still build a connection with them. This is even more so when you grow the trees from seed and you have basically grown them from nothing and put a lot of time, energy into the tree and built up some strong memories around the tree.

You can also see this as building your connection to nature, which I talked about above. 

Bonsai Can Relief Stress

Bonsai is often said to be great for stress and your mental health and I would agree. There is certainly a lot of truth to that.

Overall it is a very relaxing and enjoyable hobby, especially when you can just sit quietly and look at your trees.

However, it’s not all fun. I would say that bonsai causes just as much stress as it relieves. Plenty of things can go wrong and caring for a tree will have its up and downs.

I don’t want that to put you off, the vast majority of the time it is great fun …but just be aware it’s not always positive, but I will cover some of the negatives further down.  

Bonsai Can Help with Air Purity and Humidity

I always hear people say that bonsai can help with the air purity and humidity in your house …and well, yes… but no.

My first question is why are your trees inside? They are mostly likely going to be better off outside, so really this shouldn’t even be a thing.

I would also argue that you would need a lot of trees to notice any measurable difference, which most people are not going to be doing.

So I think this sounds great, but in reality it is not really a benefit we are actually getting. If you want fresh air inside your house you are going to be better off just opening your window.

(You can read more about – How To Get Started In Bonsai For Beginners)

Are There Any Downsides To Having A Bonsai?

I do strongly believe that bonsai is an overwhelming positive experience and the benefits far outweigh any negatives …but there are still some negatives that I think need to be mentioned.

Bonsai Are A Big Commitment

Owning a bonsai is a huge commitment. It’s not a difficult hobby, but it is one you do need to be committed to.

The tree is dependent on you to stay alive, so you can’t really walk away from the hobby and dip in and out as you please as you will quickly find that your trees are dead, which isn’t ideal.

I have already compared owning a bonsai to be like owning a pet in this article, and this is true, you have to care for the tree every day just like you feed an animal.

Once you get into bonsai …it’s for life. 

Bonsai Is A Slow Hobby

Bonsai is a very slow hobby, I have already said above that it will keep you busy, but really it can be terribly slow.

A lot of the time you are just doing very basic tasks like watering. All the pruning and repotting stuff doesn’t happen that often and you can often be waiting around for months for the opportunity to do something exciting.

I guess this depends on how you look at it. I quite enjoy this, it means there is no rush, but if you want something to constantly excite and stimulate you, you need another hobby on top.  

Bonsai Requires Patience

Bonsai will really test your patience and this can be a good thing or bad thing depending on how you are built.

For the vast majority of people …they lack patience and bonsai will really annoy them. As I just mentioned above, it is a slow hobby.

You need to wait for the tree to be ready for work and this can take months. You can’t wake up and think “today I will do some bonsai” you don’t get to control that, the tree does and trees are slow, so if you are not patient, this is going to be a struggle and why I suggest you maybe have another more active hobby as well.

Bonsai Trees Can Die

Bonsai trees are living, and it is down to us to look after them. As a beginner this can be a little tricky until we find out feet. This means that occasionally trees will die and this is never a great experience.

The real problem is that this isn’t only a beginner problem, it can happen at any point to anyone. I would say it’s even harder to deal with when you have been doing things for a while. You will have spent years on a tree and suddenly it just dies and that really sucks.

I asked my youtube subscribers about this and as you can see, it is a common problem we all face.

I guess we have to go back to comparing them to pets and just accept that sometimes this can happen and we can’t always control things when it comes to nature.

You can learn a lot of lessons from this, so while it is a negative you can try and at least take something from the experience.

(You can read more about – How Long Do Bonsai Trees Live?)

You Can’t Travel As Easily When You Own Bonsai

Bonsai really is a big commitment and you will be required to look after your trees pretty much daily.

This can make travelling, or just being away from home for a few days extremely difficult. Of course there are ways around this. You can ask people to help you out with watering, or setup an automatic watering system, but it is still an inconvenience.

It’s times like this where your really see how much of a commitment it can be and because you really do not want your trees to die, you are probably going to avoid travelling as much.

If you like to travel, and you are considering get into bonsai, you need to think about this before you start.    

Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of benefits to owning a bonsai. If you have not already started with the hobby, you really should it is really worth it.

Of course it’s not 100% perfect, but I think the negatives are things you can work around or they are not that common, so don’t let them put you off. This is a very rewarding hobby and definitely worth your time.

If you are just getting into bonsai you can find more information about everything here – Beginner Bonsai Resources