Yew Bonsai for Sale

Pickup, Delivery, and Shipping Options/Policy

            Local pickup is free in the Columbus, Ohio area, or pickup is also available when I road trip, especially to bonsai shows around my area of the Midwest. Delivery is also free if not more than 15 minutes out of my way from home or on any of these trips. See here for the most updated list of pickup sites/delivery routes I will be making in the coming months. 

            If you would like to have any of my products shipped to you, see my Etsy page invivobonsai.etsy.com (almost all prices include shipping) or contact me if the item is not listed on my Etsy and I'll look into a cost estimate. Contacting me can also get you a cheaper price than buying through Etsy as there will be fewer fees and shipping multiple items can be combined.

            Trees are the hardest to ship due to height, unusual size, and uneven weight so these are ideal for the local pickup. I will try to add more trees this summer/fall to my online store here and Etsy though for your convenience.

About Yews As Shrubs, Pests and Diseases, and Bonsai Trees

            More yew articles coming soon! I have 1 brief article where I previously shared a styling I did with some nursery stock yew material. Yews are shade tolerant, flexible, backbud relatively well for a conifer, and their deadwood is extremely durable. I have not observed much disease on them at all but occasionally they may get low levels of scale insects which are easily removed by hand.

Ryan's Yew Bonsai for Sale

            The yew bonsai and prebonsai options I have for sale are bonsai pictured below; all are all rescues from landscaping redesigns. These are available for pickup in Columbus, OH at my nursery or you may contact me (invivobonsai@gmail.com) with inquiries. Sometimes I travel to neighboring states so delivery may be a possibility with a 10% non-refundable deposit to hold the tree for you. Suggested prices are listed but feel free to make an offer.

Yews dug by plumbers in 2023. In this picture the far left and far right survived. 

The following pictures are from fall 2023. The trees are all pushing new growth now in 2024 and can be or have been pruned back to promote backbudding. I will continue to develop them while I have them. Ask for updated pictures if interested.

Big Yew #1 - Mostly Raw $425 (see updated picture below)

Yew 1 side 1. Dug June 2023, pictured in fall of 2023, and has survived and is now growing vigorously. It has excellent trunk, deadwood, and backbudding. Ready for initial styling.

Yew 1 side 2. Dug June 2023, pictured in fall of 2023, and has survived and is now growing vigorously. It has excellent trunk, deadwood, and backbudding. Ready for initial styling.

Update Fall 2024

            Now over 1 year from digging, the tree backbudded abundantly, allowing me to prune back the overly long foliage by about a foot. I also cleaned the bark off the deadwood and broke up the flat chops. Next year I will allow it to backbud again to possibly further refine branch selection and potentially start pulling branches/wiring.

Update Fall 2025

            Last winter the tree was nibbled on by deer so this year I have let it grow freely to recover. It has new backbuds. Also as I said, I broke up all the deadwood stubs in 2024 which you can see somewhat in the picture below. The picture is not the best as it was taken at night but I can take a new one if requested. This tree could have some slight wiring done without too much foliage removal this fall and further deadwood work. Also, in spring it could have a repot as well since the roots have not been touched since first collection.

Not the best picture since this was taken in the dark but you can see the initial deadwood work here. The upright jin had further dieback after last winter so the work should be repeated to find where the new lifeline is and clean the edge with cutpaste. You can also see the abundance of shoots on the left. Some traight, thick branches should be cut off as they cannot be easily bent to be used in the design but we must wait for backbudding in desirable places first. I haven't tried to styled the branches here yet but I am imagining a broom on the left with the deadwood stubs sticking out on the right, showing the age of the tree and creating a story that the tree used to be much larger.

Big Yew #3 - Semi-styled (see 2025 update) - $375

Yew 3. Dug June 2023, pictured in fall of 2023, and has survived and is now growing vigorously. It has excellent trunk, deadwood, and backbudding but much more of the vigorous growth is at the extremities. It will need more time to recover to induce backbudding or possibly some grafting. It has some smaller interior shoots currently, but they need time to thicken and become more useful. I would give this one an additional year before trying any styling.

Update Fall 2025

            I recently styled the tree and gave the deadwood an initial cleanup and carving. I am going for a cascade or semi-cascade in the future and long branches were left for health reasons now but will later be pruned off in my future vision. The live vein has been exposed and sealed with cut paste so that a healthy callous will form where it had not yet to prevent any further dieback. The tree has been stable over the last 2-3 years since digging but also had the same issue as above with deer herbivory last winter which is why it was a bit sparse this year. The tree was only slightly pruned at the time of this styling to induce future backbudding and futher reduction can continue to happen over time to direct growth where desired.

            Next year I (or whoever owns the tree) should repot it into a box or larger pot so that it can continue gaining vigor.

Only the wired lower branch sections will be used in the final design. There are two options for apexes in the future: the leftward sweeping branch (once it backbuds and can be shortened) or the young branch originating from the top of the lifeline that needs to thicken more before intense wiring.

Alternative view of the 3 deadwood jins. In the future, I would carve them to add some hollows and interesting movement in the wood and change the height of 1 of the lower 2 jins so they are not the same exact height. We can make those decisions better once the foliage develops more.

Another closeup of the wired foliage. The goal was to compress, create movement, and spread the branches out in a way where they could all be used in this initial styling.

Big Yew #4 - Mostly Raw but in a good pot - $550

            This yew was collected around 2-3 years ago now from a housing development demolition. I left it to recover. This past spring, I did half bare root into bonsai soil and may have done some minor pruning to encourage backbudding. Since then, I have left it to recover. Further pruning and fertilizing to induce backbudding is needed but gradually it will compress the design over time. A larger box or training pot could also help this process but the current pot size is nice as I can move it on my own!

            The current training pot it is in is a true bonsai pot from Japan or China. You could not buy one new for less than $200, so it adds significantly to the cost of the plant. It could also be sold without the pot if desired. Otherwise, the plant has a nice old trunk (better pictures available on request) and a straightforward path to its bonsai design via pruning as I mentioned. I may prune energetic areas a bit going into winter to prepare backbuds for next year.

Here you see the current state of the foliage in October 2025.

Not the best view since this picture is taken at night but you can see the sizable trunk and large bonsai training pot.

Medium Yews Prebonsai in nursery pot

            These two medium sized yews come from a general landscaping nursery. I started thinning them to promote backbudding and the deer tend to help thin them every winter. I moved them to a protected area to prevent further deer browsing until spring. They could do well to be repotted into bonsai soil in spring but I would keep them in oversized pots until their branching is more refined to the final design. The trunks at the base are nice, at least 1" in diameter which takes some time to get as yew are slow to thicken! $60 each.

Big Yew - Bonus Options: 

            I have several nice deadwood specimen that I can clean up for phoenix graft use. Depending on what you need I can provide deadwood, pot, soil, and young plants for this idea. Let me know your preference and we can make a nice discount bundle as I have too many deadwood pieces from failed yamadori attempts! Let's say the starting price is $50 since it takes some time to clean the bark from the deadwood on hard, long-lasting conifer species.

Small Yews in Bonsai Pots (In Training)

            These three yews are from small nursery stock.

SY1 - Windswept root over rock in training.

            The first is planted as a root over rock in a Kandied Clay pot. I think next year it should go into a bigger pot. The deer have pruned it a bit this winter but it is now relocated somewhere they will not bother it further. I would let it grow without pruning in 2026. I prefer to keep developing it myself, but am open to someone else continuing to work on it!

$180 pot included or $100 no pot/plastic pot substituted.

Photographed Jan 2026.

SY2 - Twin Trunk in training.

            This one was beautifully styled but took a unfortunate step back this winter due to deer browsing and a broken branch in the main trunk. It is also now moved where the deer will not disturb it. The pot is a good size for the plant and should allow it to recover well in 2026, I also suggest not pruning it next year and waiting to see what branch options it gives for a future redesign. The pot is a artistic and hard to find unglazed arch shaped pot with carved birds in it. I thought the two birds pictured mimicked the twin birds well.

$120 pot included or $20 no pot/plastic pot substituted. This is another I probably prefer to keep developing myself but am willing to part with if you would like to take over the recovery.

Photographed Jan 2026.

SY3 - Slanted Shohin Yew in wood fired Andy Hampton pot.

            This is another of the yews from nursery stock. It is getting denser on that left side and some other areas need to fill in more, which hopefully will happen in spring in response to the late summer 2025 pruning. The tree is now being pruned to promote density. A bigger pot could be given to accelerate this process, especially if someone wanted a thicker, more tapered trunk.

$190 with the pot or $125 on its own. I am enjoying this one and was debating keeping it in my personal collection.

Small Yews in plastic pots (mostly raw, good to style as they are or with phoenix grafts/tanuki) - $20 each.

            Pictures available on request.