Vendor Profile: Bonsai by Bender

By: Allison Level, Master Gardener

Richard Bender, owner of Bonsai by Bender, has been in the plant business his entire life. He grew up in Missouri, and in the summers he and his brother had a tomato plant business. Early on he learned that growing 500 tomato plants took hard work and tenacity. Over the years he has worked in various parts of the green industry including managing four different greenhouse operations.

Bender got interested in bonsai while attending college at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Like CSU, Mizzou is a land-grant university with a strong horticulture program. He studied with Dr. Leon Snyder and his interest in bonsai has continued throughout his life. On Saturday mornings in the summer he is at the Larimer County Farmers' Market but this is the only market he attends. When asked what he likes about the market, he said “I like the environment”. He is a published author and his book, Herbal Bonsai, available for sale and signed by the author, while you wait. Copies of Herbal Bonsai are in the Poudre River Public Library and the CSU Library.

Most of his bonsai business is wholesale and he is on the road most of the fall and spring. He sells far and wide in many states from Oregon to Ohio and all points in-between. His customers include many of the premier gardens in the West and Midwest including the Missouri Botanical Garden, in St. Louis.

Bonsai trees and plants can look intimidating (they did to this blogger) but Bender says that the key to successful Bonsai for most people is to start with a plant that can be grown inside. The bonsai juniper plants that are widely sold aren’t easy to grow successfully indoors, so that can leave people with a bad bonsai experience. Instead of junipers, he focuses on herbal, tropical, and dwarf tropical shrubs. Most recently he is working more with edible tropical plants and trees. He says, "If you grow the right variety of bonsai tree, you can have your bonsai and eat it, too."

Next time you are at the farmers' market, don’t just think bread and vegetables, think bonsai, then stop by and meet Richard Bender. You just may realize that bonsai doesn’t have to be intimidating and it is worth it to try gardening in a new direction. (Blogger’s note, a dwarf schefflera was purchased and it is living quite nicely in my office.)