Phillo Bonsai Nursery in Bayswater: A 125-Year-Old Olive

The oldest tree in the Phillo Flowers bonsai shop is a 125-year-old olive, listed at £7,000 and meant for outdoors only. Phillo is a florist at 59 Chepstow Road, London W2 5BP, on the Bayswater side of Notting Hill, open Monday to Wednesday 9am to 5pm, Thursday and Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and closed Sunday. As a bonsai nursery in London it is small, but the trees are unusually old.

Phillo opened in 2003, and its founder and creative director is Cemal K. Cemal. The about page explains that he studied at Imperial College and worked in neurogenetics before turning to flowers, and he has since won awards from the Royal Horticultural Society. The shop name comes from the Greek word for leaf, which fits a business that treats foliage and living trees with as much care as cut stems.

Most of the trade is bouquets, weddings, parties and corporate flowers, and the website showed new bouquet listings dated 19 and 21 October 2026. Bonsai are a smaller line run alongside, but they have their own page and their own story. The shop also has resident parrots: Oscar, a green-winged macaw, and Lucky, a Senegal parrot, both named on the official about page, and regular customers tell first-timers to say hello.

The bonsai page says the trees are imported from Indonesia, Japan and China, with some raised in the UK, and that they range from 18 to 125 years of age. Both indoor and outdoor species are stocked, and the shop holds only one or two of each tree at a time. That makes it closer to a gallery than a nursery: you choose from a handful of characterful specimens rather than a table of identical saplings.

The 125-year-old olive is the showpiece, about 100cm tall and 80cm wide, priced at £7,000 and sold as an outdoor tree. A mature Chinese elm, 60 years old and planted in a sage ceramic pot, costs £650. These are trees for a collector or for a gift that marks something big, and the staff will talk you through how they need to be placed before you commit to that kind of money.

The everyday bonsai sit at a lower price. A myrtle measuring 54cm tall is £200, a podocarpus at 47cm tall is £175, and an Ilex crenata, or Japanese holly, at 33cm tall is £115. All three come with their measurements listed in the online shop, which helps if you are fitting a tree onto a particular windowsill or shelf in a mansion flat in Notting Hill or a narrow Bayswater terrace.

For beginners Phillo sells a bonsai starter kit at £150 for the regular size and £200 for the medium. Each kit includes a tree, a Bonsai Basics book, scissors and feed, which covers the first season. The honest verdict is that the starter kit makes the better gift than a single small tree at a similar price, because the book and scissors make it more likely the tree survives its first winter indoors.

Phillo offers care advice on its bonsai page and also runs what it calls a bonsai hotel for owners who are travelling. No price is published for the hotel, so ask in person or by phone when you book. One customer review on Bark describes leaving an ailing bonsai with the shop for two weeks and getting it back in better shape than ever, which is the best endorsement such a service can get.

There is no repotting service listed, so if your tree needs new soil and a root prune, take it to a specialist. Miyagi Bonsai at Unit 9, Rainbow Works, 21 Markfield Road in Tottenham repots small trees from £10. Phillo is the better choice when you want a characterful tree, a gift delivered across London that day, or a safe place for your tree while you are away for a fortnight.

Flowers and plants are delivered the same day from Monday to Saturday, between 9am and 3pm, and on Sunday by arrangement. Live plants go only to London postcodes, while candles and vases can be sent anywhere in the UK. The terms page asks customers to agree the delivery charge by phone, and the email address is office@philloflowers.com.

Stock changes as trees sell, and the bonsai page itself suggests calling the shop to hear what is currently in the collection. A review from a long-standing customer recommends Tuesday as a good day to drop in, since that is when fresh deliveries arrive. Thursday and Friday are the longer days, closing at 6pm, which helps if you are coming after work from the West End.

The customer mix reflects the street. Reviewers include couples who used Phillo for wedding flowers, event organisers who praised designs that went beyond their brief, and neighbours who come in for a weekly bunch and leave with a plant. Bonsai buyers tend to be people looking for a gift with a story, or flat owners who want one striking tree rather than a collection.

If you already keep trees and want to browse dozens of species, Phillo is not the place, because the bonsai shelf is short and the trees are expensive. For that kind of trip go to WindyBank Bonsai in Carshalton on a weekend, or arrange a visit to LV Bonsai in Barnehurst. Come to Chepstow Road for one exceptional tree, a well-chosen starter kit or a fortnight of bonsai hotel care.

Royal Oak and Westbourne Park Tube stations are both within walking distance of Chepstow Road, on the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines. From the shop, head north-west along Westbourne Park Road to The Cow at 89 Westbourne Park Road, a pub known for its oysters and Guinness, and a natural place to toast a new tree.

Carry on west to Portobello Road and the Electric Cinema at 191 Portobello Road, which opened in 1910 and is one of the oldest working cinemas in Britain. On a Saturday the antiques stalls of the Portobello market fill the street south of it. Keep a heavy bonsai for the end of the walk, or arrange delivery, since the olive and the elm are not trees to carry through a market crowd.

Address: Phillo Flowers, 59 Chepstow Road, London W2 5BP. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9am to 5pm, Thursday and Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm, closed Sunday. Email: office@philloflowers.com. Bonsai: from £115 for an Ilex crenata to £7,000 for a 125-year-old olive, starter kits at £150 and £200, plus a bonsai hotel. Delivery: same day across London postcodes, Monday to Saturday. Nearest Tube: Royal Oak or Westbourne Park.