WindyBank Bonsai Nursery in Carshalton: Weekends 10am to 3pm

WindyBank Bonsai opens on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 3pm, bank holidays included, and you do not need an appointment for those hours. The nursery is at Windy Bank, 60 Woodmansterne Lane, Carshalton SM5 4BJ, in the London Borough of Sutton, and it sells outdoor bonsai only. If you want a bonsai nursery in London where the pines and maples were chosen in Japan by the people behind the counter, this is the long trip south worth making.

The About page puts it plainly: WindyBank has been importing high quality bonsai from Japan for over 30 years, and the team normally travels there every year to hand pick each tree. That habit shapes the whole place. Instead of a container of identical mass-produced trees, the benches hold individual plants that someone stood in front of in a Japanese nursery and decided were worth shipping to a garden on the edge of Surrey.

The site does not give a founding year, and it names only Ken, who reviewers quoted on the homepage describe as very knowledgeable and helpful. One visitor wrote that the owners buy many of the trees themselves in Japan and are happy to help beginners and experienced growers alike. Another called it the friendliest bonsai centre they had been to, and a third summed it up as an Aladdin's cave of bonsai, well worth a visit.

The most important rule is printed with three asterisks on the About page: WindyBank does not sell indoor bonsai. Everything on the benches is meant to live outside through a British winter, which suits a garden, a balcony or a patio but not a windowsill in a heated flat. Sizes run from tiny mame trees that sit in a palm up to mature specimen trees, with plenty of shohin and chuhin in between for people building a small collection.

Species lean towards the classic Japanese repertoire. You will find pines, Chinese junipers, Pinus rigida, Japanese maples and satsuki azaleas, plus accent plants for display. Satsuki are the ones to look at in late spring when they flower, while the maples are at their most striking now in October as the leaves turn. Pines and junipers are the steady choice if you want a tree that looks good in every month of the year.

The website keeps a page for its most recent shipment, and the 2025 list shows the depth of the stock. It includes Arakawa and Kotobuki varieties, Shishigashira, Saotome, Premna, Juniperus procumbens, privet, Hinoki cypress, cork bark elm, collected Taxus cuspidata, Ilex serrata and Cho Ju Bai quince. Each tree is photographed and numbered, which means you can browse from home in Croydon or Camden before deciding whether the drive is worth it.

Prices are not published online. The shipment page asks you to email with the tree numbers for prices and reservation requests, and that is the sensible way to use the site. Pick three or four numbers, send them to info@windybankbonsai.co.uk midweek, and you will arrive on Saturday knowing what each tree costs and which ones are being held for you, rather than falling for something you cannot afford.

Even if you are not buying a tree, the dry goods are a reason to come. WindyBank stocks akadama, including a large grain size, as well as kanuma for azaleas, pumice and a dedicated shohin soil. For feeding there is HB-101, Bonsai Aid, Bio Gold and rape seed fertiliser, and the shelves also carry cut paste, aluminium wire, stainless steel soil sieves, tools and display stands. That covers almost everything a repotting season needs in one stop.

The pot selection is large. The site talks about hundreds of pots in many glazes and sizes, from big training containers down to shohin pots, including hand-signed pieces. If you are moving a tree from a nursery pot into its first proper container, bring the tree or at least its measurements. It is far easier to judge the depth and width of a glazed pot against the actual trunk than from a photo on your phone.

Weekend opening is the simple option, but the homepage adds that the nursery can also open on a Tuesday or Thursday if necessary, strictly by appointment. That suits anyone who works Saturdays or wants a quieter look at the benches.

WindyBank has its own car park. When it is full, the site asks visitors to use the Oaks Park Café car park on Croydon Lane, about a five to ten minute walk away or a one minute drive. Public transport is possible but slow. The 166 bus stops at Oaks Park, roughly half a kilometre from the gate, and Woodmansterne station is about 1.8 kilometres away, so most people who buy a large tree come by car.

The regulars are hobbyists who already keep trees outside: club members hunting for a shohin pine, gardeners who want a maple with real taper, and people restocking akadama before spring repotting. The honest verdict is that WindyBank is not the place for a gift ficus or a first tree for an office desk. Its stock would struggle indoors, and the staff will tell you so before they sell you something unsuitable.

If an indoor tree is what you need, go north instead to Miyagi Bonsai at Unit 9, Rainbow Works, 21 Markfield Road in Tottenham, which sells Ficus and Chinese elm for flats and offers repotting. For anything hardy, though, WindyBank rewards the trip. Arrive near 10am on a Saturday if you want first look after a new shipment, and leave space in the boot for soil, since sacks of akadama are heavy to carry on a bus.

The nursery sits next to Oaks Park, a 33 hectare council park on Croydon Lane, Carshalton SM7 3BA, and the two make a natural pair for a weekend morning. The park was laid out for the Earl of Derby in the 1770s, and the famous Oaks horse race, first run in 1779, takes its name from the estate. The mansion was demolished between 1956 and 1960, but the woodland, lawns and walled garden remain.

From the park it is a short drive to Mayfield Lavender Farm at 1 Carshalton Road, Banstead SM7 3JA, which is also inside the borough of Sutton. The lavender itself finishes in late August, but the farm runs a pumpkin patch in October, which makes it a cheerful second stop with children. Leave the bonsai in a shaded spot in the car while you walk, because a closed boot in sun can scorch fresh leaves.

Address: Windy Bank, 60 Woodmansterne Lane, Carshalton SM5 4BJ, London Borough of Sutton. Hours: Saturday and Sunday 10am to 3pm including bank holidays, with no appointment needed, and Tuesday or Thursday by appointment only. Email: info@windybankbonsai.co.uk. Stock: outdoor bonsai only, imported from Japan, plus pots, soils, fertilisers, wire and tools. Prices are given by email against the numbered trees on the shipment page. Parking: on site, with overflow at the Oaks Park Café car park.