Stefano Baccaro’s Pre-bonsai

“We produce small plants, so that you may be able to create big works of art”

The oriental art of Bonsai originated in ancient times, and it is known to fulfil people’s desire for contact with nature as well as profoundly stimulate their creativity.

Every tree however old, which came to us from collectors, from producers, or from masters, always began as a small young plant, whose role is vital.

Because we are fully aware of this, we have been growing plants to be made into Bonsai with passion and dedication, since 1997. In short, we produce Pre-bonsai, which are small plants ready to be worked at and made into Bonsai proper. 

A Pre-bonsai differs from plants that are available at the average garden centre for a number of reasons:

1. From the first year, the taproot is severed, so that all the roots can spread radially and enable the growth of a healthy root, known as the Nebari.
2. The young plant is grown in low-height vases from the start.
3. The Pre-bonsai is pruned several times during the growing season and work is done on both trunk and branches.
4. Repotting takes place every two years using layers of soil that are suited to the specific needs of each variety of plant.
5. We select our Pre-bonsai by carefully picking the species that are best suited to create a fully grown bonsai later on.

All the plants we sell originate from Japanese mother plants that are chosen carefully by experts. They are then reproduced through seeding, cutting and grafting.

Those that are grown locally come from seeds that are collected from ancient trees found in the Western side of the Alps. Either way, we grow the small and medium sized plants in vases and the big ones in fields.

All our Pre-bonsai are between two and seven years of age; therefore, by the time you purchase any plant from us, it will have reached that age following a carefully monitored plan. Moreover, every plant is totally healthy and is sold with a certificate (the Passaporto Fitosanitario Europeo) to prove its health, origin and to provide information on the producer. All this is carefully monitored by the designated department in the region of Piemonte (Ufficio Fitosanitario della Regione Piemonte).

We also ensure that our plants grown under ideal conditions, by respecting their specific needs and times for growth, using carefully selected fertilisers and other products that are also available for you to purchase from us.

You can rest assured that our expertise and professionalism, paired with the high quality of cultivation methods we use, created the perfect plant for your needs. 

Even if everything we produce is not food, we feel obliged to respect nature. In fact in our nursery we do not use herbicides on the ground we do not have concrete structures we recover rainwater and the heating of the hot greenhouses is powered by renewable sources at 100%.

Who we are: Stefano Baccaro, the founder of Green Express, is highly experienced in this field. After spending eight years working for the two major bonsai producers in Italy, he started his own business in 1997. In 2000 he moved to the Canavese area of Piedmont, right at the feet of the highest mountains in Europe and began cultivating the Pre-bonsai. He keeps up to date with all the latest developments in the field, by attending courses and bonsai fairs all over Europe. After twenty years of experience, Stefano is now engaging in a new venture which involves producing Pre-bonsai on a large scale, in order to enable his customers to create high quality bonsai in the future.

He has also created a website (www.prebonsai.eu) where everyone who has a passion for bonsai can find all the information and support they need.