My apologies for not spotting this thread sooner! Let me start off by giving my sincerest apologies, we worked so hard to make this tree sale as perfect as we could, but we encountered a totally unforeseen issue last minute.
There was a glitch with some of the trees this morning as we were finalizing their pages and some of the trees went live prior to the 10am start time. We worked with our webstore provider to get the issue fixed as soon as we realized it, but unfortunately, that took some time causing more delays. We are humbled by how fast trees went this morning, and apologize for the issue. Our small team definitely learned some lessons this morning and will be better prepared for future sales.
Our apologies if you were unable to get the tree you wanted and hope to have your continued support.
If you have questions or comments you would like to take up with me, please message me directly through the forum.
I was going to mention that if I made a comment about price. The price is what it is and up to the retailer. It’s a choice of the buyer to pay it. I was on the page super early before any single tree was sold. For me, $350 for a shinpaku was not worth it. I’m just not into them that much. If it was a pom or olive I’d have been the first buyer.
You can’t assume that Ryan has styled all of the trees. Last year they said who styled the trees and there were more than a few that were styled by students. There was one tree this year that I know for sure was styled by a student because it was on their Insta. Of course Ryan has input, but they’re not all “Ryan Neil originals”.
I love looking at some of these trees. It’s cool to see the ones that were on live streams up for sale. Oh, to touch on ppl flipping Mirai trees. I saw someone on FB selling at Todd Schlaffer collected Ryan Neil styled tree for >$3,000. The tree was so raw that I was ultra skeptical that it was a RN tree. She didn’t sell it, but it just goes to show what ppl will try to charge for a Ryan. Now go back and look at the prices of these magnificent trees in amazing pots. I can’t even take the rarity of each species into account which would probably give me an even better appreciation for the trees. If I had that kind of disposable income (and wasn’t so “frugal”) I’d do it.
I do feel like the trident forest is a bit too high, but that’s the only one.
Again, if we were talking about a painter with the status Ryan has, there wouldn’t be a single piece below $10k.
As to whether Ryan has styled a given piece - I think this is one of several elements Mirai is not fully capitalizing on. Any tree that has been styled by Ryan should clearly say so on the tree’s product page. Additionally, there should be a list of videos the given tree was featured in. All of this adds super valuable provenance. Even stuff like putting his signature on the bottom of the pot. It’s all value.
As for this idea of selling shimpaku whips: I don’t think Ryan has to even sit down and style each piece completely. He could have Troy and/or others helping to wire them up, and Ryan can adjust a few branches here and there and give his final seal of approval.
Edit: Re: the $350 price for the shimpaku - remember, it’s in a $135 pot. So the plant itself is ~$215. I’m very new to bonsai, just having started at the beginning of 2020. I only have a ficus, a boxwood, and three Chinese elm saplings. The opportunity to branch out, species-wise, with a Mirai piece (in a lovely container) for such a price was too much for me to pass up, regardless of species preference.
Edit 2: again Re: shimpaku whips - I know Mirai is not trying to be “Discount Bonsai Warehouse.” But there are so many of us interested in acquiring Mirai trees at these kinds of price points. Making such trees available would be a service to the Mirai community, and lucrative at the same time.
I’m not trying to devalue the $350 shinpaku. If anything those are an amazing deal and could easily go for double the price. My point was that I personally am not that much of a fan of shinpaku. For instance; I don’t drink wine, so while I can appreciate an expensive bottle I would never buy one because it’s just not for me.
In my collection I have a total of 4 juniper and that’s more than enough for me. I also have a Carolina Sapphire cedar that looks very much like a juniper. As a person that’s “not that into juniper” I decided to let someone else enjoy the trees. I almost bought that pomegranate though, but the look I got told me otherwise.
I respectfully disagree. I don’t look to Mirai to be a bonsai mill. They make an effort put more affordable trees on sale. I understand the disappointment since I feel it too. I really wanted them to have another olive. It just didn’t happen and that’s okay. There’s always next year. Plus, I just bought that tree I set out to buy at my local nursery. Luckily no one bought it. It’s going to be an awesome shohin crape myrtle some day.
@joe_d - while i think that’s a great idea, i don’t think that’s something ryan’s felt inclined to do. i think he’s primarily concentrating on creating truly unique one of a kind trees and experimenting with the evolution of the art form rather than pumping out a “bonsai factory” even if it was just for one week or so.
nonetheless, each sale he’s had over the years have been unique. some have had a lot of “cheaper” trees, some have had a lot of expensive trees and some have had a mixture of price points. sometimes its mostly conifer, sometimes mostly deciduous… it all just depends on what he decides to make available.
I get what Ryan is trying to do with Mirai. And I think he couldn’t stop it from happening if he tried! He’s so crazy talented and has such an intense work ethic.
My idea is simply to recognize and support Mirai’s large community of beginners with access to a week or two’s production of entry-level pieces, at affordable prices ($300-$500). They would still be high-quality, beautiful pieces, and a run of 100 or so is still pretty “limited edition.” I think it would be a totally viable idea within the Mirai brand, would satisfy many of its members, and would make them money. Seems like a win-win-win to me.
I can’t speak for Ryan or the team, but speaking from the perspective of someone that has attended classes at Mirai for the past couple of years, I want to say that the majority of the material in the garden is similar to what you see on the sale. Granted it’s not all potted up or all in refinement, but a lot of it consists of big trees. Also, it’s already several people’s full time job + students to maintain what’s already there. Not sure how they’d find the time to dedicate to adding more . And really, would a whip with 20 mins of styling REALLY be a Mirai tree?
If you’re looking for raw material with good bones why not give Telperion a call?
I also want to comment on the ‘elitist’ thing. Not everyone that attends in person classes is super-wealthy. There are a very diverse group of students that attend in person. I personally had to plan ahead and make sacrifices in other areas to commit. I knew that I wanted to take my education to that level. I take everything too far .
The point of these affordable trees would be… to be affordable trees. They would be Mirai trees simply by virtue of being potted, wired, and sold by Mirai. If they sucked, nobody would buy them. Ryan and Mirai are incredibly inspiring. I can go to a nursery and buy raw material any day of the week. The opportunity to buy something Ryan worked on (even if it’s only for 20 minutes, as you say) is special.
Nobody, myself included, expects a $300 bonsai tree to be a heart-stopping prize winner. But many of us would love to own a tree that Ryan’s hand has worked, to whatever extent. It’s why I just bought a tree this morning for $350, a species I had no intention of buying in the near future. It also seems to be the main reason so many people are frustrated with today’s sale.
So, let’s be clear: the point of the idea is to show support and love for the beginners (and cash-strapped) who can’t pay $5k for a Mirai tree.
But I’ll reiterate - this would most certainly be a profitable venture. Unless Mirai is already making multiple millions each year, $30-$50k for a week’s production should be an attractive proposition.
Depends on how much work goes into growing, potting, styling, listing and shipping a $350 tree.
I get what you’re saying, but that’s not the point of Mirai. Look at it this way; if Mirai never sold a single tree would it be anything less than what it is today? The fact that they make trees available at all is something we should be grateful for. If they said “Welp, that’s it. No more tree sales.” nothing would change for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the desire. I was just trying to share observations based on what I know about the garden. What would they need to sacrifice to make room for that activity? Mirai is an education center first.
Totally. I think we all sort of agree with everything that’s being said. I think we all know what the “point” of Mirai is. Things are how they are for a reason. And everything Ryan and Co. have done has been amazing so far.
Here’s to more amazingness in the future, whatever form it takes!
I don’t think the types of trees people are talking about (rough nursery type stock --> $300 bonsai) could be styled in 20 minutes. Each piece would have to be evaluated individually, then the styling work would probably be at least 2-3 hours each. So those “quick” 100 trees in a week would mean 200-300 hours of work. That’s a lot of work for a week. And that doesn’t include the selection from the nurseries, repotting if necessary, upkeep (watering etc) while they are at Mirai.
It’s nice that there are a few relatively low priced trees available in each sale. The problem in this case was the early “sale” link that allowed those to go before most people had a chance. And even if they didn’t go early, you’d still have dozens or hundreds of people rushing to be the first one to click “buy” and get their information entered. Maybe that’s fine for some or a lot of you, but it’s not the way I pursue bonsai. I don’t just want a “Mirai tree”, I want the right tree.
The rest of the trees seem generally fairly priced. Good bonsai are not cheap and personally, I don’t want to see Mirai getting into the business of producing cheap bonsai for sale. There are other outlets for that. Facebook auction sites are a good place to look for that.
I think if you had time to review the trees a whole bunch of people would like the same tree and the one with the fastest internet connection, and/or those who could get a day off work would be the winner. Other than that option, you could bid on the tree, then the richest would be the winner. I dont see a way out…
. And really, would a whip with 20 mins of styling REALLY be a Mirai tree?
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