Padre Pio Bonsai Sydney

[toohey]

I All,
Today I went out to Padre Pio Nursery at Annangrove, near Dural. I was able to find two great Privet and I love privet, plus a few other things. The best part was that I spent four hours with the owner Domenic talking Bonsai. He doesn't mark his bonsai, but I found he is very reasonable. In four hours I was the only customer , which is a great shame because he has some really great stock and he only sells trees.
I would really recommend a visit.
Good hunting.
Michael Toohey

[Craig]

any pics Michael

[kcpoole]

I called in there on the way home a few weeks agon. It was raining, and the family in the car
Had a quick look around and have to go back on a better day and spend some time looking

Yes he has some real nice stock

Ken

[Bonbon]

The biggest problem of this place is he doesn't mark the price. He is a nice guy. Nice trees too. He seems doesn't understand that whether a customer interested in a tree, knowing the price while judging the tree is very crucial. Without making the price kills off 95% of my interest visiting this place. Whenever you ask him about a tree, he hesitate and think. People tends to think that he elevated the price just because you ask about it which means you like it.

But he won't listen, saying he worries people may change or swap his price tag. What can you do?

I feel quite sad for him. He is obviously losing lots of business. Haven't been there for a long time

[toohey]

Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

I too suggested to Dominic, the owner, that he must lose business because if people casually look around and don't have an idea of prices it is hard to know what to buy and juggle your budget.
However, I picked up the most beautiful Primus Japonica for $5 which was a real bargain among other even better buys, but the best thing was that he was just so accomodating and helpful. I feel that his nursery must really be so underutilised. Dom certainly has a gift for producing great stock trees. In a sense, if the nursery becomes popular I am killing such a great opportunity for myself, but for such a genuine guy I must really sing both his praises and the trees. He also was quite prepared to suggest other nurseries for particular things (stock & pots, etc) and this showed to me that he is genuinly interested in both people and the hobby.
I notice he specialises in root over rock style, which I don't particularly like in the most abstract forms, but he has certainly put time into this.
Regards,
Michael Toohey