A northwest Colorado Springs backyard has become an unlikely hub for one of horticulture's most demanding art forms, as a local couple grows and sells bonsai trees from a licensed home nursery.

One hundred bonsai are currently under cultivation in northwest Colorado Springs, tended by a husband and wife who commit hours every day to their business, Hardy Bonsai, and to the horticultural care required to grow healthy, award-winning trees. The operation is a licensed nursery with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, allowing the couple to sell and ship their bonsai across the continental United States.

Trees are available for purchase online at hardybonsai.com and during pop-up shops held after quarterly bonsai classes throughout the year. The nursery works with about 45 species of North American deciduous trees, curated from across the country, including some varieties that cannot be found for sale online, such as black gum and river birch.

Creating a precise growing environment suits the couple, who both have engineering backgrounds. One partner works full-time as a data scientist, while the other is a stay-at-home parent; growing and selling bonsai and accent plants such as Venus flytraps and pitcher plants is a side venture.

The bonsai practice centers on two artistic goals. Artists train their trees to look old and refined — meaning branches have significant bifurcation and movement — and to create visual interest. Proper technique can make a 20-year-old tree display the characteristics of one twice its age. "The trees grow better being outdoors as much as possible," one of the pair said. "They get better characteristics."

Two years ago, the couple took home the people's choice award for a 40-year-old hornbeam bonsai and also scored the emerging artist award at the annual Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society show at Denver Botanic Gardens. One partner also co-heads the Colorado Springs chapter of the Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society, which meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at Colorado Springs Fire Station 18.

The couple met at college in Texas, and the bonsai collection grew steadily through moves to Oregon and eventually Colorado, where the trees made up the bulk of their possessions during the relocation. One partner was also the one to suggest opening the business two years ago.

With proper care, the trees should live indefinitely and can be passed down through generations, much as they are in Japan, where bonsai originated. "It's very challenging as a hobby but very rewarding," one of the pair said. "The practice is hard. It's for the hardy."

Whether Hardy Bonsai will expand its class offerings or nursery capacity as local interest grows remains to be seen.