Invasive Species as Bonsai

[BrianBay9]

@Leo in N E Illinois Thats logical to me and I certainly think it’s overall better to collect than let remain in the wild - when selecting which ones are worth taking as yamadori though I think it’d be best to view it as “collect or kill” rather than “collect or leave” time and effort permitting. But that’s enough pontificating from a newbie who has no collection experience of his own

Yes, when we've worked with parks people, we agreed to dig what we find, then keep what we want.

 

[BrightsideB]

I go to a park that has large mature Chinese elms. And there are now good sized ones scattered along the tree line that grew from seed. I was thinking of getting in contact with the city and working my way down to whoever to see if I could remove them. I think that would be classified as removing an invasive specie. I was thinking of using that to better my odds.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Yes, when we've worked with parks people, we agreed to dig what we find, then keep what we want.

Same thing here... It got to the point where WHEN I'd call the parks/property managers OR Warden David.. my response was "Yeah, yeah, whatever! You know what to do."

 

[Paradox]

Burning bush is also considered invasive some places and those have been used for bonsai

 

[BrianBay9]

Same thing here... It got to the point where WHEN I'd call the parks/property managers OR Warden David.. my response was "Yeah, yeah, whatever! You know what to do."

It's all about establishing some trust....

 

[HorseloverFat]

It's all about establishing some trust....

EXACTLY

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

This thread popped up due to alerts, at risk of "necro-posting"

I'd like to add, I have found for my area, the best invasive I have had good luck with is the Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila. It really makes a nice tree like any other species of elm. It does want full sun, but other than that its great. I mention sun, because our local native slippery elm, Ulmus rubra, will tolerate partial shade.

Siberian elm has leaves that reduce to small or even tiny. Fine twig structure, really nice coarse texture bark, rapid growth and good UDSA zone 4 winter hardiness. Perfect for just set the pot on the ground for winter protection, even north of Chicago. Mine is in an Anderson flat. I need to lift it up (its rooted into the ground) and take a photo and give it a trim.

 

[Paradox]

Japanese black pine is starting to be considered invasive in some places now too

 

[The Barber]

I think invasives are a great choice for bonsai if you can collect them in the area you live in. I wouldn't recommend using invasives that aren't in your area though because of the potential to spread them to new areas. Amur honeysuckle, Bradford pear, and Chinese privet among others already have a huge foothold where I live. The cat is out of the bag so to speak, and I wouldn't worry about using species that are already in your area.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think I have told this story before, but it fits well in this thread:

A friend of mine gave me some chestnuts that he said came from a singular old tree on a farm in Virginia. He was hoping that tree might have special resistance to chestnut blight, which has all but wiped out our native American chestnut. I germinated the chestnuts, and after a year became doubtful about the ID - they looked a lot like Chinese chestnuts to me. So I sent out some samples to have them DNA tested, and as I suspected, they came back 100% Chinese chestnut. My friend can't figure out how an old mature Chinese chestnut came to grow on a farm out in rural Virginia... but that is another story.

Now whether you consider Chinese chestnut invasive or not is up to your worldview. It has become naturalized in many areas, and though a little smaller at maturity than American chestnut, has a lot of favorable characteristics - including being resistant to chestnut blight, and bearing more and larger chestnuts than American chestnut. There may come a time when a resistant American chestnut is developed and people will be trying to reintroduce it to all of its original range... at which point Chinese chestnut may be considered an invasive. Until then... Chinese chestnut is better than no chestnut at all. (Though the species is not well-suited to bonsai culture given its extremely large leaves)