Juniperus chinensis "keteleeri"

[Desert O'Piñon]

A day trip allowed me to visit a landscape nursery I've been wanting to check out. Roughly 90% of their trees are in 5G pots or bigger. The service was great, but I wonder if they might be instructed to focus on the big sticker items. I was about to leave empty-handed, but as I was walking to the car, I decided to take a walk-through tour of 5 small curvette greenhouses. 1G pots. Almost exclusively. A couple dozen species or so that are good for arid climates, at least half native. Then I found this one.
It was a chopped, sparse stick-in-a-pot, about 8" tall. The other  keteleeri juniper were 2.5' to 3' tall. I snatched it up, and Usain Bolted to the office. Nothing in the greenhouses was priced, but I was going to get myself a bargain.
"I was wondering what kind of deal you might be able to make me for this one?"
"Yeah...
...I think we can do something. How does free sound?"

blank expression
"Uhhhh...
You mean like no charge free? Like I don't pay anything!?"

"Well, there's probably a lot of ways to say it, but yes, you can have it, without buying it."

"SOLD!"

This is the moment I realized the truth. I have a deep-rooted (pun intended; I'm a dad) tree acquisition disorder. This is NOT a pre-bonsai just because somebody chopped off 2/3 of it for whatever reason. It's not a bonsai because of its new growth and apparent health and vigor, or because of its foliage. It's only a bonsai in the future I envision in this tree-mad mind of mine. I can definitely see a literati, but I'm not limiting it to this destiny yet. A couple years of growth will give me a little better insight.
Anyhow, this is the newest puny little addition to my addiction.

 

[SFDrake]

Nice!

 

[Michael P]

You have it BAD.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

You are a man after my own heart! Earlier this spring I came home with a Japanese maple rootstock from a JM cultivar tree, where the graft had failed, the cultivar died, and all that was left was the rootstock... but I thought it had pretty coloration. Asked about the price and got the wonderful "for you - it's free!"

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Tree acquisition disorder is a real thing. A lot of us have the TAD.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

You are a man after my own heart! Earlier this spring I came home with a Japanese maple rootstock from a JM cultivar tree, where the graft had failed, the cultivar died, and all that was left was the rootstock... but I thought it had pretty coloration. Asked about the price and got the wonderful "for you - it's free!"

The irony is that I didn't even mention to the lady (it's Lubbock, Texas. She pronounced it "Vronca," but I'm pretty sure it's spelled V-E-R-O-N-I-C-A) that I'm "into bonsai." I told a nurseryman, who had left me to browse while he assisted another customer. I had to shake her hand and got her name to leave a good review. I'll definitely be back. The place was immaculate!

Tree acquisition disorder is a real thing. A lot of us have the TAD.

When I started seriously pursuing this artful craft, I only had it a TAD, myself. But I think I'll blame ya'll for my obsession now becoming full-blown!

I already have too many outdoor trees, and so many Portulacaria that I won't have room to keep them all inside this winter.
Bonsai people problems.