Why should we care?
- Thread starter jk_lewis
- Start date
Vin
Imperial Masterpiece
So your one of the 14% then 
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
KennedyMarx
Omono
Yes, that's what I meant. With the demand as low as it is there is one guy supplying my entire club with this material. The market is so small right now. More buyers would generate more people seeking to sell and the competition would drive the prices down.
Eric Group
Masterpiece
I just don't know... There is a finite amount of some of this stuff in America... Akadama for instance... CAN we quickly and dramatically increase the amount of supply if demand jumped? Eventually perhaps, but this is a type of soil dug from the ground on a tiny little island... Calidama might have to be substituted more often... I suppose increased demand at the very least woul lead to more vendors locally which removed the need for shipping costs...
ColinFraser
Masterpiece
I'm slowly aging into my hobbies. I like scotch, I know how to play bridge, I was always the youngest member of the orchid society . . . It seems that pursuits mostly taken up by retired men always appealed to me, and bonsai is no exception.
One thing to consider is that my relationship to horticulture/gardening changed dramatically when I purchased my first home at 30, several years ago. Suddenly I had my own yard and was interested in fertilizing, cultivating, pruning, weeding, etc. (stuff I used to hate when my dad made me do it)! This definitely made Bonsai a more plausible hobby. Taking on a 30 year mortgage also changes your relationship to time and patience - another step toward bonsai!
Anyway, I agree with several other posters that a certain level of maturity is required to really even be interested in Bonsai in more than a passing way (yes, there will be exceptions). I would add that a level of financial, or at least housing, security is also important. If I were a marketing manager for "big bonsai corp" I would be targeting 30 year olds, not teens or 20 year olds.
One thing to consider is that my relationship to horticulture/gardening changed dramatically when I purchased my first home at 30, several years ago. Suddenly I had my own yard and was interested in fertilizing, cultivating, pruning, weeding, etc. (stuff I used to hate when my dad made me do it)! This definitely made Bonsai a more plausible hobby. Taking on a 30 year mortgage also changes your relationship to time and patience - another step toward bonsai!
Anyway, I agree with several other posters that a certain level of maturity is required to really even be interested in Bonsai in more than a passing way (yes, there will be exceptions). I would add that a level of financial, or at least housing, security is also important. If I were a marketing manager for "big bonsai corp" I would be targeting 30 year olds, not teens or 20 year olds.
ColinFraser
Masterpiece
Also, I should add regarding the reception of newbies, that being criticized is one of the reasons I came here - how else do you get better at something?! Criticism is not necessarily an attack, and people do seem to have an awfully thin skin sometimes.
I've always been something of a curmudgeon, even when quite young, so the personalities that some feel would scare off newbies just made me feel at home around here.*
*results may not be typical
I've always been something of a curmudgeon, even when quite young, so the personalities that some feel would scare off newbies just made me feel at home around here.*
*results may not be typical
Si Nguyen
Omono
I am with you 100%!
Just a personal observation and not directed toward anybody:
People who grew up with very critical parents tend to handle criticisms better than people who had non-critical parents.
My parents are my worse critics, then it's me. Everything else is a compliment.
Paul G
Mame
Just my two cents, but until I happened upon a bonsai show in Grand Rapids last fall, I was part of the general public. Seeing the trees on display awakened a part of me that the run of the mill big-box stock was never going to reach. More shows. Definitely more shows.
Vin
Imperial Masterpiece
I think the supply and demand aspect of the conversation has its place. However, the question asked by the JacKaL is "why should we care that only a tiny percentage of the USA population is doing bonsai?" Supply and demand and/or the affects of it aren’t going to make us care any more or any less.
Without a doubt, the people that need to care are the current community of bonsai enthusiasts. I mentioned earlier that my son came to me with an interest in bonsai. His interest started when his High School buddy introduced him to the hobby. Both he and my son have changed quite a bit since. They have much more respect and appreciation for things in general. They keep their yards maintained, they respect others more and they have indeed gained more patience. I'm proud of them both.
So, I am one that does care and I would love to see more interest in the hobby. It’s really hard for me to believe anyone wouldn’t want the hobby to grow. I just don’t get it.
Without a doubt, the people that need to care are the current community of bonsai enthusiasts. I mentioned earlier that my son came to me with an interest in bonsai. His interest started when his High School buddy introduced him to the hobby. Both he and my son have changed quite a bit since. They have much more respect and appreciation for things in general. They keep their yards maintained, they respect others more and they have indeed gained more patience. I'm proud of them both.
So, I am one that does care and I would love to see more interest in the hobby. It’s really hard for me to believe anyone wouldn’t want the hobby to grow. I just don’t get it.
Bunjeh
Chumono
Constructive criticism is alway appreciated. I think we all know the difference.
amethystearth
Sapling
I think the problem lies in what people define as "constructive". I think a lot of people expect a certain level of friendliness from others. When they don't get it the "constructive" part of the criticism is often overlooked due to hurt feelings/pride. I've seen some extremely informative answers given by some rather pugnacious people. The info is all there- you just have to sort through the cold remarks and jabs to find it. I'm with Colin in that I don't care how my advice is given to me. Anyone willing to comment on something I did is worth reading to me as long some info is there and not just empty words. I think it's a bit like taking a bad pill - you might gag a little, but maybe you need the medicine.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Here's where I'm coming from with the whole supply/demand thing. I used to live in Chicago 20 years ago. At the time, there were TWO bonsai vendors in the entire Chicago Metro area. One was about 20 minutes away. One was about 30-40 minutes away. I used to travel to San Francisco to buy trees, Chicago not being known for its mountainous regions or craggy yamadori. It was not all completely bleak - Chicago has the Chicago Botanic Garden (with one of the best bonsai collections in the country) and the Midwest Bonsai Society. But if you live downtown, or in the western suburbs, that 45 minute to 1:30 drive to Highland Park for a meeting can get somewhat tedious.
Now that I leave in Southern California there is a BIG DIFFERENCE in the ability to go to nurseries, purchase supplies, join clubs, go to shows, etc. It is night and day. I have a study group of 6 talented people right in my area. There are a number of nurseries we can go to, retailers with rooms full of bonsai pots and tools, as well as garden centers that have supplies for bonsai as well as related horticultural interests (orchids, Japanese gardens, koi ponds, etc). There are several top quality shows in the area every year, as well as bonsai professionals who have been in the hobby for decades, if not generations.
Now I don't believe that the inherent interest in bonsai is any higher in Southern California than the Midwest, with the exception of a stronger Asian cultural presence. I just think it is EASIER and CHEAPER to practice bonsai here. Higher demand begets higher supply and more price competition. Additionally, higher demand creates ENOUGH supply that retailers can sell at a lower margin and still make enough money to live. If one day half of the bonsai enthusiasts in Southern California would vanish, I would feel the impact. Stores would close. Nurseries would shut down. Shows would be canceled.
Certainly if all you do is practice bonsai in your backyard with yamadori, your own handmade pots, and tools from Home Depot, you probably won't notice a difference. But for the rest of us who are involved in the bonsai community at large, I feel the art is either growing, or it is dying out, and I try to support it in small ways, here and there.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
This site is the Biggest way!
Everywhere!
Good thing modesty didn't kill the cat!
Sorce
Everywhere!
Good thing modesty didn't kill the cat!
Sorce
tmpgh
Shohin
Is the question "Should we care?" or "Why should we care?" Very different questions requiring very different thought processes to answer. It seems we are discussing the first when the OP asked the second.
amethystearth
Sapling
I looked at it like "should we care? Why?" "whe should we care" means you have to agree that we should care in the first place, which is relevant to the discussion in my opinion. Otherwise you block anyone who disagrees that "we should care" from the discussion.
tmpgh
Shohin
I think it would be a fair discussion either way. It is an important distinction, though. I also think it's a fair assumption that most of us as members of the bonsai community do actually care about the health of that community. It's cavalier to say "I don't care about anyone but what happens in my back yard," but the truth is that in any community we rely on one another and have a vested interest in the community health in general.
amethystearth
Sapling
I share those sentiments as well. It's hard to imagine someone would be posting here if they didn't have something invested in the bonsai community
grouper52
Masterpiece
"The world is perfect, just the way it is. Even your anger at the world is perfect." Neem Karoli Baba, to Ram Das.
Si Nguyen
Omono
"The world is NOT perfect, and neither are you, so STFU. " Ram Das, to Neem Karoli Baba.
