A Beginner's Hello and a Question

[Nickuk74]

Oh wait was it you in the video?!?

No, that's Eric. Follow him as his video's are pitched as just the right level. He also has a great little podcast called the Bonsai Wire.

 

[FicusForager]

Boxwood make excellent tough bonsai material. I have several. One is Kingsville boxwood a dwarf variety with extremely small leaves. The other is collected Japanese boxwood adapted from a shrub planted in the 1970s in hedge in Arlington Va. it was dug up and made into a bonsai about 15 years ago

Ah amazing!! And again with the absolutely gorgeous pictures! Thank you so much for sharing, I will definitely be using those as inspiration for my boxwood when I get it!

fwiw your earlier thoughts about trees being “yours” only if you begin and grow them by yourself is a bit nearsighted and -forgive me- clueless. A little harsh-sorry, but at this point you don’t know what you don’t know.

Oh jeez, I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't imply that. That is entirely on me. I definitely do not think that way though. Inheriting or taking custody of a plant is incredibly valid and the tree would definitely still be "yours" at that point. I think my main hesitation is that I would not necessarily get a bonsai that I didn't know anything about, like whose it was or how old it is or even what kind of tree it is. My local center has absolutely humongous ones that are labeled "bonsai in decorative pot" and that's it. Those would feel weird for me to get as a beginner with not enough experience. I would hate to kill a tree that is older than I am even. I hope that makes more sense and represents what I think a little better!

One of the things you should keep in mind is that bonsai are NEVER “finished”. They evolve-sometimes dramatically- over the years.

That's one of the things I love most about bonsai.

They don’t do that by themselves. The best are shaped and maintained by multiple people over decades and even centuries. One persons work is just a foundation. Working on older trees is more challenging than beginning trees. I’ve done both. Older trees are more challenging and offer more than trees just starting out.

I really look forward to the day when I would feel confident enough to take care of an older tree. Maybe by then I will even have some mentors that would entrust me with their precious creations.

 

[Jrmcmich]

By the way Zelkova make good bonsai. Look them up and they seem fairly easy to keep alive. Can’t answer the refinement side but would be a good candidate for sure

 

[rockm]

Ah amazing!! And again with the absolutely gorgeous pictures! Thank you so much for sharing, I will definitely be using those as inspiration for my boxwood when I get it!

Oh jeez, I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't imply that. That is entirely on me. I definitely do not think that way though. Inheriting or taking custody of a plant is incredibly valid and the tree would definitely still be "yours" at that point. I think my main hesitation is that I would not necessarily get a bonsai that I didn't know anything about, like whose it was or how old it is or even what kind of tree it is. My local center has absolutely humongous ones that are labeled "bonsai in decorative pot" and that's it. Those would feel weird for me to get as a beginner with not enough experience. I would hate to kill a tree that is older than I am even. I hope that makes more sense and represents what I think a little better!

That's one of the things I love most about bonsai.

I really look forward to the day when I would feel confident enough to take care of an older tree. Maybe by then I will even have some mentors that would entrust me with their precious creations.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of decent to excellent worldclsss bonsai were NOT grown up from seed or from smaller bonsai. They were “cut down” and adapted from larger trees. Sure SOME old bonsai have been cultivated from seed but the most valued are either collected trees from the wild or trees that have been grown in ground most of their lives.

The scale of “real” Japanese and Chinese bonsai is bigger than what most westerners think. Take a look through the National Bonsai and Penjing museums website (actually it’s the national Bonsai Foundations site for the museum) look at how LARGE most of the trees are. It’s not really apparent from the photos that 90 percent are over two feet tall some are four to even five feet (the five is a collected North American Douglas fir)

Click on “plan your trip” then “collections” in the drop down menu

National Bonsai Foundation - Bonsai Museum Washington DC

NATIONAL BONSAI FOUNDATION® in support of the U.S. National Arboretum’s NATIONAL BONSAI & PENJING MUSEUM

www.bonsai-nbf.org

 

[FicusForager]

check .. They might just be chinese elms. BY far most of the zelkovas in trade are not zelkova at all.
If they are not refined and the leaves are not 1-2 inches, it is not a zelkova.

Oh my god, you're absolutely right. I'm pretty sure they are NOT zelkovas. I just researched a bunch of pictures and from what I remember of what I saw the leaves are completely wrong. That is wild!

Speaking of, the other plant that I keep seeing a bunch of there are Eugenia, how well do those do for bonsai? That's what their marketed as, but with them mislabeling Chinese Elms I don't have a ton of confidence in them now lol

nah, his videos are boring.

Have confidence Jelle!

 

[rockm]

Oh my god, you're absolutely right. I'm pretty sure they are NOT zelkovas. I just researched a bunch of pictures and from what I remember of what I saw the leaves are completely wrong. That is wild!

Speaking of, the other plant that I keep seeing a bunch of there are Eugenia, how well do those do for bonsai? That's what their marketed as, but with them mislabeling Chinese Elms I don't have a ton of confidence in them now lol

Have confidence Jelle!

Fwiw you are likely NOT buying zelkova unless you’re buying a landscape specimen. If youre shopping small bonsai sized “zelkova”. You’re likely looking at Chinese elm masquerading as zelkova. Import restrictions are a lot tighter in Chinese elm than in Zelkova. Shippers looking to get around Chinese elm restrictions label their trees as zelkova. Both are very elms and look similar if you’re not looking closely

Zelkova tends to have leaves on the larger side and they are longer lance shaped. Chinese elm leaves tend to be small and more roundish.

 

[FicusForager]

Keep in mind that the vast majority of decent to excellent worldclsss bonsai were NOT grown up from seed or from smaller bonsai. They were “cut down” and adapted from larger trees. Sure SOME old bonsai have been cultivated from seed but the most valued are either collected trees from the wild or trees that have been grown in ground most of their lives.

The scale of “real” Japanese and Chinese bonsai is bigger than what most westerners think. Take a look through the National Bonsai and Penjing museums website (actually it’s the national Bonsai Foundations site for the museum) look at how LARGE most of the trees are. It’s not really apparent from the photos that 90 percent are over two feet tall some are four to even five feet (the five is a collected North American Douglas fir)

Thank you so much for this information! I love learning more from subject matter experts. Also THANK YOU for the link, I have been to that website many times but I could never find out how to look at the pictures of trees! Turns out I just wasn't scrolling far enough past the intro sections on their collections lol. Gonna be looking at pictures all day haha thanks so much again.

 

[Nickuk74]

Just remembered this one.... really good channel in general.

 

[FicusForager]

Just remembered this one.... really good channel in general.

This video was awesome! Thanks for sharing! I like how sciencey it is too, helps me to understand more about tree processes. I like knowing the why of stuff, not just the what.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Thanks for the welcome! And very good to know, I'm very fond of my ficuses so far, having more eventually sounds lovely Also, I like the horticulture section of your blog, I tried to do research in Box Elder bonsai and yours is waaay better looking than anything I saw in my googling lol.

Thanks. Havent updated in a looong time... transitioning my music criticism and philosophy to a cut-and-paste physical zine in the style of the late 80's fanzines...

My boxelder is still alive. It's progression thread is here:

Thread 'Acer Negundo (Boxelder Maple) #1'

Jun 18, 2019

This is my first tree. A quick progression in photos with some minor descriptions. Not much to say about the tree at this point. It is an Acer Negundo or Boxelder Maple. I collected it last year from the front garden. I thought it was a red maple, but then I got the three-leaflets develop and realized that it was something else.

This is October of 2018. The tree was likely in it's first or second year at this point when I collected it. I threw it into a pot with some garden soil. Didn't know what I was doing at the time but it grew ok. I kept it watered and it seemed to react well. It was...

• Orion_metalhead
• acer negundo boxelder maple
• Replies: 100
• Forum: Maples

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