I hope I don't offend anyone who has used this term recently, but I squirm everytime I read that someone "Rescued" a tree from some large box store because I think what they really mean to say is that they bought a tree really cheaply and that it might not live or might not ever make a good bonsai but they bought it anyway because it was really cheap so don't hold them responsible for the end results, that's why the term "rescue" bothers me so.
Yeah, I kind of agree with this although I think the condtions that define a 'true' rescue might not be clear cut and black and white.
Hi Barry, I kind of agree with you here
A rescued tree is a tree that is plucket from in front of a bulldozer as it sits there idling while the driver is on coffee break.
A tree from a big box store is not rescued, but set free to find its potential whether it be in a landscape or pot.
Yep, that's a true rescue, but the extreme end of a continuum I think.
What about the following though: Back in early June I went to Heron's looking for a satsuki nikko (I found a nice one
), but while I was there, I noticed a little satsuki (yata no kagami) had been kicked under a bench. I had a closer look and found it was a sweet little starter tree with a very nice trunk movement, but was in a
tiny (4"x2") plastic pot. It had come out of it's pot and the kanuma had dried and eroded from one side of the tiny rootball (you should be tearing up by now).
It was laying on its side, under the bench, living on overspill that dribbled through when the other trees got watered. It had obviously been there for some time as it was water dripping through the bench day after day that had eroded half the rootball soil away and it was surviving on what it could suck up from the gravel under the bench.
I bought it (at the labelled price of £29.00) and it's just starting to put out new growth now. I had to cut off the top third of the trunk as that was looking very weak and dodgy and held way more foliage than it could support. It was a complete pity-purchase, but I don't regret it because it has a nice trunk line and will make a very nice shohin eventually. Does that count as a rescue?