How much did I pay 4 ? The Pitch

ghues

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I was going to put this in a recent post but didn't want to sidetrack that one so:

The Pitch:
I've just acquired 5 new trees (picked them up last night) for my collection and I’d like you all to guess the price I paid and what you think of my purchases.

I’ll set it up and wet your appetite by giving you my scenario, I’m a bonsai newbie but (taking the advise of many on this site) have belonged to and helped set up a club in my area last October. I’ve purchased trees from known local Bonsai artists and clubs in the past……but unfortunately most (not all) have died on me (wrong timing/treatment of re-potting, poor winter protection etc), all of which I’m sure most of you have done too.
So you can imagine that even though I could hear Harry and others telling me that I should fork out some real bucks to get a quality tree and learn from it…I hesitated (but was definitely tempted) to buy just one tree (there were two real nice/large tridents, a bunch of big mountain Hemlocks, plums etc) …I opted to stretch my predetermined budget and went for the smaller “project trees”.

A senior club member (he’s been active in Bonsai since the late 80’s) announced to the club that he wanted to downsize his collection and would give us and his friends the first crack at them.
When we got there this last Saturday, I couldn’t believe the low prices and after about 15 minutes of mulling around talking to the other folks…..you could almost sense that a feeding frenzy was about to break out……as one fellow (that had traveled 1 ½ hours to be at the event) whispered in my ear “if you put the azalea back down on the bench it will be mine”. Then all of a sudden it was a beehive of activity and the member was having to use two wheel barrows to get the trees to peoples cars.

SORRY no pictures yet, I know, I know……….I’ll get to that tonight……AND seeing as though I don’t have a good set up….I’ll ask for some forgiveness NOW.

I picked up an Amur Maple (just based on its “winter look” as the member had showed it to us in its dormant state), a shohin azalea (just a garden variety though), a small cascade Japanese Larch, a spiraea and a large azalea that isn’t at the moment a classic bonsai but will definitely be a real classic springtime show on the patio….you know the type……the wife/partner pleaser for the evitable “you spent how much on more freaking trees”.

Till tomorrow then
Cheers Gman
 

jjbacoomba

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The Pitch

LOL @ "you spent how much on more freakin tree?" LOL!!!She'll love the Azaleas.
 

ghues

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So what do you all think?

Here are a couple of quick shots. The azalea, the Amur Maple, and one of the J. Larch.
 

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ghues

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Second set.

The front of the J. Larch and two of the Spirea (sp?).
So what are your guesses on the prices? You can give me $US and I'll convert from our Loonie. Any potential for them? ideas?
Cheers Gman
 

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Dav4

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The shohin azalea has a trunk like an import...those aren't cheap. The larch looks collected...again, collected trees with character aren't cheap. The maple has very nice taper. These trees all apear to have been in training for some time. At a retail bonsai nursery on the east coast (my stomping grounds) these trees would all command at least several hundred dollars each. However, Because they were being sold from an individual's personal collection, and they aren't "finished" trees, I suspect you got them for quite a bit less. My bet is around $50-75 US for each, maybe a bit more.

Dave
 
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Bob

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$25.00 for each. No insult intended. Maybe the previous owner was just happy to see his trees go to people who will take care of them....
 

rockm

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I'd bet Bob's guess is in the ballpark. Collection downsizing is usually about getting rid of trees--to people who can care for them. It's not about profit. It's about moving the trees...
 

ericN

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If you payed less than what you think the trees are worth, you did good (that's my motto, just don't let the wife hear it! lol)

Those are nice trees.:)

Eric
 

ghues

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I'll be getting the history of all them from the club member soon, as he's been keeping meticulous records with the little metal tag indicating its number.
The Shohin azalea isn't imported but came from his garden and trained for many years, as did the spirea, the J. Larch is collected but was a seedling. The Amur maple is hollow in the middle which really gives it a nutural look in the winter, the nebari at ground level is wider than the bic ligther.
The member was trying to downsize as he had realized that he had too many and couldn't keep up the maintenance required. He also wanted to make a few bucks to invest in his other hobbie, model boat building. So like we've heard so many time on this site and othersr, he wanted to decrease his collection to a more managable number..... so that he could take them to the next level.
G
 

HotAction

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$30-spirea, $60 azalea, $50 amur, other azalea $25? total= $195

-Dave
 

ghues

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Design ideas

Some good guesses...a few more and I'll reveal them.
However, the main point of the post was to get design ideas.
It’s been suggested that the Amur should be repotted into a slightly smaller, shallower pot - colour ideas anyone? Also does anyone have any experience or suggestions with defoliation techniques in order to reduce the leaf size?
The other suggestion for the shohin azalea was to increase the size of the pot?
Cheers G.
 

Attila Soos

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Is this representative of price differences between left coast and right, and what the enthusiast expects to pay in their respective geographical location? Vedy Interesting! :)

Not really. The point was that Ghues got these at a rock bottom price, more like a steal than what the trees would sell for in an orderly market.
So, the prices quoted here are lowball figures, anything goes.
 

Tachigi

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Not really. The point was that Ghues got these at a rock bottom price, more like a steal than what the trees would sell for in an orderly market.
So, the prices quoted here are lowball figures, anything goes.

The jury is still out on whether these were rock bottom....though we've been promised the reveal.

The point I was trying to make Attila is perhaps Californian expectations of price, due to the there treasure trove of trees at reasonable prices maybe different than Dorothy's prices way out here on the east coast.... whether there rock bottom or not is really not the point...its the mind set I was interested in.
 

cascade

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Is this representative of price differences between left coast and right, and what the enthusiast expects to pay in their respective geographical location? Vedy Interesting! :)

Tom,

Ghues said someone else told him that “if you put the azalea back down on the bench it will be mine”. Bearing that in mind I thought there was a psychological moment here, a brief hesitation not to immediately claim the Azalae for sure. So I "upped" the price a bit for that particular plant. And it is a nice one anyway.
Adding to it that it did take some minutes for the crowd to frantically start their purchase hysteria, I concluded the bonsai offered were low in price but not dirt cheap..
Some of the trees Ghues bought came in bonsai containers, they would cost some additional few bucks.

The geographical location in reference to the obvious price differences (especially when you try to purchase a collected tree in the "wrong" state..haha) is one thing. Nice bargains you can make IMO with underestimated tree material.:D

-dorothy
 
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