Jason
Chumono
So it's been raining here for days and my repotting has come to a standstill. I'm getting bored and it's either time I build an ark or post a tree...so... I'll go with the latter.
In 2003 I moved to the Kitsap Peninsula in WA from zone 5 (Green Bay). I had been trying to do bonsai in zone 5 and got a little giddy with my move due to all the new possibilities that the new climate provided. I went a little crazy with my pre bonsai purchases. One day I made a trip to Gig Harbor and ended up at some nursery (can't remember the name) that specialized in Japanese maples (for the landscape trade). I'd never been able to successfully grow them in zone 5 so I asked for something that might be conducive to growing as a bonsai. I never actually met the nurseryman but his help directed me to a few trees way in some back corner (typical nursery material story).
I picked up this maple and took it home. I didn't spend much on it but quickly got buyers remorse as I read that maples for bonsai shouldn't be grafted (strike one), that dissectum's were not ideal (strike two), and that red maples were less desireable (strike three). I ended up sticking this tree in the ground in disgust for the next 7-8 years (like essentially everything else I bought that first year). It got root pruned once when I moved to OR and I'd occasionally walk by and snip a branch or two but mostly I left it alone. This year I dug it up and decided it either needed to become a bonsai or worst case scenario a "potted patio tree". (It looked stupid in my landscaping.)
In 2003 I moved to the Kitsap Peninsula in WA from zone 5 (Green Bay). I had been trying to do bonsai in zone 5 and got a little giddy with my move due to all the new possibilities that the new climate provided. I went a little crazy with my pre bonsai purchases. One day I made a trip to Gig Harbor and ended up at some nursery (can't remember the name) that specialized in Japanese maples (for the landscape trade). I'd never been able to successfully grow them in zone 5 so I asked for something that might be conducive to growing as a bonsai. I never actually met the nurseryman but his help directed me to a few trees way in some back corner (typical nursery material story).
I picked up this maple and took it home. I didn't spend much on it but quickly got buyers remorse as I read that maples for bonsai shouldn't be grafted (strike one), that dissectum's were not ideal (strike two), and that red maples were less desireable (strike three). I ended up sticking this tree in the ground in disgust for the next 7-8 years (like essentially everything else I bought that first year). It got root pruned once when I moved to OR and I'd occasionally walk by and snip a branch or two but mostly I left it alone. This year I dug it up and decided it either needed to become a bonsai or worst case scenario a "potted patio tree". (It looked stupid in my landscaping.)