I think quaking aspen has a ton of untapped potential as bonsai. They grow quickly, they are extremely cold hardy, they have gorgeous fall color, beautiful white bark and craggly, gnarly black bark on the very old sections.
I have only been working with this species for a year but I have found it to respond very well to pruning. I’ll be repotting into bonsai soil (akadama) in the spring so we’ll how it responds to root work. From everything I’ve seen so far I think it will take it just fine. The species is extremely vigorous.
Of course, all of this is consistent with what Ryan Neil has reported on the species through Mirai. He seems to be very high on the species also.
Did I mention the pretty buds?
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