Rocky Mountain Juniper

Giga

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Should be pretty interesting img once pads start developing.
 

Bunjeh

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Yamadori Hunting

Grouper: With out giving up secrets, where have you gone Yamadori hunting locally? I have checked with the parks service and it looks like most of the national forests/parks in WA state sell permits with limits of 5 items. Been thinking of taking a trip up to the Cascades or around Mount Saint Helens. I would appreciate your guidance.

Bunjeh
 

grouper52

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Grouper: With out giving up secrets, where have you gone Yamadori hunting locally? I have checked with the parks service and it looks like most of the national forests/parks in WA state sell permits with limits of 5 items. Been thinking of taking a trip up to the Cascades or around Mount Saint Helens. I would appreciate your guidance.

Bunjeh

Everything I know of collecting I learned with Dan Robinson, who was a true pioneer in the art in America. He has lived in Washington State his entire life, and his collecting escapades span over 50 years: To sum up, he doesn't bother much collecting in Washington State. Never did. There are almost no places where the conditions converge to create the sorts of trees/trunks he cherishes and can bring back alive.

The middle section of my book about him - Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees - has two chapters devoted to his collecting in Wyoming and up in Canada on Vancouver Island, his two favorite spots.

The last time we went to Wyoming it had been picked remarkably clean of any really good trees by some folks in Oregon who have turned the art of collecting into a commercial enterprise. Collecting on Vancouver Island is still somewhat doable, but it's also been marred and overdone by a fellow there with a ATV and no conscience seeking to make a buck, and the difficulty in getting the trees back into the States through customs had become quite a hassle by the time I last went several years ago.

I think the book is all sold out now, and I bequeathed the rights to Dan's family in case they ever want to make another printing, but you might want to contact Elandan Gardens in case any of the first printing are still available, or you may be able to find a used copy on Ebay (if you don't already have the book).

The Olympics have little, I hear, but along White Pass or some of the fire roads up high along its eastern downhill we have found some mediocre stuff, but nothing really noteworthy. Other parts of the Cascades are reputed to be similar.

Besides the permit/permission issues, and finding a tree with a promising trunk, it must have a good chance of living after it is extracted, and it must be uphill from and close to your truck unless you like to suffer. To find such trees in even a remotely fruitful density is rare, and knowing what you are doing to get them back alive is quite a skill: I'd suggest only going with someone who really knows what they are doing.

Having said all that, some folks still seem to be bringing out workable Mountain hemlocks and Alpine/Sub-Alpine firs and such, and selling them as landscape trees at various nurseries in our area, and you might sometimes find a really great bargain hunting there long before you would find a good one in the wild yourself. Dan also has a few collected trees for sale at Elandan most of the time if you're interested.

Good luck.
 

JudyB

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The last time we went to Wyoming it had been picked remarkably clean of any really good trees by some folks in Oregon who have turned the art of collecting into a commercial enterprise. Collecting on Vancouver Island is still somewhat doable, but it's also been marred and overdone by a fellow there with a ATV and no conscience seeking to make a buck.

This sucks.
 

grouper52

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Here's an update. Not much change, perhaps, but at least no change for the worse!

Enjoy.

RMJ-GWYM!-15.jpg
 

Dwight

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I kinda like that for a front. I can see the foliage getting much better after a few years and you'll be happier with iy. Too bad these damn things keep juvinal foliage so long.
 

Janson

Sapling
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Personally, I like the sparse juvenile foliage. It adds to the "barely clinging to life" motif - that is of course as long as the tree itself is not ACTUALLY clinging to life.
 
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