Suggestion for “Regional” forum sections

Adair M

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Hmmm...

I wonder if @bonsainut could create new “Regional” forum sections where those who live in those regions could share regional-specific information.

I’m thinking there could be a “UK” forum, a “South America” forum, an “Australia”, a “European” forum, etc.

Not that I’m trying to exclude them from the general Bonsai Nut forums, but when discussing climate, repotting schedule, vendors, soils, and sometimes species, a lot of that stuff applies to a small subset of the general forum participants. I think it’s great that two guys from Brazil have found a way to help each other. I think it would be even more helpful to them if they had a way to hold their discussions in a way they doesnt “clutter up” the rest of the forum. Perhaps there could be a way to “opt-in” or “opt-out” of certain forum sections.

As an example, I choose not to participate in the “tea-house”. When I hit the “new posts” icon, I don’t get the teahouse posts. If each forum section could have such a feature (like an “ignore” feature), that would be great! As an example of how I would use it, I don’t do tropicals. I would love to be able to “ignore” posts that appear in the “tropicals” category.

Just a suggestion. I’ll see if I can copy this to the “suggestion” section.
 

Anthony

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Oh boy, Sifu,

way to go global, but there only 4 Trinidadians here.
So I guess it is goodbye for me down the road.
Been fun chatting with you.
Good Day
Anthony
 

leatherback

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way to go global, but there only 4 Trinidadians here.
I think adair is more suggesting that you can move the posts from fora that you are not interested in, to the background, rather than forbidding you to post in a forum for a region you do not live in. And besides. What fun would it be without you around!?
 

Starfox

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Hmmm, I'd rather see these sections as being species dependent and welcome to all comers from where ever they may be.

For example it could be 'American natives', 'Australian natives', 'African natives', 'European natives' and so on but all are welcome to post their trees or to try out something new and get inspired by something different. That would actually be useful and could potentially urge people to push their boundaries a bit.

I'd use those sections but I specifically wouldn't use them if it's just to hide the foreigners from view.

I presume you would also need 50 odd separate sections to split the US up by region too?
 

BobbyLane

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I think the UK forum and European forums can be merged as one. we share many similar species. climate wise not vastly different and a lot of the same or similar advice can be given.
Will baddely once ran the Europeanbonsaiforum with members from all over Europe. @leatherback will remember it
 

BrianBay9

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I like the idea of targeting regions, but perhaps based on climates? I could see a Mediterranean climate area that included California, Mediterranean countries, and maybe parts of Australia, for instance?
 

Starfox

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I think the UK forum and European forums can be merged as one. we share many similar species. climate wise not vastly different and a lot of the same or similar advice can be given.
Will baddely once ran the Europeanbonsaiforum with members from all over Europe. @leatherback will remember it

I agree with you but my climate is much closer to California's, Florida's and parts of Australia. There are trees up north that wont grow here in Spain so that makes things harder.
I think the climate thing is a red herring really, personally I have no issue with the way the forum runs or is laid out or who is doing the posting and to be fair most of it is 'clutter' to me but I don't know everything so often enjoy reading it all.
 

BobbyLane

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I agree with you but my climate is much closer to California's, Florida's and parts of Australia. There are trees up north that wont grow here in Spain so that makes things harder.
I think the climate thing is a red herring really, personally I have no issue with the way the forum runs or is laid out or who is doing the posting and to be fair most of it is 'clutter' to me but I don't know everything so often enjoy reading it all.

yeh i have no issue how its run either. fwiw there were also members from italy and spain regularly posting on the europeanbonsai forum. youre familiar with Mauro stemberger right, have you seen the species he works with? all sorts, Quercus robur, Hawthorn, Olive you name it, he has it. i believe he's based in italy i could be wrong.

so exactly what species is native to where you are, what are you growing exactly? i know that olive and pomegranate must do well. i grow those here too...

you know, Kaizen bonsai based in the UK, import many trees from spain? and Italy



 
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Starfox

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yeh i have no issue how its run either. fwiw there were also members from italy and spain regularly posting on the europeanbonsai forum. youre familiar with Mauro stemberger right, have you seen the species he works with? all sorts, Quercus robur, Hawthorn, Olive you name it, he has it. i believe he's based in italy i could be wrong.

I joined that site literally a month before it shut down. I'd start a new one and host it myself if I thought people would use it but I think that was half the problem too.
Yeah I follow Mauro and a few others on facebook from around the med, for my mind it'd be cool to have some of those guys contribute here as well.
There is WeeTrees which is pretty good, Ausbonsai and I know there are language specific forums throughout Europe but Bnut is by far the busiest which is maybe more the issue here.
 

BobbyLane

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I joined that site literally a month before it shut down. I'd start a new one and host it myself if I thought people would use it but I think that was half the problem too.
Yeah I follow Mauro and a few others on facebook from around the med, for my mind it'd be cool to have some of those guys contribute here as well.
There is WeeTrees which is pretty good, Ausbonsai and I know there are language specific forums throughout Europe but Bnut is by far the busiest which is maybe more the issue here.

im a member on weetrees. i also have an account on aus.bonsai, but ive never posted there, there is quite a bit of information there on elm and english elm which i found quite useful a few years ago, when i was elm mad!
i have an account on the IBC too.
yes BNUT is by far the best and busiest now. i still think its useful to take something from all over, thats exactly what i did. nowadays folks want it all in one post.
 

penumbra

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It's not broken so don't try to fix it. I for one enjoy reading posts from around the world. For that matter, California is nearly a different country than the east coast. We have a lot more in common with much of Europe than we do the west coast. If anything should be worked on here I would suggest more moderation of pointless ramblings and attacks.
 

Starfox

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so exactly what species is native to where you are, what are you growing exactly? i know that olive and pomegranate must do well. i grow those here too...

you know, Kaizen bonsai based in the UK, import many trees from spain? and Italy

There are lots I guess, as you say Olives, Pomegranate, Carobs everywhere, Pistachia lentiscus(?spelling), Tamarix's, Stone Pines, wild Rosemary all over the place and there is the Tetraclinis which is a truly local and rare species and I'm in this weird pocket of them because they shouldn't exist here. Can't legally dig them and haven't had luck with seeds so going to try cuttings next. There is probably way more but those are the main ones I see in the landscape aside for all the imported ring in's which excel here too.

What I'm growing, well I'm only been at it a couple of years and aside from jades I have a Ginkgo, Ginkgo forest and Bougainvillea in actual bonsai pots. Others developing in pots but not going to jinx them just yet. But what I like working with the most are Aussie natives but I have to grow them from seed or use nursery stock so I have a load growing on and a few I'm starting to get a long the way. Stuff like Eucalyptus, Callistemon, Melaleuca, Agonis, Banksia, Acacia I all have. Some Olives seeded in the yard so I'm wiring them up and letting them grow out too.

Yeah Kaizen seems pretty good, do they still have the only willow leaf fig seemingly available in the EU. lol, I would have that.

My favourite EU shop is laosgarden in Madrid.

im a member on weetrees. i also have an account on aus.bonsai, but ive never posted there, there is quite a bit of information there on elm and english elm which i found quite useful a few years ago, when i was elm mad!
i have an account on the IBC too.
yes BNUT is by far the best and busiest now. i still think its useful to take something from all over, thats exactly what i did. nowadays folks want it all in one post.

I have an account on all of those too and all good sites too.
 

BobbyLane

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There are lots I guess, as you say Olives, Pomegranate, Carobs everywhere, Pistachia lentiscus(?spelling), Tamarix's, Stone Pines, wild Rosemary all over the place and there is the Tetraclinis which is a truly local and rare species and I'm in this weird pocket of them because they shouldn't exist here. Can't legally dig them and haven't had luck with seeds so going to try cuttings next. There is probably way more but those are the main ones I see in the landscape aside for all the imported ring in's which excel here too.

What I'm growing, well I'm only been at it a couple of years and aside from jades I have a Ginkgo, Ginkgo forest and Bougainvillea in actual bonsai pots. Others developing in pots but not going to jinx them just yet. But what I like working with the most are Aussie natives but I have to grow them from seed or use nursery stock so I have a load growing on and a few I'm starting to get a long the way. Stuff like Eucalyptus, Callistemon, Melaleuca, Agonis, Banksia, Acacia I all have. Some Olives seeded in the yard so I'm wiring them up and letting them grow out too.

Yeah Kaizen seems pretty good, do they still have the only willow leaf fig seemingly available in the EU. lol, I would have that.

My favourite EU shop is laosgarden in Madrid.



I have an account on all of those too and all good sites too.

yes but what i was getting at, most of what youre mentioning would have its place in a europeanbonsai sub forum. i can pick up large trunked tamarix at one of my nursery outlets if i wanted. the only real difference is that most of them need winter protection here.
 

Anthony

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Trouble with Trinidad, an island that just floated up off Venezuela
is all of our trees are Sub - Tropical [ possibly Warm Temperate ]
Zone 7/8.

Seeds adapt and so do some plants.

Sageretia t [ zone 7 outdoor hedge China ] Murraya p [ zone 8 ]
hedge , J.b.pine [ listed zone 5 to 10 ] and so on.
Punica g. lives for 30 or so years and the small leaf olive [ Olea ]
has gone past 30 years.

Use of a fridge extends life indefinately.

We are now at 37 " local" trees/shrubs able to Bonsai.

I strongly believe the more experienced heads need a separate
forum. On our side it becomes very tiresome with all
the questions and often the questioner quits within 5 years.
Good Day
Anthony
 

Starfox

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yes but what i was getting at, most of what youre mentioning would have its place in a europeanbonsai sub forum. i can pick up large trunked tamarix at one of my nursery outlets if i wanted. the only real difference is that most of them need winter protection here.

Yeah absolutely it would but I feel it has it's place already here on bnut is all, I guess if some people want enhanced ignoring options then that's on them and those changes wouldn't bother me at all.
Separate subsections though? Not that it's needed but like I said if it was purely species related and open to all then that could be cool.
 

Adair M

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It's not broken so don't try to fix it. I for one enjoy reading posts from around the world. For that matter, California is nearly a different country than the east coast. We have a lot more in common with much of Europe than we do the west coast. If anything should be worked on here I would suggest more moderation of pointless ramblings and attacks.
I’m not saying it’s broken. Just like any bonsai, it could be improved! Lol!!!

My idea would not require any increased level of monitoring.

The way I generally keep up is to use the “new posts” tab. Then, I choose to read the thread based upon its title. Sometimes, when I open it up, I find it’s about a ficus, and I’ll have to exit and start over. (Please don’t misunderstand, there are some wonderful ficus bonsai, but I’m just not interested. That’s just me. Same with Brazilian raintrees. I don’t want anything I’d have to keep in a greenhouse in the winter. My olives are about as tropical as I want to go! I can just bring them into the house for a few days as they can tolerate some frost.)
 
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