tainoson
Sapling
i'll bite!
The Five Year "Native Tree, Native Pot" Challenge!
- Thread starter zanduh
- Start date
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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I'm in. Don't know what I'll use.
I have a Thuja occidentalis, that was collected, that I haven't done anything to yet. Just waiting for it to get established. Thuja is native to my immediate neighborhood, Just 2 miles from the house I can find seedlings along a creek. But this collected Thuja came from 300 miles north of here. Honestly had no work done on it. But I "kinda" feel like it would be cheating, as it has been sitting in a training pot for two years since being collected. It looks pretty good, some might not believe I have actually done nothing to it.
I might use a hornbeam or a slippery elm. Or even maybe a blueberry. Blueberries, specifically Vaccinium corymbosum, the highbush blueberry. Its pre-Columbian distribution included southwest Michigan, so it is fair game. I've been threatening to show they make good bonsai, I should really try and do it. It will be tough, after learning how to prune for fruit production, the exact opposite would be pruning for bonsai. LOL.
Another I'm thinking of is Jack pine, Pinus banksiana.
I can decide later.
I have a Thuja occidentalis, that was collected, that I haven't done anything to yet. Just waiting for it to get established. Thuja is native to my immediate neighborhood, Just 2 miles from the house I can find seedlings along a creek. But this collected Thuja came from 300 miles north of here. Honestly had no work done on it. But I "kinda" feel like it would be cheating, as it has been sitting in a training pot for two years since being collected. It looks pretty good, some might not believe I have actually done nothing to it.
I might use a hornbeam or a slippery elm. Or even maybe a blueberry. Blueberries, specifically Vaccinium corymbosum, the highbush blueberry. Its pre-Columbian distribution included southwest Michigan, so it is fair game. I've been threatening to show they make good bonsai, I should really try and do it. It will be tough, after learning how to prune for fruit production, the exact opposite would be pruning for bonsai. LOL.
Another I'm thinking of is Jack pine, Pinus banksiana.
I can decide later.
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
I’d be extremely interested to see a blueberry!
I passed on collecting this Negundo last year... i’ve been tempted to try and dispell THEIR stigma... but never really wanted to... maybe this is a consideration as well.
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,490
- Reaction score
- 23,850
- USDA Zone
- 5b
@HorseloverFat - you sent me down a rabbit hole. I got curious how many species of blueberry are native to my area and to the area where we have our family blueberry farm in SW Michigan, and coincidentally to Green Bay area, Door County area of Wisconsin. I was surprised to see just how many species are native to your area.
About blueberries - the Genus is Vaccinium, it includes blueberries, bilberries and cranberries. Some also get called huckleberries, but the name huckleberry is used for plants in at least 3 related genera and one or two completely unrelated genera. Blueberries are uniquely native to North America. In Europe, the bilberries & lingonberries are the native members of Vaccinium. As an economic crop, blueberries were totally developed in North America. A truly "American fruit", but do include Canada in this concept of "American" as much work was done in Canada as well as USA. For thousands of years, worldwide, members of Vaccinium were harvested by foraging in the wild, relying on wild plants, without actually cultivating them in orchards or farms. Commercial foraging from the wild of lingonberries, bilberries and lowbush blueberries are still significant yearly activities, and income for many in the areas where these species are native.
The list of Vaccinium species you could find within 200 miles of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Vaccinium macrocarpon - large cranberry
Vaccinium oxycoccos - common cranberry
Vaccinium angustifolium - low bush blueberry - native to all the Great Lakes States and Northeastern USA States & eastern Canada.
Vaccinium cespitosum also spelled caespitosum - dwarf bilberry - native mostly north, expirated from Wisconsin, you could bring it back.
Vaccinium myrtilloides - common blueberry also called velvetleaf huckleberry
Vaccinium pallidum - dry land blueberry - very rare in Wisc, might be found in dryer areas like the sand counties of Wisc.
Vaccinium membranaceum - thin leaf huckleberry - found in UP Michigan but not in Wisconsin, but UP is only tens of miles from you.
Vaccinium ovalifolium - Alaskan Blueberry - found in the UP, but not Wisconsin, found in northern & western Canada, and Eastern Canada, but not Central Canada.
Almost all of the above species are low shrubs, so smaller size bonsai is where they would be best suited. The 2 cranberry species would probably be best as kusamono, and virtually all could work as kusamono.
The Highbush blueberry, which can approach 10 feet tall, Vaccinium corymbosum is not native to Wisconsin, though it is native to southwest Michigan. Its northern limit in Michigan is about Muskegon. It is not cold hardy enough for more extreme climates further north.
Vaccinium myrtillus - European bilberry and Vaccinium vitis-idaea - the lingonberry, these two species are the common, wide spread European species that could be used as small bonsai or kusamono by our European contest members.
So @HorseloverFat - on your daily walks, look around, you have at least 5 species you probably have walked by in your travels, and another three that with a hour or two car ride, you could find.
About blueberries - the Genus is Vaccinium, it includes blueberries, bilberries and cranberries. Some also get called huckleberries, but the name huckleberry is used for plants in at least 3 related genera and one or two completely unrelated genera. Blueberries are uniquely native to North America. In Europe, the bilberries & lingonberries are the native members of Vaccinium. As an economic crop, blueberries were totally developed in North America. A truly "American fruit", but do include Canada in this concept of "American" as much work was done in Canada as well as USA. For thousands of years, worldwide, members of Vaccinium were harvested by foraging in the wild, relying on wild plants, without actually cultivating them in orchards or farms. Commercial foraging from the wild of lingonberries, bilberries and lowbush blueberries are still significant yearly activities, and income for many in the areas where these species are native.
The list of Vaccinium species you could find within 200 miles of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Vaccinium macrocarpon - large cranberry
Vaccinium oxycoccos - common cranberry
Vaccinium angustifolium - low bush blueberry - native to all the Great Lakes States and Northeastern USA States & eastern Canada.
Vaccinium cespitosum also spelled caespitosum - dwarf bilberry - native mostly north, expirated from Wisconsin, you could bring it back.
Vaccinium myrtilloides - common blueberry also called velvetleaf huckleberry
Vaccinium pallidum - dry land blueberry - very rare in Wisc, might be found in dryer areas like the sand counties of Wisc.
Vaccinium membranaceum - thin leaf huckleberry - found in UP Michigan but not in Wisconsin, but UP is only tens of miles from you.
Vaccinium ovalifolium - Alaskan Blueberry - found in the UP, but not Wisconsin, found in northern & western Canada, and Eastern Canada, but not Central Canada.
Almost all of the above species are low shrubs, so smaller size bonsai is where they would be best suited. The 2 cranberry species would probably be best as kusamono, and virtually all could work as kusamono.
The Highbush blueberry, which can approach 10 feet tall, Vaccinium corymbosum is not native to Wisconsin, though it is native to southwest Michigan. Its northern limit in Michigan is about Muskegon. It is not cold hardy enough for more extreme climates further north.
Vaccinium myrtillus - European bilberry and Vaccinium vitis-idaea - the lingonberry, these two species are the common, wide spread European species that could be used as small bonsai or kusamono by our European contest members.
So @HorseloverFat - on your daily walks, look around, you have at least 5 species you probably have walked by in your travels, and another three that with a hour or two car ride, you could find.
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
Thank you, Leo! I bookmark information like this! Gotta get out there before identification becomes... more difficult.
Kadebe
Chumono
Yup, they're native here
zanduh
Mame
Just for the inspiration, I happened to see this blueberry on ebay:
definitely a grey area since everyone else will be starting out.
Honestly i’m a little worn out from making these rules this week so if anyone else has issues with that i’ll let them speak up here
definitely a grey area since everyone else will be starting out.
Honestly i’m a little worn out from making these rules this week so if anyone else has issues with that i’ll let them speak up here
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
I also have some natives that I previously acquired.. I don’t feel that they would be “morally correct”
for consideration...I will start new “projects” with THIS intent in mind...
But I guess it comes down to whether or not the material has been “worked” and if so.. to what extent?
zanduh
Mame
If anyone plans on doing a White Oak here’s some 100+ year old inspiration from my side yard:
I‘m withdrawing the Larch. It will have its own thread next spring. I’m replacing it with Western Hemlock and Western Red Cedar. All are raw collected material. Shouldn’t be an issue.
zanduh
Mame
Thanks for being accommodating. I look forward to your work!!
RJG2
Omono
I hope to join. I really want to find a collectible pinus rigida, but have only found very large ones... I don't have a pine yet.
Clorgan
Omono
I'm in! Using my chunky (very undesirable) field maple material 
Woocash
Omono
I have 4 or 5 hawthorns I’m collecting this winter which I’m going to designate as my competition playthings. I’ll get some pictures and start a thread.
Johnnyd
Shohin
I'm in with 2 Acer Rubrum. I already chopped them down to stumps and I plan on growing them out in the ground before layering them out. Going to do a side by side because one seems to have better characteristics for bonsai. Time will tell.
Balbs
Shohin
I picked up a ninebark today for cheap at a local nursery where the ‘native’ stuff is. But the internet has me questioning whether or not it’s native to MA. I’ll keep researching. Great trunk(s) and bark on it, though.
HorseloverFat
Squarepants with Conkers
I’m strongly considering ninebark, as well.
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