US Native Deciduous Trees (please share your photos)

AutumnWolf13

Yamadori
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Don't have any yet, but I'm trying to find Acer Pensylvanicum (Snakebark Maple)
They get bright red striated bark in winter. I think it would look great in a group/forest bonsai.
 

yenling83

Omono
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I sure love Deciduous and US native deciduous probably even more. However, my thought is that to get really good-like compete with the top shows in Japan good, then we should be growing our own Deciduous from seed, cutting and airlayer. Collecting deciduous is great, but the chances it produces really high level Deciduous is low. Certain species like Oak which are not always deciduous or others that look good with deadwood and will not slowly rot away from big wounds can be the exception. But, I even think growing oak from seedling cuttings, cuttings and air layers is a great place to start. I'm all about collected conifers and deciduous/broad leaf evergreens grown slowly over time. The Red Maple Andrew R posted earlier is insanely nice, I thought that was grown from cutting. Apparently you can collect a stump and make nice Bonsai as well. However, if that same tree was grown from cutting under the right hands(like Michael H or Andrew R) i'm sure the same, if not better results could be had.

Also, I don't mean to take away from this thread as I really enjoy looking at what Deciduous/Broad leaf EG material people have collected. I've collected D and B.L.E.G. as well:)
 
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Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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Hawthorn...collected here in the US. Won the John Naka Award for best native tree a few years ago, landed on the cover of the Journal of the American Bonsai Society, and showed at the US National Bonsai Exhibition in 2014. Aside from the Japanese pot, it’s pretty ‘Murican.
95619522-E139-4273-80F1-169571DE3A9C.jpeg
 

Martin Sweeney

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Some sort of native southeastern elm, maybe Winged, maybe Slippery, maybe some sort of cross. Last big tree I will collect by myself!
 

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Im completely obsessed with oaks, and long to own one someday. Right now i dont care if its all wrong with reverse taper, id still be excited to own an oak lol.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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Hawthorn...collected here in the US. Won the John Naka Award for best native tree a few years ago, landed on the cover of the Journal of the American Bonsai Society, and showed at the US National Bonsai Exhibition in 2014. Aside from the Japanese pot, it’s pretty ‘Murican.
View attachment 171135
haven't you heard Americans don't use this kind of material and we don't know how to refine it. Maybe in 10 years this will be "presentable" ;)
 

Anthony

Imperial Masterpiece
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On Brian Van Fleet's Hawthorn -

[1] I like the natural grace of the tree

[2] The movement of the trunk and root system

[3] How the canopy works, and tree"s mass /edges cut the space around it.

[4] The shallow pot makes the trunk much more noticeable and powerful.

[5] Would love to see it defoliated and know the height.

Altogether a beautiful effort, and he deserves an attah boy, pat on the back
and a cup of white tea with 2 green bean biscuits.
Well done.
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony

* That tree is what Bonsai is all about ------------ a tree of beauty is a joy forever.
 
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What's your preferred species and budget? Maybe I can help.
I really like the valley oak (Quercus lobata) but the leaves are pretty big. At the moment my bonsai budget is zero lol. I need to sell some things to start a bonsai fund hah.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
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That's a nice one Leo, but is it deciduous? ;)
LOL, I get your point about style, but keep in mind, it is only about 12 months from being purchased from a landscape nursery. It will change dramatically, after I put it into an Anderson flat and get it settled. Next update 2019 or 2020, not a rush project.

Also I intend to style it somewhat reminiscent of Thuja I've seen around here locally and in Michigan. They do not look like pines, nor do they look like C. nootkatensis. Around here they tend to do a ''candelabra style'', which is somewhat unique to the T. occidentalis species. Not sure where I'll take it. Most of the jins where just branches that were obviously not needed, rather than being specific design elements. Right now it still looks like a landscape shrub in the back yard. It is a longer term project.

@yenling83 & @Dorky_gearhead - I have some seedling burr oaks, 3 of them, now finishing their 4th growing season. My thought was in the cold northern Midwest, burr oaks are perfect because they are very, very cold hardy. They have a very coarse bark once they finally become mature enough to bark up. Allegedly they grow quickly (for an oak) - though my seedlings have not grown very fast, all still straight sticks, pencil thin about 3 feet tall. Leaves are big, but should eventually reduce with ramification. Upside, I have done nothing to shelter them for winter, and have had zero die back after several winters with -17 F temps (about -27 C). They sit out in the middle of the yard all winter. No problem. They should be hardy to -30 F, (roughly -35 C) if you start with seed collected from the northern half of its range. I have never found a burr oak larger than a small seedling that was in a collectable condition. All wild ones I found tend to have very deep tap roots. I removed the tap roots of my seedlings, and now this summer I'll prune roots again when I move them to larger grow out pots. I am not putting them in the ground, because I fear the roots will make it impossible to dig them later. So for Yenling, I'm doing the slow, controlled growth, it will be decades before they are presentable. But there is no rush, a back of the bench project for me. Here is my favorite burr oak, it is in Missouri, near Columbus.
DSCN3294small.jpg

DSCN3296small.jpg
 
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pitchpine

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I love Acer Pensylvanicum, and have long wanted to try one as bonsai. I had one (picture below) but lost it this spring after repotting from a 1 gal nursery container. They have very specific soil requirements that I failed to meet, and I also think that the tree was in a weakened state from a combination of too much heat, a spider mite infestation, and over aggressive pruning last year. I acquired another this fall, and will try to learn from the mistakes I made on the first poor tree!

FYI, it's only the erythrocladum variety that has the red stripes on the bark--- and that seems to be pretty difficult to get ahold of (and expensive when you can).

Ironically, it seems that my new specimen may be erythrocladum (though it wasn't labeled as such), but I want the straight species. So I may actually swap it out with one that I planted in my parents yard that I got them from the same batch as my original dead tree!

Laura

Don't have any yet, but I'm trying to find Acer Pensylvanicum (Snakebark Maple)
They get bright red striated bark in winter. I think it would look great in a group/forest bonsai.
 

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Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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I love Acer Pensylvanicum, and have long wanted to try one as bonsai. I had one (picture below) but lost it this spring after repotting from a 1 gal nursery container. They have very specific soil requirements that I failed to meet, and I also think that the tree was in a weakened state from a combination of too much heat, a spider mite infestation, and over aggressive pruning last year. I acquired another this fall, and will try to learn from the mistakes I made on the first poor tree!

FYI, it's only the erythrocladum variety that has the red stripes on the bark--- and that seems to be pretty difficult to get ahold of (and expensive when you can).

Ironically, it seems that my new specimen may be erythrocladum (though it wasn't labeled as such), but I want the straight species. So I may actually swap it out with one that I planted in my parents yard that I got them from the same batch as my original dead tree!

Laura
I had several snake barks growing in my yard in MA, including 'erythrocladum'. They were wonderful little trees, but lacked the typical vigor of a maple and were grafted. I'd suspect their relative lack of vigor would pretty much make them a non starter as bonsai.
 

pitchpine

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Yeah, I know they've got a lot of handicaps as far as bonsai goes (very slow growing, large leaves & internodes, heat and pollution intolerant) and my expectations are set accordingly low, lol. It's a long term experiment with a species that has a lot of sentimental value for me. If I can manage to keep one alive in a pot for 5+ years I'll be happy; if I can eventually get a moderate degree of leaf reduction, I'll be thrilled. Mostly, I just want to be able to enjoy the flowers every spring! :)

I had several snake barks growing in my yard in MA, including 'erythrocladum'. They were wonderful little trees, but lacked the typical vigor of a maple and were grafted. I'd suspect their relative lack of vigor would pretty much make them a non starter as bonsai.
 

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