Vancouver Island Yamadori

grouper52

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Dan Robinson invited me to go up to Vancouver Island collecting with Peter Wilson and George Heffelfinger. We just got back. We went to two alpine bogs the first two days, and a lowland bog the third day.

Altogether, I got 11 trees, two of which are pictured here. There were many Mountain hemlocks and contorted Shore pines (lowland Lodgepole), but I focused this trip on Alaska Yellow cedars, of which I collected ten great ones, and am showing the best of the lot below. I also got a spectacularly stunted, multi-trunked Western Silver fir that I'm showing two views of - should provide many beautiful hours of styling over the years if it survives (which I think it will).

Enjoy.
 

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JudyB

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That first one is sweet! The shape of the bag even looks like a natural pot shape for it. They really should put an emoticon for drooling....:D
 

will0911

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You always find nice material! This makes me wanna get out in the woods and get dirt under my fingernails. Great stuff thanks for sharing!

Will B.
 

grouper52

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Thanks, everyone.

will0911, you collect some pretty nice material yourself. Those are some nice trees you posted lately.

Judy, there's no drooling emoticon here at BNut because everyone just assumes everyone's drooling full time, especially those impaired individuals who frequent the bar. The frequency and quantity of drooling does vary a bit, though, between the Cro-Magnums, the Neanderthals, the troglodytes, the microcephalics, and the just-plain-crazy. We don't much drool over trees, though: we fight over trees! :D
 

tmmason10

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Judy, there's no drooling emoticon here at BNut because everyone just assumes everyone's drooling full time, especially those impaired individuals who frequent the bar. The frequency and quantity of drooling does vary a bit, though, between the Cro-Magnums, the Neanderthals, the troglodytes, the microcephalics, and the just-plain-crazy. We don't much drool over trees, though: we fight over trees! :D

Ok that was pretty funny.
 

Attila Soos

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Gosh, I hate you Will. You have no idea, how much...

I would give away my whole bonsai collection for that multi-trunked fir. Dammit!! Now I lost my focus and can't work this morning.


BTW, how the heck can you guys collect from Vancouver Island? Last I checked, it belongs to Canada. My country!
 
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Attila Soos

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I also got a spectacularly stunted, multi-trunked Western Silver fir that I'm showing two views of - should provide many beautiful hours of styling over the years if it survives (which I think it will).

I just hope that you don't ruin it by making it into a "bonsai". That's a wild tree that should stay wild...within reason.
 

Bill S

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Gosh, I hate you Will. You have no idea, how much...

I would give away my whole bonsai collection for that multi-trunked fir. Dammit!! Now I lost my focus and can't work this morning.


BTW, how the heck can you guys collect from Vancouver Island? Last I checked, it belongs to Canada. My country!

Good grief Will, now you have done it, he is so depressed, he has moved from home and is slummin in LA. He can't work anymore, and you have smashed his hobby, has your celebrity gone to your head or something.:D

Seems like a good collecting trip.
 

Attila Soos

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Good grief Will, now you have done it, he is so depressed, he has moved from home and is slummin in LA. He can't work anymore, and you have smashed his hobby, has your celebrity gone to your head or something.:D

Seems like a good collecting trip.

Hey, hey, no need to make fun of my home in L.A. It's top quality cardboard box, on prime real estate under a bridge.
 

Bill S

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Oh no Mr Soos, I hear it is the latest in earthquake injury prevention, they just fold up, and pop back up when the shakin is done. How fashionable, and green.;)
 

grouper52

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Atilla, I meant no harm.

Yes, yes, we have access to great collecting areas, but you guys have a growing season, and that brilliant, warm light in the sky thingy - "sun" I think you call it. No, Atilla, don't envy us too much. We couldn't survive in a cardboard box under an overpass here even if we wanted to.

Dan has to get export clearance from the Canadian Department of Agriculture with an inspection and the issuance of a "FIDO" form each time he goes up there collecting. Then, when the ferry arrives in the States at Port Angeles, he has to present his "ACE" account import form and the FIDO, (and a special "Pine Permit" if he is bearing pines) to the US Customs folks. That's actually just the overview: the wheels of bureaucracy grind much slower and much finer than that, but you get the idea. It's all on the up and up.

As for what I might do with/to that fir, I thought you knew me better than that. I am far, far from having any tendency towards the manicured look, erring far onto the side of a wild, untamed look in general - and so with this guy, especially with this guy, I plan to do very little, and do it slowly, basically just bringing the horizontal branches in enough to see through to the other treasures inside. This tree so accurately captures the sort of wild look seen in those bogs, that enhancing that look is all I want to do. It should not look like it's been touched by the hands of man when I've got it where I want.

I like true firs, and they are very robust and responsive trees here, even though I've not worked with this variety before. The three guys I was with have all seen bonsai done with this species, though, and they all said they make a great bonsai. I'm looking forward to working with this guy.

Sorry again to disrupt the "wah" of your hobby. :eek:

Will
 

JudyB

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It probably wouldn't have fit in his cardboard mansion anyway... Unless he could get a nice refrigerator annex?:)
 

grouper52

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It probably wouldn't have fit in his cardboard mansion anyway... Unless he could get a nice refrigerator annex?:)

LOL. I agree. A second mortgage line of credit would help with that annex. It's doable, but it breaks my heart to think that a tree somewhere had to be destroyed to make that cardboard annex, however well financed. Have they no love for the environment down in SoCal?

Speaking of which, you know the big hoopla about getting permits before ravaging the environment by collecting a few inconspicuous stunted trees on public lands? Well, for the right price, you can apparently get a permit from the Canadian government to absolutely rape and pillage the entire old-growth forests of Vancouver Island. If you don't get a government permit, it might be considered ecologically immoral, but with a permit - hey! It'll grow back in 1500-2000 years. I was last there three years ago, and the wholesale devastation of remaining old growth continues apace. Sad to see.
 

Attila Soos

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As for what I might do with/to that fir, I thought you knew me better than that...

Of course I do know you better. My comment was more of a teaser, and also to point out the wild look that I enjoy in that tree. Yours and Dan's are the best places a tree like that can be at.
 

Attila Soos

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LOL. I agree. A second mortgage line of credit would help with that annex. It's doable, but it breaks my heart to think that a tree somewhere had to be destroyed to make that cardboard annex, however well financed. Have they no love for the environment down in SoCal?

No need for a second mortgage. I have a double lot where I keep more trees that I can count, so this one wouldn't make a dent, thank you very much. :)

I am not sure this fir would survive in my climate down here, although there are 8 different kind of firs growing in my backyard (A. alba, A. borisii regis, A. chensiensis, A. equi-trojani, A. firma, A. nordmanniana, A. pindrow, and A. recurvata). They all grow under shade cloth, and doing well, but they are quite young. People woudn't believe that I grow those firs in the L.A. area. But it is one thing to experiment with young material, and another to take a risk on an old yamadori. I'm not sure that I would take that risk.

The only Pacific North-West species that I am comfortable with down here, is the Sitka spruce. I have one that I collected on Vancouver Island in 1991 from a nurse-log, and brought it to L.A. 10 years ago. It is doing great, and growing strongly every year. So, if you have a spare P. sitkensis (or may be you know about Dan having a nice yamadori), let ke know. I know that Dan is not too fond of them (at least from what he told me last year) but I love to work on them.
 

amkhalid

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Oh, so you don't have enough nice collecting spots on the south side of the PNW so you have to plunder north of the border as well? :mad:

-disgruntled Canadian

(kidding :p)
 

tanlu

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Viewing material like this is what keeps me coming back to bonsainut. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with those silver firs.
 

Ang3lfir3

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WOW..... really wish I could have gone on this trip (that's a different story that I am sure you are aware of) .... sounds exciting as usual.

Beautiful material as always :) :) well done!!!!
 

ghues

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Great Finds

Hi Will,
You've got some great finds there and the balsam should make a great tree.
It's too bad that Peter didn't mention the trip as I would have enjoyed a visit with you guys as you travelled through Campbell River. Some of us in our local club also have collected yellow Cedar and we have debates in regards to how to maintain the foliage. This would have been a great opportunity to have a discussion with you guys.

P.s. As a professional forester in this province, I do not agree with your statement(s) in regards to permits, the rape and pillage of old growth forests ….etc. It may appear that anybody can get a permit and go at it but the reality is, the process is very regulated and we have to go through a referral process with the concerned parties such as; the public, first nations, ministry of wildlife, dept. of Oceans and the ministry of Forests. It can take up to 2-5 years from a draft proposal to actual harvesting.
So perhaps if you are interested, we could further this discussion through a pm or better yet a field tour of our operations in 2012 if you plan on coming up this way.
Sincerely
Graham
 
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