And growing your own isn't about that? I have a Cotoneaster that I dug out as a 2 leaf seedling when I first moved in to my property as a 21 year old complete bonsai noobie. I'll be fifty one in October. It's not a great tree but I keep it around exactly BECAUSE I recognize that exact effort and the lessons it taught me.
It's like
@Brian Van Fleet 's ginkgo he grew from seed. It is special to him because it symbolizes perseverance and effort - investment of time nurturing something from scratch. My ground grown ginkgo still has development time ahead of it and it has easily been in the ground 20 years. I find it rich that someone who just works on refinement and more instant gratification can lecture another experienced grower on patience, effort and perseverance - we're just 2 sides of the same coin.
" I find it rich that someone who just works on refinement and more instant gratification can lecture another experienced grower on patience, effort and perseverance"
This is kind of what I've been talking about. I get the sentiment, BUT the tone here shows that "you're not really doing bonsai, you're only refining trees for instant gratification"
Adair is far far FAR away from "just doing refinement" on his trees. This is a mostly a veiled insult about someone who has pretty damn fine bonsai skills.
FWI, He didn't attack anything you've done, so why belittle what he's doing?
He stated a fact, old bonsai accumulate their past owners' work--simple as that. Self grown trees will be your own only until you die and they get sold off or given away.
That's the way it is. The trees you are growing from scratch ARE NOT FINISHED by you, even if you say they are.
If they're lucky, they survive you and are passed on. In most cases, they will get significant reworking by their new owners who mostly won't have the same vision as you. Think those trees you're growing now will look the same in 50 years after they've had two or three or more owners--nope you probably wouldn't recognize them if you lived that long.
So, the "instant gratification" thing is mostly the realm of "grow it your yourself" people. They're looking for a "finished" bonsai in their lifetime...just sayin...