Does anyone else name their trees?

Tracey Ulmus?
Ulmus Therman?
Cedrus the Entertainer?
Hillier Clinton?
Olea Hardy? (as in Laural and Hardy)

hillier clinton lmao...thats must be one sinister tree ;)


feeling out some parameters in here. love the hobby though
 
Some out of convenience so I can sort out what I did to whome.
 
Ethnocentrism.

A tree is not a human being, nor is a cat or a dog, a scoobidoo, or a collection of dried snotballs.

A tree is a tree. A rose is a rose,...

 
Resurrecting this thread because I was going to create a new one on this topic.

I plan to name my bonsai after people who have inspired me in some way. That way I'll remember them for a long time because my trees will (hopefully) live for a long time!

Are any of your trees named in memory of someone special?
 
Resurrecting this thread because I was going to create a new one on this topic.

I plan to name my bonsai after people who have inspired me in some way. That way I'll remember them for a long time because my trees will (hopefully) live for a long time!

Are any of your trees named in memory of someone special?
Lots of us do :D
I have Batman, Spiderman, Franco, Hulk. I reserve naming to trees that standout. The rest get numbers. Of course, the exception for naming and number will be Mr Wrestling No. 2. That name is reserved for a tree not yet identified.

FWIW, Mr Wrestling No. 2 has to be a humble species with no eye-popping attributes yet is good all-around and very tough and durable to all weather conditions.
 
Last edited:
Resurrecting this thread because I was going to create a new one on this topic.

I plan to name my bonsai after people who have inspired me in some way. That way I'll remember them for a long time because my trees will (hopefully) live for a long time!

Are any of your trees named in memory of someone special?
No. Simply because if the tree dies, it's even more depressing.

I remember trees for where they came from. I have a cedar elm that was collected on my parents' place in Texas. It's special because of that. My parents are gone now. The tree is still being developed.

Another reason is out of respect for the tree, which is probably me being weird. Some of the collected trees I have are well over 100 years old. Who am I to hang a name on them?

I do have shorthand names for most of the big ones. Those names are associated by the amount of frustration and pulled muscles needed to move them. "That Big Bastard Over there" is one name that a couple of my trees answer to.
 
No. Simply because if the tree dies, it's even more depressing.

I remember trees for where they came from. I have a cedar elm that was collected on my parents' place in Texas. It's special because of that. My parents are gone now. The tree is still being developed.

Another reason is out of respect for the tree, which is probably me being weird. Some of the collected trees I have are well over 100 years old. Who am I to hang a name on them?

I do have shorthand names for most of the big ones. Those names are associated by the amount of frustration and pulled muscles needed to move them. "That Big Bastard Over there" is one name that a couple of my trees answer to.
I have quite a few buddies that will happily answer to your call of "That Big Bastard Over there"
 
No. Simply because if the tree dies, it's even more depressing.
Yeah. I was not really thinking in terms of family members, more like politicians or other community leaders who've done something that inspires me. I wouldn't trust myself not to kill a tree named after someone close to me.

Aaand I could make some political jokes at this point, but I'd only get myself in trouble 😉
 
Yeah. I was not really thinking in terms of family members, more like politicians or other community leaders who've done something that inspires me. I wouldn't trust myself not to kill a tree named after someone close to me.

Aaand I could make some political jokes at this point, but I'd only get myself in trouble 😉
As a man with Asian roots, I will not name a tree after any real person, stage name of a person yes but not actual name. It feels weird for me to chop, cut, bend, wired, and sometimes cuss at a tree named after someone. So in a way, I am not really naming my tree after people.
 
Last edited:
As a man with Asian roots, I will not name a tree after any real person, stage name of a person yes but not actual name. It feels weird for me to chop, cut, bend, wired, and sometimes cuss at a tree named after someone.
Interesting perspective. I wonder if the Japanese name their bonsai.
 
Of 50+, I think I have 3 named, each has its own thread.
1st is "Alpha", a procumbens that survived my holocaust overwintering in
a cold frame where all the trees, most better than it, burned up by desiccation.
It was left on the ground and got some rain water. So it is the longest running
bonsai I have, maybe 25 years now.

The 2nd, another procumbens I've had some time now, that has an interesting
jin/shari feature. It got its name "Ole No. 2" because it was my second oldest procumbens
and was my second favourite. Now I can't play favourites, but the name lives on and has
its own thread. I hate it when somebody on my porch asks me which is my favourite.

The third is "the Sisters" (though one is ugly) another procumbens.
I named this tree due to its potential. Not so much a "mother/daughter style.
Just a good nursery material potential, turned bonsai.
Maybe I'll line them up for a group shot later.

There's a fourth, the one in my avatar that is my oldest bonsai.
Still waiting for a name to grace the JWP with. For now, it's "my wife's favourite tree".
 
I tend to name trees when I have more than one of a particular species. Otherwise, I tend to refer to them as the "hornbeam" or "crepe myrtle" cause there's just one.
 
Back
Top Bottom