My plant collection (WARNING picture heavy)

[Poink88]

Hi, I am only 6 months into this hobby and here is my collection so far. I know I need to thin this down some after but for now, I enjoy them all

Note that more than half of these were collected for free (thanks Craigslist!). Comments welcome.

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

The thing you have grasped is the one thing which counts for much... get yourself some decent trunks and you'll get further faster. I wish you the best of luck with your collection. I'll be interested to see how they are doing at the end of this summer... that's when you'll know what's going to survive and what won't, there are some seriously worthy trunks in there though... so I am pulling for you and wishing you the best. Well done...

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

Oh... and now that you've got trees.... get yourself some carving tools.... that's where the fun really begins.

V

 

[Poink88]

Thanks V!

I do have some carving tools...a couple hand carving tool set, Dremel w/ flex shaft, Makita die grinder, Makita 4-1/2" grinder, Arbortech mini grinder, Milwaukee Sawzall, and a Husqvarna chainsaw (if I ever need to). LOL

Most are from my old woodworking hobby. I just added the Arbortech mini and Die grinder recently.

 

[Poink88]

This one (boxwood) I collected less than 2 months ago. Went through serious and drastic pruning and coming along nicely (I think).

 

[berobinson82]

Wow, way to jump in head first! How did craigslist land you the free urban yamadori opportunities?

 

[Poink88]

Wow, way to jump in head first! How did craigslist land you the free urban yamadori opportunities?

I think it is timing and luck. I started around mid October last year and the following Spring opened lots of opportunity from people who are re-landscaping. It slowed a lot now but I still see a few posts for free plants. All you need is persistence and willingness to put some sweat equity in it.

On the 5th pic, you can see my latest addition (and my biggest). It is a Japanese Ligustrum (Privet) that was on CL for more than 2 weeks and no one took it so I did.

For reference, note that majority of the dish pans I am using are (supposedly) 15.9 x 12.6 inches outside lip dimensions. The one where the ligustrum is much bigger (I believe it is around 15x20).

 

[Dav4]

It looks like you have cornered the market on plastic litter pans, sweater boxes....and some very nice material. Great start to an awesome hobby! By the way, you are going to need a bigger backyard..... Good luck and keep us posted.

Dave

ps That boxwood is very nice.

 

[Poink88]

Dave,

Thanks and LOL. The black ones are actually dish pans and very cheap from Walmart ($1.98 a piece I believe). The blue ones are from a dollar store but I won't be buying any of those again, too brittle. I was told, I need a 2nd mortgage come time to repot all these to "proper" bonsai pots...and I believe it is not a joke.

The boxwood is on the 3rd photo but hard to tell from that group shot its actual beauty & potential (as with most of them).

 

[Dan W.]

Great material Dario! You're starting out way better than I did.

I would continue styling the trees in the pots they are in for quite a while. (It looks like you're already doing this)

You can just browse around for deals on pots for now and pick some up cheap. Then as you get each tree to the point where it's far enough along in styling for a nice pot, you can purchase a pot for that tree (if you don't already have one that you found a deal on).

In other words...No big hurry on expensive pots. I started putting everything in "bonsai pots" right away (not cheap!) whether it was a seedling or an older tree. Now I use boxes, colanders, pond baskets and plastic pots until I have a tree that's ready for a bonsai pot.

The other thing you can do, is sell or trade trees that aren't your favorites to build your pot collection for the trees you keep.

 

[berobinson82]

Why didn't I think of this before? I just talked to a woman who wants to have six 8-foot boxwoods dug. So glad to have met you Poink.

 

[october]

Very nice to start and actually still nice even if you have been in bonsai for some years. As far as potential, these trees are pretty far above the normal beginners bonsai. Normally, when new enthusiasts post material, I am pretty sure that if they stick with it, they will probably grow tired of their initial selctions after a few years in bonsai. However, you have quite a few trees there that even if you stick with it for many years, this will be good material, even to a seasoned bonsai artist. Nice trunks on almost all the material.

Rob

 

[Poink88]

Why didn't I think of this before? I just talked to a woman who wants to have six 8-foot boxwoods dug. So glad to have met you Poink.

Glad someone else benefits from these. We need to spread the word and save more of these landscape plants!

 

[Poink88]

Thanks Dan and Rob!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Some great material there. You will benefit from the greater margin of error larger material will afford you. Very nice boxwoods, and good eye finding trunk lines. Never hurts the security of the collection to have a police cruiser parked nearby either!

 

[Poink88]

Thanks Brian. Indeed, having that cruiser parked there regularly helps me have more peace of mind.

 

[Paulpash]

My thought stumbling on this thread was 'My God, his garden is so open and visible. It would be so easy for a thief to jump over and grab a few trees.'. In a few years your trees could be worth stealing... do you have any plans to try and conceal your collection?

 

[Poink88]

My thought stumbling on this thread was 'My God, his garden is so open and visible. It would be so easy for a thief to jump over and grab a few trees.'. In a few years your trees could be worth stealing... do you have any plans to try and conceal your collection?

Not much I can do (HOA restrictions) but I plan on installing some flood lights (with motion detector) and HD surveillance/recording cameras soon. (next on my wish list)

The good thing about being open as well is that everyone can see anyone trying to steal my trees...so it work both ways. All my neighbors know no one should be taking any of it so they will most likely address or take pictures of the thief too.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Those are some nice trees, Dario, I might have to give craigs list a try.

 

[daytona1911]

Not much I can do (HOA restrictions) but I plan on installing some flood lights (with motion detector) and HD surveillance/recording cameras soon. (next on my wish list)

The good thing about being open as well is that everyone can see anyone trying to steal my trees...so it work both ways. All my neighbors know no one should be taking any of it so they will most likely address or take pictures of the thief too.

that's a good idea. My first Sensei just had 6 of his trees stolen by the landscapers. He is in a HOA that is VERY strict on who gets in. Unfortunately, there are still those with no morals.