Suitable trees for bonsai in Bellingham, WA ???

[Mike Corazzi]

I have a friend who used to mess with bonsai when he was in Sacramento.
I was emailing him about bonsai and he said it wasn't sunny enough in Bellingham.

I think he's wrong. I can't imagine any place south of the arctic where SOME bonsai wouldn't thrive.

Any suggestions?

 

[Andrew Robson]

Mountain hemlock! Many are collected from Vancouver island

 

[eferguson1974]

Whatever grows there ought to be a good choice if its got the right features. Like backbudding and cool trunk/nebari. I try to use local natives when possible. Surely there are species that will work near you. Pines maybe or juniper?

 

[Cypress187]

Global warming will solve it, so just wait few years.

 

[0soyoung]

It would be easier to list the species that don't do well here; even cork oaks do okay.

 

[KennedyMarx]

I assuming he means not very warm when he says not sunny enough. I looked up the temperatures averages on Wikipedia. I bet Scots pine and Amur maple would do well there.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I sent him the link to this thread.
I don't think he's serious.

Some people just don't want to bother with the art of repotting, root pruning, worrying about climate, scale, bud pinching, grafting, soil amending, pot oiling, over/under watering, leaf mold, needle cast, backbudding, aphids, wiring, rewiring, pH, sun or shade, candle cutting, defoliating, root rot, mycorrizhae, or Mike Corazzi and all that fun I guess.

 

[Cypress187]

Some people just don't want to bother with the art of repotting, root pruning, worrying about climate, scale, bud pinching, grafting, soil amending, pot oiling, over/under watering, leaf mold, needle cast, backbudding, aphids, wiring, rewiring, pH, sun or shade, candle cutting, defoliating, root rot, mycorrizhae, or Mike Corazzi and all that fun I guess.

Gee, i can't see why someone wouldn't like all that.

 

[dobharchu]

I lived in B'ham for a while, the sun shines plenty there!!!--for natives, look for Douglas Hawthorn, Vine Maple, Doug Fir, Alpine Fir, Western/Water Birch, Western Larch, Bitter Cherry, Western Azalea, Huckleberry, etc. I think most of the popular Japanese species do fine there, I had a satsuki azalea and japanese maples both were fine.