"Urbandori" in Los Angeles

[vbakatare]

Hey guys! So has anyone tried doing this? There are some homes in my area that have some nice JBP and junipers as landscape bonsai. Sadly the new home owners across the street had 2 JBP and when I came home, they were chopped up and put in the scrap. UGH! Gave the owner a small lecture. The thing is back in the day, the land was actually farmland (celery, strawberry, etc.) and some of the workers were Japanese Americans. Fast forward in time, now those farmers bought some land and they were also into bonsai. Long story short, it pains me to see bonsai landscape trees go out like that, with so much history behind them. I mean we're talking about at least 50 years for the trees to grow and the effort and hard work to initially styling them. Sorry for the rant.

If you have done it, what did you do and what was your experience?

*Fun fact: John Naka actually created a bonsai club in WLA. Some of his students, Frank Goya and Shig Miya are still teaching at that same club*

 

[TimberLakers]

Yeah, there are lot of nice 4 to 8 foot Junipers and JBP around here.

Sometimes they outgrow their initial placement in owners view and have been shrub cut for 20-30 years.

If I see something I'd like to work on in a yard, I just ask. It (almost) always goes better than you'd expect.

Best case is maybe they don't want the tree there anymore - and you can save it from the chipper.

 

[vbakatare]

Yeah, there are lot of nice 4 to 8 foot Junipers and JBP around here.

Sometimes they outgrow their initial placement in owners view and have been shrub cut for 20-30 years.

If I see something I'd like to work on in a yard, I just ask. It (almost) always goes better than you'd expect.

Best case is maybe they don't want the tree there anymore - and you can save it from the chipper.

that would be amazing if I could! there's so many of them and a limited backyard for me lol

 

[vbakatare]

to show an examples of some trees around my block

 

[TimberLakers]

Awesome trees. Also looks like they're relatively well taken care of for the most part.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Topiary takes a lot of just plain work to keep up, and to the uninitiated work is work is hard and interferes with nap time when the little woman asks when he's going to turn off the game, get off his butt and make that funny tree look better. Sawed off at ground level is better. Imagine how confused and lost someone feels, -who has no knowledge of bonsai, standing in front of a six-footer in his yard, thinking, "Where the Hell do I start?"

 

[vbakatare]

Topiary takes a lot of just plain work to keep up, and to the uninitiated work is work is hard and interferes with nap time when the little woman asks when he's going to turn off the game, get off his butt and make that funny tree look better. Sawed off at ground level is better. Imagine how confused and lost someone feels, -who has no knowledge of bonsai, standing in front of a six-footer in his yard, thinking, "Where the Hell do I start?"

it wasn't a angry lecture. it was a calm conversation. the guy is actually a cool guy. we got to talk more and I found out that he is a air force veteran. anyways he understood and he actually regretted asking me if I wanted them cuz he's seen me bringing my air layers from my mom and some bonsai pots home.

 

[rockm]

FWI, the first photo with that large Black Pine, looks to be pretty well cared for. Someone looks to be pinching buds, etc. to keep those foliage planes. Large trees like this in gardens are called "Niwaki" and some of the techniques in bonsai used to care for Black Pine are used in Niwaki care also.

 

[vbakatare]

yeah in my area there's alot. even one my grandpa planted 50 years ago in the front yard. sadly it's been dying slowly over the past 10 years, lost the apex and a couple of branches to a disease