What do I do with this Crimson Queen?

[Cajunrider]

It is interesting to see this thread coming back. The tree was taken by hurricane Laura so the focus for the thread is gone. I've learned a lot since then. I have yet to buy a developed tree yet but I will some day. Meanwhile, I have developed a few trees that look decent since then. I have pretty much walked away from Japanese maple and pine due to my climate and personal situation. I intend to come back to them in a couple years. On the other hand, if you have seen some of my threads, my luck led me to some really good BC and fantastic Mayhaws so that's where I am spending the most of my bonsai time. By next spring I believe I will have a few dozens of Mayhaw prebonsai worthwhile for higher development.

 

[dbonsaiw]

There are as many kinds of bonsai as there are kinds of people. In America, anyway. People who are newer to the sport see the price tags of pre-bonsai but fail to see the correlation between the number of years someone, ~a skilled someone, has had to trim and re-trim stock to keep it small and compact through field and bench growing to arrive at a better candidate size. When you're young and anxious to get to work and in the frame of mind to, "do it my way", and are short on cash, the landscaper's stock looks pretty good. Collecting large stock, as differentiated from yamadori, where it will take forever to hide scars of stubs 2" in diameter is part and parcel of that kind of thinking. When you're older and have less time left and more money, paying someone else to do the preliminaries so you can get down to business with a really good candidate is the order of the day. But not always. When you get really old, you want something you can pick up without your grandchildren carrying it around for you. Then you can buy young landscaper's stock in good conscience because you're making small trees. Mame if you're tethered to home, or just small if you have a life and occasionally go away for a long weekend.

This is probably the clearest, most concise explanation of choosing material. To be honest, though, this is not something I could appreciate until I first purchased material that wasn't ideal and started working with it. When the bonsai timeline sets in and one understands the work that will need to go into it for many years, the nursery stock, big box trees and seedlings become a little less exciting.

And although I agree that there are many ways to approach bonsai, I would venture that most people don't strive for mediocrity or worse - they want that stunning giant bonsai. It appears to be a hard reality for some to accept, but the kind of material one needs to acquire to create these trees comes with a cost (unless, of course, you have the time and patience to create it on your own). You will always do better with finer, more developed material. You will always do better acquiring that cherry-picked yamadori. And you will always pay a large premium for that. Those with more money will be able to purchase better material and, all other things being equal, produce better bonsai. Welcome to life.

 

[Cajunrider]

This is probably the clearest, most concise explanation of choosing material. To be honest, though, this is not something I could appreciate until I first purchased material that wasn't ideal and started working with it. When the bonsai timeline sets in and one understands the work that will need to go into it for many years, the nursery stock, big box trees and seedlings become a little less exciting.

And although I agree that there are many ways to approach bonsai, I would venture that most people don't strive for mediocrity or worse - they want that stunning giant bonsai. It appears to be a hard reality for some to accept, but the kind of material one needs to acquire to create these trees comes with a cost (unless, of course, you have the time and patience to create it on your own). You will always do better with finer, more developed material. You will always do better acquiring that cherry-picked yamadori. And you will always pay a large premium for that. Those with more money will be able to purchase better material and, all other things being equal, produce better bonsai. Welcome to life.

There are as many kinds of bonsai as there are kinds of people. In America, anyway. People who are newer to the sport see the price tags of pre-bonsai but fail to see the correlation between the number of years someone, ~a skilled someone, has had to trim and re-trim stock to keep it small and compact through field and bench growing to arrive at a better candidate size. When you're young and anxious to get to work and in the frame of mind to, "do it my way", and are short on cash, the landscaper's stock looks pretty good. Collecting large stock, as differentiated from yamadori, where it will take forever to hide scars of stubs 2" in diameter is part and parcel of that kind of thinking. When you're older and have less time left and more money, paying someone else to do the preliminaries so you can get down to business with a really good candidate is the order of the day. But not always. When you get really old, you want something you can pick up without your grandchildren carrying it around for you. Then you can buy young landscaper's stock in good conscience because you're making small trees. Mame if you're tethered to home, or just small if you have a life and occasionally go away for a long weekend.

I agree. Take me for example, some time in the future, I will be off loading some Mayhaws and even Bald Cypress. Just at collection time, I will have spent many hours on each tree to dig it out, prune, and pot. Then come the many hours of caring for it until it becomes a pre-bonsai. If I charge my standard business charge per hour for my real job, not many people can afford my trees. So if and when I sell my trees, it will pretty much be gifting away from my perspective.