What type of pine to start with?

[Styrw89]

Which sort of pine is most amendable to the mildly advanced beginner?
I would like to start a pine project, invest a hundred dollars or so into a nice pine and work it into a hopefully acceptable Shohin tree.
Which species would be the best choice?
Japanese Black pine
Mugo pine
Pitch pine
Virginia pine
Lolobby pine
Ponderosa pine
Red pine
or some other species? Banksiana? Western white pine?

Some have the advantage of short needles and easy budback, others are commercially available as yamadori or nursery grown, and for some interesting varieties can be easily purchased. But which is the "best investment", all else equal, for a return of enjoyment ?

 

[Styrw89]

"The best kind is the one in front of you right now " well I don't have any right now! And I won't dig up the mugo in my yard! my neighbors yard, though....

 

[penumbra]

It depends upon your location.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

"mildly advanced beginner"

Explain where this falls on the spectrum.

I would say Mugo or Black Pine are good options.

 

[LuZiKui]

You should fill out your location info, it will help people give you better advice on what works best in your climate.

JBP are probably one of the most popular. Tons of information about them on here and other forums/websites, plus they're usually pretty readily available. You may already know this but one issue with many pines is that they don't bud back very readily on old wood (like deciduous trees do). So when you are selecting a tree you need to make sure it's setup for success with plenty of lower branching/buds to go from.

(You may know this as well) But a lot of Shohin pines are created from scratch to be Shohins with movement wired into the trunk early on. Once JBP thicken a couple years you're not likely to get good movement lower on the trunk where you need it for Shohin. Just some stuff to keep in mind when you're buying one.

If you haven't you should go read @Ryceman3 JBP from seedling progression. If you have suitable weather you can make some incredible trees in 5-10 years time. If you start with 1-2 year old JBP seedlings you can even cut a couple years off that time frame. Bonsaify.com (a fellow B-nutter) sells good JBP starter material as does user @cmeg1 on his Ebay page. Good luck!

Ryceman3's 6yr JBP Contest Entry

And so it begins ... well, for me anyway. Being from the Southern Hemisphere I am patiently waiting for July 1, and have spent the past month or more looking for JBP seeds to work with. They are not so plentiful in this part of the world, and our quarantine laws make importing seed from overseas...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

But which is the "best investment", all else equal, for a return of enjoyment ?

You get the most enjoyment from JRP and JBP I believe because they're double flush.
My JRP's are stronger and more forgivable than JBP and I prefer the red pines because of that.

Otherwise: scots pine. I prefer scots pine over mugo, because scots is also pretty forgiving.
But it's a single flush species and that means there's no candle cutting and more waiting.

 

[Shibui]

So much depends on location. Tropical growers will have better results with some species, arctic growers with others. I know you know where you live but we have no idea ad cannot give good advice without that info.