bonsaial1

alkeppler: It's not a matter of me liking it or not. This is what you have put up to discuss. I feel that you have better things to come and it would be better to focus our energies there

I knew there was better stuff to come. You been holdin out.

What are you getting so angry about? you got about 5,000 trees out there, so you have one that is not perfect. I'm sure there are more trees out there that have great qualities to offer. If you put something out for people to critique and give input on, you have to know that there is going to be negative feedback. You and I have argued over many things, not just bonsai. Points of view are what they are," points of view'. Just because I ask the tough questions doesn't make me a bad guy, just the one with the &*lls to ask them. Just saying that you no longer value someones opinion anymore doesn't make the problems go away. If someone doesn't question one's work, how will they ever get better?

Bonsijim agreed that the tree had no taper. My questions had to do with, "what are you going to do to correct this problem for the future of the chopped down tree. Two of the posts that followed the latest chop asked " watch what you do going forward or you may end up back where you started. In a forum where instruction is key, I feel that more time could be spent on explaining what steps should be taken to correct the tree. Your review of the text of the studygroup should read as a multitude of questions. I believe that most of my comments ended with a question mark. Yet none of them were answered. I feel you would rather make this a contest rather than a learning expierance. As the post went on your retorts seemed fixated on Al this, Al this, Al That. There were other people there too. Most of their questions were ignored, to post a slam back at my queries. While I was away watching the start of the Nascar race, Brian said three times, "you need Al". You never gave a response, instead ignoring his opinion on what I may have to offer. I just don't think this is your best work. You have bragged not only on this forum of the fields, but on other forums too. What would Mark Rockwell or Vance Hannah have to say about this tree after the awful thread, "Where are the Growers" posted on Garden web some time back?

I felt that the pucker wound detracted from the appearance of the front of the tree. If you feel that the wound has some redeeming factors, let everyone know why it is OK to put this feature on the front of your tree, when most books and master's tell us to hide them in the back of the tree. If you feel this is a stupid rule, so be it. I think there are a lot of stupid rules in bonsai. Unfortunatly most judges at the show feel this is a sacred rule. I agree. I don't want wveryone to give me strokes on everything I post, Lord knows I have alot to learn. In bonsai I think you never stop learning. I forgot who posted the pic of the beautiful hornbeam in fall colors last week. I asked to see the whole tree. He gave us the whole glorius tree in living color. i am envious of this tree and would give up my right arm to own it. Yet I felt the need to critique it. I felt the tree would look better in a low shallow tray. I virtulized it, posted it , and the tree looked good. Now the post went on to talk about the pot may have been a little oversized in my post. There was banter about ratios and even some follow up post with new virtuals. After all that the consensus was that my original pot still looked right with the tree. That person felt that they may want to start shopping around for a new pot. Whether he does or not is immaterial. That person saw his tree in a new light, accepted the critique for what it was, and was appreciative of the info.

While you may have a personal problem with me, if more than one person is saying the same thing, maybe I'm not that far off base after all?

While this is a mild mannered forum compared to the other forums out there, I think that the "art" of bonsai must be held to certain standards. If this means wrinkling a few feathers every once in a while, then I guess I will have to be the feather wrinkler.

Working up a sweat, Bonsaial