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Hans,

Very good post.

Bonsai is like traveling for pleasure.

Some people like to travel in uncharted territories, they rent a car or hitchhike, they are looking for the unexpected and for adventure. They go to wild places and stay away from "touristy" spots. For them, the journey is just as important (if not more), than the destination. This is where you Hans belong: wild yamadori. And you are a master in doing it.

Other people like to take cruises, or pay for a packaged tour, and stay in 5-star hotels. They like comfort, they have the money, and they don't like unpredictable things. If they want to see Venice, they don't care about the journey, they want to get there in the fastest and easiest way. I compare this to buying pre-styled, or finished bonsai.

I think both ways are wonderful, and one can achieve a lot by doing either way. Both require a lot of skill, if done at the highest level. But the first one requires a little more creativity and vision than the second one.

Buying a cheap Walmart plant is neither of the above. It is the hardest way, and with the least chance to ever create a top tree. I agree with Al that one should try to go this way as seldom as one can. When I started bonsai, I didn't know about this, there was nobody to teach me better. So, I've spend the first 10 years just raising acceptable stock from cheap one. Now is too late to do anything about it, I've managed to create some good stock from nothing, and they are too good to discard them. But I wish someone told me at the beginning that this is the most tedious way of doing bonsai.

But there are some lessons to learn from growing bonsai using really young stock, so I recommend to have a few of these projects even to those who are wise enough to deal only with old material that has a lot of character. Not too many, just a few. These lessons are really valuable, and cannot be learned from books, but from experience. When growing bonsai from young stock, we can see how trees grow and change as they become older. This is very helpful even to those who practice bonsai at a very advanced level.

29-May-2007	#9
Attila Attila Soos Join Date: Jan-2002 Location: Los Angeles, California Country: USA Posts: 1,946	Hans, Very good post. Bonsai is like traveling for pleasure. Some people like to travel in uncharted territories, they rent a car or hitchhike, they are looking for the unexpected and for adventure. They go to wild places and stay away from "touristy" spots. For them, the journey is just as important (if not more), than the destination. This is where you Hans belong: wild yamadori. And you are a master in doing it. Other people like to take cruises, or pay for a packaged tour, and stay in 5-star hotels. They like comfort, they have the money, and they don't like unpredictable things. If they want to see Venice, they don't care about the journey, they want to get there in the fastest and easiest way. I compare this to buying pre-styled, or finished bonsai. I think both ways are wonderful, and one can achieve a lot by doing either way. Both require a lot of skill, if done at the highest level. But the first one requires a little more creativity and vision than the second one. Buying a cheap Walmart plant is neither of the above. It is the hardest way, and with the least chance to ever create a top tree. I agree with Al that one should try to go this way as seldom as one can. When I started bonsai, I didn't know about this, there was nobody to teach me better. So, I've spend the first 10 years just raising acceptable stock from cheap one. Now is too late to do anything about it, I've managed to create some good stock from nothing, and they are too good to discard them. But I wish someone told me at the beginning that this is the most tedious way of doing bonsai. But there are some lessons to learn from growing bonsai using really young stock, so I recommend to have a few of these projects even to those who are wise enough to deal only with old material that has a lot of character. Not too many, just a few. These lessons are really valuable, and cannot be learned from books, but from experience. When growing bonsai from young stock, we can see how trees grow and change as they become older. This is very helpful even to those who practice bonsai at a very advanced level.