Carl_Bergstrom

Hi Attila,

Interesting question. I think that most of what I was annoyed with myself for doing was trying to develop basic skills on challenging material, not for working with challenging material period. To develop those basic skills, I would have done a lot better working with

1) Species that are easier for beginners - see the thread linked above.

2) Multiple plants of each given species, so that when things went wrong (or right), I'd have some clue about why.

Indeed, I still have lots of species in my garden, and I take great pleasure in exploring the potential for some of the more exotic maple species - if I can identify one really great and previously unused species, I'll consider the experiment a rousing success.

Still, there are some species that seem really, really tough. Let me give you an example. I love the incense cedars (Calocedrus decurrens) that grow at the base of some of the world's best climbs in Yosemite, so I've long wanted to work with that species. But I've got a big old cedar growing in the ground here, and darned if I can figure out how I'll ever turn it into bonsai with its big floppy foliage and its thick soft bark and its general refusal to hold any sort of wire-induced shape. My past efforts with this species were failures, and I'm starting to think that this current one is a waste of ground space and a tree's life. Can't even use it as a landscape tree because it'll be too big for my small lot long before I get around to moving!

Best wishes,
Carl aka Old Mister Crow.

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In love with trees