mskovan

Hello to All,
I thought it would be bad manners to register and run, so this seems the most appropriate place to post my first message. My name is Mike and I've been interested in bonsai for a little over a year now.
I have about a dozen trees in various stages of death. Most collected locally, a couple of red spruce, some sugar maple seedlings, norway spruce, and hornbeams. I also have three store bought specimens, a ficus (of course), a natal plum and something the store called alaskien cyprus (anybody heard of that one, can't find it in the books I have).
I also have one 25+ year old Japanese maple that I am very carefully easing toward a bonsai pot. It is sort of a family hierloom and was in the ground until last spring. It's only about 3 ft high with a 4 inch base. It did very well this season in the large training pot. I plan to give it another season in that pot while I work on refining it's shape. My primary goal with that tree is not to kill it. (Advice?)
Anyway, I don't want to use up all my questions at once so I will say thanks in advance and glad to be aboard......Mike