bnsaijim

I noticed Andy never mentioned that he stopped eating bugs. At least I can let him sit on the good couch....

Andy has romanticized the story a little bit, I think the truth would be a bit less inspiring- rife with allusions to scale production.

I expect this would not be so for many of ours- many, unfortunately, do not work with trees of this level- more like nursery cast offs, seedlings, etc. To stir the pot, I think that leaving something worthy of caretaking will depend more on our success at producing or preserving a viable bonsai image and to a lesser extent our ability to romanticize it's past. Our Korean grower was probably more concerned with feeding his family then providing a legacy for some American bonsaiist.

I think the risk of over-romanticizing is schmaltziness- you end up like a certain artist(s) that feel a need to name every tree and make up some story about it that adds grandeur to the trip to the bonsai shop i.e., a trip to the hermit's hut, simply because it makes an article more interesting or makes you "feel good" when showing your otherwise mediocre tree.

A bad bonsai from Japan is no better than one from America, even if a Kimura touched it once.

With the same stroke of the keyboard I do include myself amidst the romanticizers to an extent.

I have a story sort of like Andy's. Mine concerns a collector and bonsai pioneer from Louisiana- Vaughan Banting. Long before I ever met the man I had read much of his written work -snippets extend back several decades in the old "newsletters" now grown to full fledged "Journals".

I was invited to a "pre-sale" of his collection as his illness had left his body handicapped and unable to care for a collection of trees, but his mind continues to be keen for bonsai and looking for new techniques.

I sort of felt I was being interviewed.

I purchased two moderately well known trees- one a flat top bald cypress with a hollowed out trunk that "met Dan Robinson's requirements of having a hole in it..." which can be seen in a vague photo in BT... This is the only completed "Banting flat top" in a private collection I'm told.

The other, a water elm that appeared in Outstanding American Bonsai, happened to be one of the most captivating images for me when I first started getting serious about the art. It was and continues to be in very poor health; the horticulture of water elms in pots is only moderately succesful- forcing them out of normal growth habit (i.e., Japanese "pine-tree" style) worsens the outlook. I hope to return it to some semblence of it's prior glory, but so much die back has occurred obliterating many of the original features.

With the first I've had very little to do; the challenge is keeping true to Vaughan's vision but also making decisions regarding the long term look of the tree. The second I fear is going to involve a much more extensive imprint of my talents.

I believe these "pedigree trees" in particular have value for future generations because of who collected and styled them, (and hopefully one day because of who maintains them), but primarily because they were excellent material when collected and became good bonsai.

The bottom line is that these trees must stand on their own merits regardless of who touched them or where they came from.

Should circumstances become such, I too will "interview" their next owner, whether that is one of my sons, yet to be born grandchildren, or someone outside my familial circle...

Sincerely,

Jim Stone