LostHawken

I'll be returning home in May and want to collect some trees from my back yard. Before doing so I thought I would ask of anyone had suggestions as to better types of trees local to my area. I also need to know when the best (and also the almost best, since I will be home only for certain months) time to collect these species is.

I have 7 acres of woods in Northern Maine (Zone 4a) to work with. I'm planning on air layering (or trying too) a wild crab apple, and need some sort of conifer to work with to balance my nascent collection. However, I'll be glad to take suggestions on any kind of tree that you all know are good for bonsai.

Here is a brief list of what we have that seems like potential species to me:

White Pine
Easter Cedar
Balsam Fir
Spruce
Birch (white and golden)
Poplar
Maple [Sugar and striped (but I don't think striped would work well due to the gigantic leaves)]
Mountain Ash
Alder (is it possible to make neat jin with the deep red stained wood of this tree?)

That's mostly what we have; sorry I don't know all the scientific names. Let me know if you have any suggestions, or are aware of any special concerns with how to collect.

~Justin

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