Will_Heath

What is a bonsai? Tree in a Tray? When does a tree become a bonsai, where is that line that separates a seedling from a pre-bonsai from a potensai from a bonsai? At which point are you a bonsaist and not a arborist?

I am a bonsaist. I grow, I collect, I buy, I trade trees with the ultimate goal of having trees in trays that satisfy me. Approval of my efforts from my peers is also important to keep me on the right track.

I can kill a seedling just as well as a 95 year old purchased bonsai, trust me on this.

The skill is not only in the art, it is also in ones ability to make a tree in a tray florish. You can buy a "finished" bonsai but you still have to keep it alive and well. You can style a tree into a "finished" bonsai, yet you have to keep it alive thoughout the years.

Maybe on a purchased bonsai where the artist is known we should say "styled by Yakalotta Nuthin" "Cared for by Hearda Notathing"

I just think this whole thing could get silly, take a collected Tamarack I have for example:

Seed buried along seasonal road by a Red Squirrel. (name unknown)
Growth help by sun air and water and by millions of once living organic things that gave their lifes so that this tree could have organic matter.
Stunted twisted growth by Sam the grader driver who graded this road once a year, each time nearly ripping and twisting this tree from the ground.
Leonard the "hunter" who hung a beer can on a branch and shot it to hell with a shotgun, giving it one heck of a trunk chop.
And lastly myself, who did nothing more than transplant the tree into a training pot, prune, and grew it for a short time compared to it's age under strict care, while slowly turning it into a healthy bonsai.

I guess I'm getting carried away here but I Belive that the care is the most important thing because the best artist in the world couldn't show a thing if they can't keep them alive.