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Another thing to remember is that wild-collecting trees is HARD! All the best trees are in locations that are inaccesible, and once you get there, they really don't want to come out of the ground. I recently found a wild-growing wisteria with a trunk I could barely get my hands around. After 8(!) hours of digging and pulling and cutting and tugging and sweating and fighting briars and running low on daylight, I had a huge trench dug around the tree, all major roots cut, a come-along pulling it to the side, and it still may as well have been lodged in concrete!

For the same amount of time and less than $100, I could have toured a half dozen nurseries and come up with some quality raw material. It wouldn't have been an 8" wide wisteria, but I would have had much more satisfaction.

It's all in what you want to get for your work.

2-Jan-2005	#43
Frogboy B.S. Detector Join Date: Nov-2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Country: USA USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 172	Another thing to remember is that wild-collecting trees is HARD! All the best trees are in locations that are inaccesible, and once you get there, they really don't want to come out of the ground. I recently found a wild-growing wisteria with a trunk I could barely get my hands around. After 8(!) hours of digging and pulling and cutting and tugging and sweating and fighting briars and running low on daylight, I had a huge trench dug around the tree, all major roots cut, a come-along pulling it to the side, and it still may as well have been lodged in concrete! For the same amount of time and less than $100, I could have toured a half dozen nurseries and come up with some quality raw material. It wouldn't have been an 8" wide wisteria, but I would have had much more satisfaction. It's all in what you want to get for your work. __________________ I wear hip boots for a reason.