Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Treebeard
[B]
I have a great love of the English countryside and in particular my own locality, and my bonsai must reflect this. I am aware of the origins of bonsai and respect those origins, but I want my own bonsai to resembe my local trees as much as possible and not trees from half way round the world.
Regards,
Chris.
|
This is exactly what I beleive myself. I think that a tree which is adapted to your locality and climatic conditions is the one that will be the easiest to keep alive for a long time and most likely be the most successfull as a artistic bonsai. I don't suppose that any of the japanese or chinese experts have ever made very artistic bonsai with tree collected from N. America or other country with different climatic conditions where they live. Most master pieces are probably trees grown in their native environment or very similar climatic conditions.
So, why should I spend a lot of energy, time and risks to try and keep alive a japanese maple in my climatic condition where very special precautions are needed for their overwintering ? I beleive that you should be able to obtain trees and shrubs suitable for the best bonsai in every climatic zone where they grow naturally instead of importing them from other less adpted zones, and also as Chris says, they are the ones that will best reflect the countryside of their locality.