Forum Member Introductions

Rush

Name: Steve Plastrik
Age: 16
Location : East Lansing, Michigan
Current Trees:
I have a few that are in pots, but they are still being worked upon; they are:
Fukien Tea
Some type of ficus
Jade tree

I have a lot of pre-bonsai:
Ficus Benjimina (variegata?)
Coral Beauty Cotoneaster
Juniper
Japanese Maples
Japanese Flowering Cherry (I think)
Heavenly Bamboo
Dwarf Pomegranate
Japanese Black Pine
Sugar Maple
Chysanthemum
Chinese Lantern tree
probably some more that I'm forgetting...

I've gotten about half of my plants by buying them as shrubs or otherwise at a local gardening center, but a few I've bought in the bonsai stage. A few I've taken from cuttings and some are little seedlings I grew. I'd been into bonsai casually for a while, but over spring break this year I got bored and got a juniper, then a Japanese maple, then a ficus, and it just kept going and going. I'm going to college soon and I'll have to leave them behind for a year while I'm in dorms! That's pretty much it.

Advertisement

zeb

Hi, everyone!

To the ones who haven't met me on this spring. I'm a bonsai fan from Finland, Northern Europe. I've been into bonsai for about 2 years now; read a lot of books and articles on the net.

I'm a creative boy wishing for a true bonsai to come with the experience. I like to paint and to take photos of nature. The avatar pic is taken from a mountain road in Mallorca last month.


Zeb

David Chauvin

Here's a short bonsai biography so you guys can gauge my posts. I've been doing bonsai for 2 1/2 years. I started with a beginner class (3 hours from one gal procumbens to potted bonsai).

-currently have 20 trees in bonsai pots
-collected ~20 trees
-~40 others in various stages of development
-given away or sold around 20 trees
-killed about 25 trees in various and creative ways.

The majority of my styling experience has been with junipers, procumbens in particular. My main teacher has been Guy Guidry (Bonsai Northshore) in Covington, LA (zone . I still have very little confidence with deciduous trees, but I'm starting to get a feel for them. I have read Amy Liang's book, Naka's I & II, subscribe to Bonsai Today and The Bonsai Enthusiast. I enjoy the styling over the growing aspect of bonsai.

__________________
"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

Shambhala

I am 17 years old and have been into bonsai for only 8 months. For a few years I had always been interested in them, but it wasn't until my birthday when I got my first bonsai, a juniper.

Now I have a quince, pepper tree, and a spiraea. I am planning on getting a few more trees this week, just so I can have something to do while the quince and spiraea sit in the grow box. I have a few air layers on a blue spruce, crab apple tree, and a pine.

I have gotten all my information from books and the internet, but I am joining the Toronto Bonsai Society in September (formal meetings aren't held in August, so I have to wait until sept.).

I've always been interested in plants and trees. I have a large vegetable garden that I tend to and a lot of herbs and other plants growing in my room... my friends' don't really get it

amaribbw

Hi folks,

I figured I would go ahead and introduce myself since it seems I've been spending a great deal of my time on these forums lately.

My name is Annette, and I live in San Jose, CA.

I started in bonsai about 5 years ago when I was living in central Florida. I had the pleasure of building a website for a bonsai master who was putting some of his trees up for sale. Looking at picture after picture of absolutely gorgeous tropical trees....how could I not get hooked? I had the pleasure of joining the local bonsai club and got to see and learn from some of the masters of tropicals.

Unfortunately, numerous moves around the country (read that "hectic lifestyle") weren't condusive to keeping my trees alive. I have restarted my collection on more than one occasion.
Now that I'm finally settled in California and have a little outdoor space I can call my own, I'm resuming my passion.

From my Florida "roots" (pun intended), I'm still drawn to tropical trees. And given the limited size of my outdoor space and my personal preference, I adore mame sized bonsai. I have about a dozen trees currently, different varieties of ficus as well as quite a few schefflera arboricola. I like the fact that almost every supermarket and department store floral section has potential "prey".

Currently, none of my trees are even close to being ready to show....maybe in a year....or two....or....

That's me!

Annette

Treebeard

Hi everyone,

Intruducing myself:

Chris, from Maidenhead UK.

Into bonsai for 4-5 years. I have about 12 trees in pots, and 4 or 5 bonsai(IMHO). I like to grow native british species if I can, but that dosen't stop me from having japanese fuji cherry, New Zealand Kowhai, chinese elm etc.
All my knowledge up to now has come from trial & error, magazines and books.

current list:
cotoneaster
birch
rowan (x2)
chinese elm
pine
cypress
fuji cherry
beech (x3)
lonicera (x2)
larch
bamboo (accent)

lots more in the ground fattening up.

That's about it.

Regards,

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
christopherguise.co.uk

Craig Cowing

My name is Craig, and I guess I'm a bonsai-aholic too, but what a way to go!

I live in Orange County, NY, about 50 miles NW of New York City. I'm on the edge of zones 5b/6a as far as I can tell.

I'm 45 and am an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. I'm serving a church here in New York. We just moved here from Maine 6 weeks ago after 12 years there.

I have been doing bonsai for 3 years now. I too started with the mallsai that died because I kept them indoors. I've done a lot of reading, bought a lot of books, killed a few trees out of ignorance, subscribed to Bonsai Today, and have found a lot of stuff on the Internet including the IBC, through which I was led to my first club, the Kennebec Valley Bonsai Club in Maine. I've also met some others through the list. I'm not in a club now, but I am hoping I might be able to get something started in the area. I'm thinking of doing a couple of talks around the area to gauge interest.

For trees, I've got a bit of everything:
Northern white cedar (3)
Kingsville boxwood
Wintergreen boxwood
Larch (3 in nursery containers)
Yew (1 in a cascade style, the other I collected from a friend's yard)
Ilex crenata 'Helleri'---Japanese holly
Hemlock (2 in pots, 2 in wooden boxes)
Parson's juniper (1 in pot, 1 in nursery container)
Blue carpet juniper
Shimpaku juniper
Procumbens juniper (3 or 4 in pots, a few in nursery containers)
Sargent's juniper (1 in a pot, 6 or so in nursery containers)
Chinese elm
1 Eastern white pine
Fukien tea
Jade plant
Ficus Too-Little (4)
Portulacaria afra (2)
Japanese maple 'Kiyohime'
South African Puzzle Bush
Acacia

In wooden boxes:
3 wild crabapples, collected in Maine, one which is about 125 years old
4 red/swamp maples (acer rubrum) collected in Maine, one of which is 122 years old
1 yellow birch
2 gray birches
1 white ash
a fat old honeysuckle collected in my backyard in Maine
1 American Elm

A bunch of other stuff, mostly evergreens, in nursery containers or in the ground.

I have a red cedar (juniperus virginiana) in the yard here which I have cut back, and plan to collect next spring. I also have a red maple in the yard which was roughly cut down this year, and I'm planning to cultivate it in place for the next couple of years to develop a new trunk from a well-placed new shoot.

My wife tells me I have too much, but I have a comeback--she has 4 llamas. The llamas actually work out well with the bonsai because I make a manure tea with the manure, and use it regularly when I fertilize.

Bonsai has been a great thing for me. I find it has a strong spiritual component.

Craig Cowing

fakelvis

Well, I'm new, so i thought there can be no better first post than an introductory one... so here I go!

I'm 19.
I live in South Wales, UK
I only have one bonsia/plant to my name... it's a 7 year old Carmona that I bought only a week ago from a Garden Centre (So, it got taken care of, but not by experts... not that I'm saying I'm an expert though!). Am I right in saying that a Carmona is the same as the Fukien Tea?
I'm also totally addicted to this already, and have this urge to start many new bonsai, but I am very nervous, I feel that i know too little to start cutting my bonsai!

On a side note; I'm looking for a Bonsai group in my area as I know of none... anyone?

I'm also going to order a book tonight, but as of now, I'm undecided which to get of a few that i have shortlisted!

Anyway, I should go. Wish me luck!

fakelvis

Camay123

Hi

I came on this forum for help but know that I read more and more of this forum, ill introduce myself.

Im 22, live in Ottawa, Canada. Ive been a bonsai enthusiast for quite a time, but just start two years ago trying to grow one. I started by a premade tree bougth at a store like Home depot. It was Juniperus. This tree died. Now im growing a few seeds and just bought a cotoneaster that I will convert into a bonsai.

Ive been reading a couple of books and im discovering things everytime I open a book. Thats very fun.
Im going to my first Bonsai show this september in Montreal, Canada. Looking forward to the event.

Camay